Planning commission approves new Healthy New Albany food pantry at Rose Run site

The New Albany Planning Commission on March 16 approved Final Development Plan FDP-88-2025 to allow an 8,460-square-foot Healthy New Albany food pantry at 5220 Johnstown Road, an accessory use to the Rose Run (New Albany Presbyterian) Church.

Rachel Hauck, executive director of Healthy New Albany, told commissioners the project is a relocation of an existing service and not a new program. She said the pantry served 450 unique families in 2025, about 10.6% of whom were seniors and roughly 39% of whom were children, and described operational constraints at the current annex building that the new facility would address. “Approving this project would allow the pantry to continue serving this community in a more dignified and efficient way,” Hauck said.

City staff presented the site plan, noting the lot is encumbered by a 120-foot private utility easement that limits landscaping in that swath but that additional screening trees are proposed on the adjacent city park to mitigate views of the parking lot. The Architectural Review Board reviewed elevations and recommended approval with conditions; the commission accepted the ARB changes and a staff-corrected condition specifying the external lighting by color temperature.

Commissioners and staff discussed traffic and turning radii for the pantry’s box truck, lighting color temperature, and enforcement of the applicant’s commitment to install and maintain screening trees on city-owned parkland. The city’s engineering representative said the traffic access study found no right- or left-turn lanes were warranted on Harlem Road and recommended a single full-movement driveway as shown in the MOU.

Supporters at the hearing included volunteers and church leaders who described the pantry’s existing operations and the church’s decision to lease land for a permanent home. Neighbors expressed concerns about placement on a residential side street, potential traffic, and whether splitting the lot to create a separate parcel could allow future unrelated commercial uses; staff and the commission clarified that the site remains within the church’s PUD zoning and that permitted uses are governed by the existing zoning text.

Chair moved and the commission admitted the staff reports and the ARB‑modified conditions into the record, including the ARB’s addition of conditions 6 and 7 and the change to condition 3 reducing the allowable external sign color temperature to less than 3,000K. A subsequent motion to approve the final development plan, including those conditions, carried by unanimous recorded vote. The approval is subject to the conditions in the staff report and the ARB-added requirements.

The commission’s action is final at the planning level; the project must comply with the conditions and with building and permitting processes before construction begins.