Building Doctor

CAC-HBC Award Flyer (1)

• The developer is Vision Communities, based in Upper Arlington. The name of the development is “The Ave”
  
• Visions Communities has built apartments, condos, patio homes around town.
  
• The estimated cost of the development is 60 million USD
  
• 80% of the property is zoned Manufacturing. The frontage on Indianola is zoned C3. 
  
• There will be 301 rental suites. The smallest are 450 square feet efficiencies renting for the mid $700’s a month; 1 BR; 2 BR renting up into the mid-1500’s. Two buildings, each 4 stories with elevators. Total square footage of 300K square feet. The elevations of the residential buildings are set east to west so smaller building parts face Indianola. Building materials include elements that may mitigate train sound.
  
• Apparently the north driveway of Indianola Plaza, along with the recycling bins and Beechwold Auto building are on the Dixie property. City requires this current drive/curb cut to be eliminated (too close to the exit and light at Arden).
• There will be two entries to the site. The city has determined that the curb cuts will be at Richards & Fallis Rd. The site will be built back to front.
• Along Indianola (25-foot setback) are three buildings of 2 stories: 5K square foot full service restaurant with patio (south corner); 7,500K square feet of retail like small sub shop or coffee shop in the center; 13K square feet office space on the first floor with the second floor having 1BR loft condos OR apartments 
• Timeline: Going through city review for design; demo starts in June; construction starts in the fall. First to be built will be one residential building, followed by second, then offices and retail. However, if a retail or office establishment is interested in opening sooner rather than later, they are flexible.
• Proposed amenities include resort style pool, fitness center, dog park, bike repair & storage facility for tenants
  
• Phase I & Phase II  Environmental studies were completed. Demo contractor is going to recycle 75% of both buildings. Recycled elements primarily masonry & steel. There are materials on the site that will be disposed of according to EPA regulations.
  
• The existing cell tower at the back of the site will remain. 
• Vision Development had favorable comments about the road diet.
  
• The City said the traffic increase from the development does not warrant any additional traffic signals. Future traffic studies are planned after completion and 10 years out.
  
• Sewer will go to a lift station at the railroad tracks and use an existing line with capacity in the RR right of way to pump south and under I 71 near Oakland Park. Storm water management elements included as part of construction. Sewers and drains will be tied in closer to the site after sewer systems are improved in future years.
• One-year leases offered/encouraged.
• Parking exceeded code. Residential=1.5 spaces per unit and retail/office parking is also at or over code requirements. 

KICKBUTTCOLUMBUS! Highway Ramp CleanUp Event will take place on
Saturday, March 25, 2017. It begins with a rally at Wolfe Park at 9 am. You can become part of a team or register an entire team to adopt one of the highway ramps in Columbus. There are 9 ramps that act as entrance ways into parts of Clintonville. Find some friends or co-workers and adopt a ramp.
Register a team at: www.kickbuttcolumbus.eventbrite.com

Adopt a ramp or be part of a ramp team. Register today at www.kickbuttcolumbus.eventbrite.com or call
614-645-2421 for more.

TEAM 1
I-71 EXIT 117 SR 161

Team 2
I-71 Exit 116 at Morse Road

Team 3
I-71 Exit 115 at Cooke Road

TEAM 4
I-71 EXIT 114 E N BROADWAY

Team 5
I-71 Exit 113 Weber Road

TEAM 6
I-71 EXIT 112 HUDSON ST

Team 22
SR315 Bethel Road

TEAM 23
SR315 HENDERSON RD

Team 24
SR316 W N Broadway

The committee that has been tasked with reviewing the Clintonville Neighborhood Plan (CNP) has developed two forms to replace the very long and complicated checklist that is included in the CNP. The forms were approved for use by the Clintonville Area Commission at its February meeting. One form is for use for residential development. The other form is meant for commercial development. The Zoning and Variance committee will expect those who apply for variances to fill out the appropriate form before they meet with the committee. Each form can be accessed in the Forms folder of the document page of this website.

CAC Meeting Agenda 2017.3.2

News Release from: Clintonville Area Commission – February 21, 2017

The location of the March meeting of the Clintonville Area Commission has been relocated to North Community Lutheran Church at 114 Morse Road. The 7 pm start time has not changed. The primary consideration for the location move is a scheduled presentation by Vision Development regarding their plans for apartments at the Dixie Warehouse site on Indianola Avenue. This presentation is the third requirement of the amendment to Section 3363.01 (File Number 2797-2016), approved by Columbus City Council on December 5, 2016. Said legislation states: “In order to obtain said zoning clearance approval, if the site of a proposed extended stay hotel lies within the boundaries of an area commission or civic association, the applicant shall formally consult with the area commission or civic association about the details of the project and shall submit documentation that said consultation has occurred.” For Vision Development’s presentation to the CAC, the key words in the legislation are “formally consult”. As it currently stands, the project will not need, and the developer is not asking for, a single variance. As the residents of Clintonville and the CAC need to understand what these words mean to our process, the chair of CAC researched what public participation means for project developments. A very helpful website was: https://www.epa.gov/internationalcooperation/public-participation-guide

As shown in this website, there are 5 levels of public participation:

Inform: provides the public with the information they need to understand the agency decision-making process. This level is on the spectrum to remind agencies that sometimes there is no opportunity for the public to influence decision-making and simply informing them is the appropriate activity.

Consult: the basic minimum opportunity for public input to a decision. Consult simply means to ask. There is no invitation to sit down together and work on things in any cooperative way.

Involve: the public is invited into the process, usually from the beginning, and is provided multiple if not ongoing opportunities for input as decision-making progresses. However, the agency is still the decision-maker and there is no expectation of building consensus or providing the public with any sort of highlevel influence over the decision.

Collaborate: the public is directly engaged in decision-making. Collaborate often includes the explicit attempt to find consensus solutions. However, as at involve, the agency is still the ultimate decision-maker.

Empower: provides the public with the opportunity to make decisions for themselves. The most common activities at this level are public voting or ballots, but there are other techniques available as well. In general, agencies are not permitted to delegate their decision authority to the public, and creating a fair, legitimate, and inclusive process for empowerment beyond basic voting is complex and challenging. Using these levels as a guide, a formal consultation would entail asking for public input that may or may not be incorporated into the plans. The goal of the public participation at this level is to obtain and consider public input and the promise is to consider public input and to provide feedback as to how that input influenced any of the developer’s ultimate decisions. The goal of the commissioners of the Clintonville Area Commission for the March meeting is to hear from Vision Development and to understand the parameters of their site plan. We want the community to have a full update on the future of the site and to thoughtfully consider those plans and offer ideas or thoughts on the plans. The commissioners look forward to a productive and informative exchange of ideas