Columbus zoning staff gave the Victorian Village Historic Preservation Commission an update on the citywide zoning rewrite on Oct. 14, outlining Phase 2 work to create land‑use policy that supports later zoning changes and a citywide land‑use plan.

Nevis Dave, the city’s zoning project administrator, told commissioners the rewrite is intended to simplify an unwieldy existing system — the city currently uses more than 200 land‑use categories — and to create a clear map developers and residents can consult. Phase 1 covered corridors and represented about 4.8% of the city; Phase 2 focuses on roughly 40% more of the city, bringing total coverage to about 45% when phases 1 and 2 are combined.

Dave said staff grouped the city’s manufacturing, commercial and office zoning into three broad land‑use buckets — “industrial/warehouse,” “business and institutional campus,” and “mixed‑use” — and refined a draft land‑use map using community engagement results. He said the project has held four public workshops (north, south, east and west), about 26 pop‑up events, a two‑month online survey that drew roughly 3,100 responses, a monthly zoning advisory committee and dozens of area‑commission presentations.

Why it matters: staff said a single, consistent land‑use map and clearer categories will make the city’s development review more equitable and predictable and will help guide public capital investments (water, sewer and other infrastructure). Dave said the refined map is intended to be presented to Columbus City Council in December for adoption, and that zoning updates would follow after the land‑use policy is adopted.

What’s next: the city is calling the policy package the “Columbus Growth Strategy,” an amendment to the existing Columbus Citywide Planning Policies (C2P2). Staff opened a public comment period from Oct. 14 until Nov. 9 for the refined map and growth strategy.

The presentation also stressed that Phase 2 expands the geographic reach of the project beyond Phase 1 by considering secondary corridors and areas that Phase 1’s corridor policy did not capture.