Columbus Plan Commission directs staff to draft new zoning districts and standards

The City of Columbus Plan Commission voted to direct staff and consultant Van de Waal and Associates to develop new zoning districts, land‑use matrices and bulk-dimension standards as the next step in a comprehensive rewrite of the city’s zoning and subdivision codes. The motion to advance the drafting phase passed by voice vote with no opposition.

Consultant Sonia Bridal told commissioners the evaluation memo identifies 10 high-level issues with the existing 1977 code and uses public workshop input and an online survey to shape recommendations. "The draft contains 10 key issues identified," Bridal said, and she told the commission the outreach included 15 people at an in‑person workshop and 60 online survey responses, which she described as directional rather than statistically decisive.

The presentation emphasized housing restrictions in the current code: Bridal noted duplexes and some 0 lot‑line developments now require conditional‑use permits and that minimum lot sizes in some districts (examples cited: 12,000 and 9,000 square feet) are large compared with modern practice. She urged commissioners to consider allowing accessory dwelling units in more locations and to expand options for "missing middle" housing — small-scale multifamily types such as duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes — as policy choices rather than drafting detailed ordinance language that night.

Commissioners pressed the consultant on several technical and policy points. Members raised flooding and infrastructure concerns as considerations for any upzoning or relaxed standards; one commissioner referenced a prior flooding study and asked whether impact‑fee language and needs assessments would be tied into the draft ordinance. Bridal answered the city would need a separate needs assessment to set impact fees under state law but said the code can include enabling language and that she would coordinate with staff about existing studies.

Bridal also warned the commission of recent state law changes affecting local land‑use authority, singling out Act 67 and its higher evidentiary standard for denying conditional uses. "Act 67…means a conditional use is effectively permitted unless you bring substantial evidence to deny it," she said, adding that many jurisdictions respond by reducing reliance on CUPs and instead using zoning map amendments or special districts to regulate higher‑impact uses.

Commissioners asked whether the update would address other trends such as tiny homes and data centers. The consultant said the approach can be calibrated — for example, treating permanently sited tiny houses differently from dwellings on trailers and locating higher‑impact uses where infrastructure and public‑works standards are adequate.

Bridal outlined the next steps: the consultant team aims to deliver land‑use and bulk‑dimension tables to staff for review, with a plan‑commission check‑in targeted for the November meeting (Nov. 13 was discussed) and subsequent draft ordinance review staged in two parts. The commission’s formal direction is to proceed with developing zoning districts, land uses and bulk standards and return with draft materials for detailed review.

The plan commission adjourned after taking the motion.