Planning commission approves rezoning for 108‑acre Ganten site with conditions

The New Albany Planning Commission on July 15 voted 5‑0 to approve a comprehensive rezoning (Zone Change 48) for the 108‑acre Ganten property, a multi‑subarea text intended to implement the city’s urban‑center code and enable a mix of medical, office and residential development.

A city staff member presented the rezoning as a refinement of existing standards for the site and explained that the text splits the property into three subareas: Subarea 1 to accommodate hospitals and medical campus uses, Subarea 2 for office uses, and Subarea 3 for urban‑center residential forms. The staff presentation emphasized the rezoning is a text and map change only; the plan does not itself authorize immediate building permits and staff said final development plans and plats will return to the commission when design details and street alignments are settled.

Applicant counsel Aaron Underhill, representing the ownership group, said the CPUD approach will allow the owner to proceed through the city’s multi‑stage review and that the team has confidential interest from potential users. Underhill said the applicant committed not to file first final development plans until the alignment for the proposed Ganten Parkway extension is resolved.

Commission discussion focused on parkland, school district coordination, environmental permitting and traffic/connectivity. Applicant representatives said they have been in early conversations with the Ohio EPA and the U.S. Army Corps about environmental encumbrances near the Rose Run headwaters and that an existing roughly three‑acre easement in Subarea 1 could prompt small adjustments to subarea lines as permitting proceeds. Staff said the zoning text carries a 38‑acre parkland/open‑space requirement under the urban‑center code; the school district has formally requested a 15‑acre dedication that, if agreed, would likely count toward that obligation.

The commission placed four conditions on approval read into the record: (1) discourage or prohibit uplighting in Subareas 2 and 3 (and discourage it in Subarea 1); (2) allow structures necessary to support parkland uses; (3) require a linear taper of setbacks along Dublin Granville Road beginning at 140 feet on the western edge and returning to the existing 185‑foot setback on the eastern edge; and (4) require lighting in Subareas 1 and 2 be sensitive to residential uses across the street. With those conditions, the commission voted to approve the rezoning text and map change.

Next steps: the rezoning advances to city council and future preliminary and final development plans, traffic analyses and environmental permitting will follow. The applicant and staff indicated additional ARB (architectural review board) and engineering reviews will precede final permits.