Council approves Lafond Subdivision final plat after granting sidewalk waiver; fee-in-lieu amendment fails

Columbia City Council on Jan. 21 approved the final plat for the three‑lot Lafond Subdivision and granted a design adjustment waiving the usual sidewalk construction requirement along portions of Green Ridge Road and Brown Station Road.

The council's vote on the design adjustment was 5-1 in favor; the final‑plat ordinance passed unanimously, 6-0. Council members debated whether the waiver was appropriate in a neighborhood that currently lacks sidewalks and whether the city's planned Colt Railroad Trail, a future CIP project, should have been included in the Planning and Zoning deliberations.

The vote matters because the waiver lets the subdivider create three lots without building about 580 feet of sidewalk now; staff said constructing the sidewalk would cost roughly $41,394 based on the city's estimate. Councilmember discussion ranged from strict adherence to sidewalk code to deferring expensive construction in an older, mostly built neighborhood.

Tim Teddi, community development director, told council the property is roughly 1.7 acres, contains a single‑family home and a small duplex (about 1,200 square feet total, ~600 sq ft per duplex unit), and is constrained by an intermittent tributary to Bear Creek, an on‑site stream buffer and a mapped floodplain. Teddi said the subdivision will create one additional building site and that sidewalks are normally installed with building permits; the applicant intends to sell two of the three new lots. He said the staff report to Planning and Zoning recommended denial of the sidewalk waiver on technical criteria, and that Planning and Zoning approved the waiver on a narrow 6-2 vote while approving the final plat 8-0.

Kevin Schweikert, the project representative from Bridal and Associates Land Surveying Company, spoke for the applicant and described terrain near Brown Station Road that would complicate sidewalk construction (steep embankment, drainage ditches and an existing large culvert). He said the nearest sidewalks are on Blue Ridge Road about 1,600 feet away and on the improved section of Brown Station about 900 feet away, and argued the neighborhood is largely developed and unlikely to produce near‑term sidewalk connectivity.

Gabe Huffington, director of parks and recreation, described the proposed Colt Railroad Trail alignment and gave council an overview of the project timeline: planning funding in fiscal year 2027 with construction funding scheduled in FY 2030 and FY 2031. Councilmembers said they believed Planning and Zoning had not been made aware of the trail project before its vote and that knowledge of the trail could have affected the commission's deliberations.

During council debate, several members said they were split between following the city's sidewalk code and recognizing the neighborhood's constraints. One councilmember proposed amending the ordinance to require the owner to pay a fee in lieu of construction ($41,394, the staff estimate) to be held in escrow and used by the city within seven years to build sidewalks adjacent to the property or within a one‑mile radius; that amendment was motioned, seconded and failed on a roll call vote of 5 against, 1 in favor.

After that vote, council approved the design adjustment (Council Bill 5‑25) on a 5-1 roll call. Sheila, the clerk, recorded votes: Mister Lovelady — yes; Nick Foster — yes; Mister Waterman — yes; Miss Peters — yes; Miss Buffalo — yes; Miss Carroll — no. Council then approved the final plat ordinance (Council Bill 6‑25) by a 6-0 roll call: Lovelady, Foster, Waterman, Peters, Buffalo and Carroll — all yes.

Council direction: staff noted alternatives available under city code (fee in lieu, performance contract if waiver denied) and described the standard practice of requiring sidewalks with new building permits. Several councilmembers asked staff to pursue clearer, more consistent criteria for future sidewalk waiver requests and to consider the role of the Colt Railroad Trail in neighborhood connectivity during CIP and plan updates.

The Lafayette Subdivision waivers and plat approvals will be recorded in the city's land records; the fee‑in‑lieu amendment failed, so no escrowed amount was added to the ordinance. Any future sidewalk construction remains subject to code, master‑plan priorities and available funding.