Pataskala City planning staff and commissioners tabled a planned manufacturing application for a roughly 14.4-acre site on Aetna Parkway on Jan. 7 after finding multiple gaps in the submitted engineering and site documents.

City staff told the Planning and Zoning Commission that the application (PM25002) proposes a large speculative industrial building—materials refer to a roughly 100,000-square-foot building—with setbacks, parking and a decorative landscape mound. Staff reported the application packet included a traffic impact study approved by the city traffic engineer but flagged several deficiencies: a stormwater memo that appears to reference a different project (a truck stop near Interstate 70), missing civil/storm basin details, incomplete photometric output reporting, and landscape frontage math that shows 166 trees provided versus 195 required under the frontage formula. Staff recommended revisions and noted that construction-phase plan review would include a deeper review of basin and civil details.

"Recommended for approval tonight, we'll go to city council next," a city staff member said while explaining the review path and outstanding corrections that must be addressed during plan review.

Michael Roche, the applicant's representative for American Transport, told commissioners the narrative in the packet used a template but said, "Actual calculations all will go to this specific project," and committed to supplying project-specific stormwater and utility data. Roche also described the site grading and said the building elevation is roughly 1.5 feet higher than the road in the truck-dock area and that truck access and turn lanes would be provided as described in the traffic study.

Commissioners repeatedly pressed the applicant and staff for clearer drainage information: several commissioners asked whether runoff from the site would outlet to Muddy Creek/Muddy Fork and requested the regional water district's flow-rate information so the district can confirm it can serve the building. City staff said basin details and outlet information would be reviewed during final construction plan review and that the city had contracted an outside reviewer to avoid conflicts of interest where the applicant's engineer also serves as the city engineer.

Public comment reinforced concern about speculative rezoning and the effect of non-manufacturing uses. CB (Bernie) Brush, sworn for public comment, said data centers and similar speculative uses impose outsize demands on energy and water and urged the city to reconsider zoning allowances. "Data centers don't make anything. They store stuff," Brush said, urging caution and more thorough review before approving rezoning or recommendations to council.

After deliberation commissioners said the packet contained contradictions and missing information (stormwater memo errors, incomplete utility data, and lighting/landscape inconsistencies). A motion was made and seconded to table PM-25-002 to allow the applicant to supply corrected and complete materials; the motion passed on roll call. The commission noted revisions must be submitted in time to be placed on the February agenda.

What happens next: The applicant is to provide corrected stormwater documents, clarified photometric and landscape dimensions and the utility flow data requested by the regional water district. Staff will update the report and resubmit materials for the commission's consideration at a future meeting; if commissioners recommend approval, the case will move to the Pataskala City Council for final action.

Vote at a glance: The commission voted to table PM-25-002 (motion moved at the Jan. 7 meeting). The roll call on the tabling motion recorded affirmative responses and the motion carried.