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Commission approves Block Y Bridge Park plan and waivers after debate over height and pedestrian crossings
Summary
Crawford Hoying’s mixed-use Block Y won preliminary development plan approval and multiple waivers; commissioners and residents pressed the applicant to cap rooftop/mechanical screening at a datum near the AC Hotel and to improve pedestrian crossings of SR‑161 and streetscape activation.
The Dublin Planning & Zoning Commission approved a preliminary development plan (PDP) and a package of waivers for Block Y, a multi-building mixed-use project near the Riverside Drive / SR‑161 roundabout, after extended deliberations over building heights, pedestrian access and neighborhood impacts.
Russell Hunter of Crawford Hoying presented the proposal as a high-quality hospitality-led gateway intended to complement Bridge Park; the development includes office space, a Marriott Autograph‑brand hotel, condominium units, and a largely contained parking structure. Design teams described terraces, planted buffers and architectural strategies to obscure exposed parking levels. "Build the best hospitality project in the state of Ohio that we can," Hunter said in his opening remarks.
Staff recommended approval of a set of waivers and the PDP with conditions; commissioners focused discussion on whether waivers that increase height beyond prior Bridge Street District guidance were appropriate at the gateway. Several commissioners asked the applicant to use a comparative datum — aligning the project’s highest roof/screening line with the nearby AC Hotel’s roofline — rather than relying on story counts, which vary by floor height. The applicant agreed to work with staff to minimize mechanical penthouses and to use the AC Hotel datum as a reference point for the gateway.
Residents urged caution. Multiple neighbors testified that the proposed 8–9 story measured heights are higher than expected from earlier rezonings and would worsen traffic at the roundabout and on Martin Road; they asked the commission to protect the code’s intent and not routinely grant large waivers. Commissioners approved a package that removed a few contested height/entrance waivers from immediate approval so the applicant could refine them with staff; they then approved the remaining waivers, the PDP with eight staff conditions, and the parking-structure conditional use.
