Columbus City Council adopts 2025 capital budget with amendments, approves Founders Park rezoning and moves forward on aging services transition and emergency-h

Columbus City Council on July 29 passed the city's 2025 capital improvements program and first-year capital budget, approved a contentious rezoning at Founders Park that will add a 60-unit apartment building, and approved legislation to support a transition of the Central Ohio Area Agency on Aging to a newly formed council of governments while attaching worker protections.

The council approved the capital improvements program (CIP) resolution and the companion 2025 capital improvements budget after amendments proposed by Finance Committee Chair Councilmember Bankston. Among the council amendments were $450,000 for design work at Freedom Park and Joanne Park, $175,000 for Shiller Park Pond restoration design, $100,000 to purchase a horse trailer for mounted police, $146,000 for a long-term recovery duplex in the Hilltop, $250,000 for a sidewalk design on Billingsley Road and $1,000,000 for Star House renovations. Council also added $9,000,000 in the 2026 year of the CIP for the city's first participatory budgeting initiative.

"Participatory budgeting deepens democracy," Councilmember Bankston said in describing the $9 million amendment and asked colleagues to support the amended program after a compressed review process. The council moved the amendments, then voted to adopt the CIP and the capital improvements budget as amended.

Why it matters: the capital budget sets city investments in roads, parks, public safety facilities and economic development. The added participatory budgeting allocation signals a new route for community input on city capital projects, while the other amendments direct funds to several neighborhood-scale projects and nonprofit facility expansions.

Founders Park rezoning and council variance

Council also voted to approve ordinance 1858 dash 2025, a rezoning change at Founders Park (a large mixed-use development) that creates a new subarea to accommodate a 60-unit apartment building where the 2021 approvals had anticipated a smaller for-sale component. The council-approved companion council variance reiterates prior variances for the development and adds new variances addressing landscaping, screening, parking and fronting.

Developer Steve Bollinger and other project representatives told council the decision to pivot from for-sale condos and townhomes to rental apartments reflects current construction and financing realities. "We would have loved to have put in what we had originally planned back in 2018, 2019, and proposed and got passed in 2021. The market just isn't there today," Bollinger said, explaining that rising construction costs and market conditions made the previously approved for-sale product infeasible.

Several Founders Park homeowners and representatives of the Harrison West Society urged council to deny the rezoning. Homeowner and HOA president Sumit Shah told council the change "undermines more than a decade of planning, investment, and community trust" and said recently completed townhomes have sold, which he cited as evidence the original plan could still work. Gretchen Tinnerman, a Perry Street homeowner, cited day-to-day problems she attributes to existing nearby apartments, including overflow parking and perceived maintenance issues, and urged denial.

Council took both the rezoning and the companion variance up for separate votes and approved them. The planning staff recommended approval, describing the proposed AR-3 apartment residential zoning for the new subarea as consistent with the development's existing density and uses.

Central Ohio Area Agency on Aging transition (COAAA)

Council passed ordinance 1928 dash 2025 to provide start-up funding and conditions for a newly formed council of governments (COG) that will operate the Central Ohio Area Agency on Aging (COAAA) beginning in 2026. The ordinance was amended at council to embed a set of commitments from the COG into the legislation: offers of right-of-first-refusal to current COAAA employees for the same-or-similar positions at the COG; a commitment to participate in OPERS where applicable; a pledge not to interfere with employees' rights to organize; and a requirement that the COG participate in joint meetings with unions and city officials during the transition.

Katie White, COAAA administrator, said passage would allow the COG to hire legal counsel, set up HR and payroll systems, and move quickly to provide employees with clarity on benefits and employment offers. "Passage of this ordinance will enable the council of governments to take all necessary steps in alleviating staff concerns and providing clarity on labor relations, insurance, and other crucial issues," White told council.

Union leaders and a number of COAAA employees testified in council chambers urging stronger, clearer guarantees for pay, benefits and accrued leave. Will Harmon of AFSCME Local 1632 asked council not to approve the transfer until more details were firm. Other COAAA staff and supporters urged the council to approve the measure so the COG could stand up operations and communicate offers and benefits to staff as soon as possible.

Resilient Housing Initiative and eviction prevention funding

Council approved a set of ordinances to launch the Columbus Resilient Housing Initiative, a city-funded program intended to continue eviction-prevention, rental assistance and housing-stabilization services after federal emergency rental assistance funds expire. The development committee and council authorized a grant agreement with the Wells Foundation to act as fiscal manager and also contracted Greenwood360 LLC as an application manager for the initiative.

Mayor's office and development staff told council the program is expected to support more than 600 households October through March with a combination of rent assistance, case management and customized housing-stability plans. Council described the program as a cost-effective alternative to shelter: the administration estimated average shelter costs substantially exceed program-per-household assistance.

Votes at a glance

- Resolution 0156x-2025 (adopt CIP 2025–2030 as primary guide) — Amended and passed. - Ordinance 17 90-2025 (2025 capital improvements budget / CIB) — Amended and passed. - Ordinance 18 73-2025 (security system contract waiver for SGI Matrix LLC) — Passed. - Ordinance 19 96-2025 (construction contract for CRT relocation) — Passed. - Ordinance 21 11-2025 (owner rep for public safety campus) — Passed. - Ordinance 21 12-2025 (Police substation 19, Hilltop) — Passed. - Ordinance 20 51-2025 and 20 95-2025 (0 Trust network bonding and AECOM contract) — Passed. - Ordinance 20 38-2025 and 20 39-2025 (Olentangy 315 North and South TIF amendments) — Passed. - Ordinance 1858-2025 (Founders Park rezoning) — Passed. - Companion Council Variance (Founders Park) — Passed. - Ordinance 1928-2025 (COAAA/COG funding and protections) — Amended and passed. - Ordinances establishing the Resilient Housing Initiative (20 12-2025 and related administrative contracts) — Passed.

(Several dozen additional ordinances were approved as part of consent and committee packages that included bond authorizations, contracts for public works, parks renovations, appointments and zoning items. Those measures passed largely on voice or roll-call votes with occasional abstentions recorded on the consent portion.)

What council members said

Council President Harden and committee chairs repeatedly emphasized the speed of the budget calendar and the need to complete work before the August recess. Councilmember Bankston framed the CIP vote as a collective effort to both fund city priorities and to add a new civic experiment — participatory budgeting. "This was on a much shorter time frame than we are used to," he said, thanking department directors and staff.

Next steps

- The administration will publish details on the participatory budgeting timeline and outreach. - The COG will begin onboarding activities contingent on the ordinance conditions; council expects updates as the COG hires counsel, HR/payroll and benefits advisers this fall. - Founders Park developer representatives said they will continue coordination with nearby neighborhood organizations on design and parking details.

Ending note

Council completed a packed agenda that combined large capital decisions, local neighborhood land-use choices and regional social service transitions. The amendments council attached to the COAAA funding and the capital budget changes illustrate an effort to balance speed — the need to authorize funds before recess or program deadlines — with additional conditions intended to protect workers and ensure community-sensitive outcomes.