It’s Unanimous: Columbus Approves Density-Friendly Zoning Changes

The Columbus Dispatch reports that the “Columbus City Council voted Monday to overhaul the city's zoning code, paving the way for new higher-density development in parts of the city.” The unanimous vote on all six resolutions amending the city’s zoning code comes after years of planning and months of public meetings and concerns about how increased density would affect the city. “At the Monday meeting, council members said the change will help modernize the code into a more lenient process, eliminate delays, keep up with Columbus' growing population, and ease the housing shortage in the future,” as well as fix “a broken system plagued by a history of redlining, or discriminatory financial practices historically used against marginalized communities such as racial or ethnic minorities,” writes reporter Cole Behrens.”

As part of the zoning changes, Columbus has targeted 12,300 parcels along major bus corridors throughout the city and allows for case-by-case height and parking variances to help increase the number and affordability of new housing units. Building heights in these zones, previously restricted to 35 feet, can now go as high as 16 stories along some major streets; in most instances, to get the maximum height allowed, developers will have to meet an “affordability requirement” that “grants them two to four extra stories, based on the category, if developers provide the required amount of affordable housing.” The code also eliminates parking requirements for large developments, which previously were required to provide hundreds of off-street parking spaces, often in the form of expensive underground garages.