Upper Arlington zoning board splits over National Church Residences campus plan; site plan fails, plat amendment recommended to council

On Oct. 1, 2025, the City of Upper Arlington Board of Zoning and Planning considered a major site plan from National Church Residences to redevelop 2233–2335 Northbank Drive with a new headquarters office and two senior-housing buildings and ultimately failed to approve the plan after a roll-call vote that recorded four nays and two ayes. The board then voted to offer a positive recommendation to City Council on the related plat amendment and attached several conditions.

The central technical dispute was a city sanitary sewer and multiple private utilities located in an angled easement along Northbank Drive. Assistant City Manager Jackie Thiele told the board the existing sanitary sewer could be straightened but doing so would require relocating private utilities and that, “we're estimating a total cost of about, 290,000,” an estimate she emphasized was preliminary. Resident engineer Joe Tribble presented an alternate sketch and argued a more limited realignment could be done “in the ballpark of $30,000 to $35,000,” a figure city staff disputed on the basis of invert elevations and slope requirements.

National Church Residences representatives said…