A scheduled request for an appeal on a zoning variance granted for a townhouse project at the corner of Sixth Avenue South and Seventh Street is on hold after city officials and developer Kenny Frye discussed options for alternatives late last week.
Columbus City Council was scheduled to hear an appeal request from Edwina Williams, who lives next to the lot where the townhouses are planned to be built, at today’s meeting, which begins at 5 p.m. in the Municipal Complex. However, both city Building Inspector Kenny Wiegel and Chief Operations Officer David Armstrong said the ongoing talks have delayed her appearance.
City Attorney Jeff Turnage and City Engineer and Neel Schaffer Vice President Kevin Stafford met with Frye on Friday to discuss potential alternative options, including a possible property swap, for the development.
The Columbus zoning board approved a variance for the townhouses with a 3-2 vote last week, at a meeting that brought roughly 60 Southside residents who opposed the development. Wiegel said the lot is only 80 feet from east to west. A required 25-foot setback in the front yard and a required rear yard of 20 feet eats up 45 feet of that space, leaving the lot with only 35 feet of buildable space.
“In order to put a more attractive triplex of townhouses with a little more depth that would allow for a drive(way), Mr. Frye was asking to be allowed to encroach 10 feet into the required rear yard,” he said. “The exceptional narrowness of the rear portion was the reason the variance was granted.”
Wiegel said zoning board decisions are typically final — unlike planning commission decisions, which automatically go before the city council as recommendations — unless appealed.
Negotiations
Frye confirmed he met with city officials and said they floated a property swap as a potential option to smooth over the neighboring residents’ objections to the development. However, he said he hadn’t reached a decision, and as of Monday afternoon, things appeared that they would still proceed as originally planned.
He said he’d like to work with residents to try to smooth issues because he wants to build on the property.
“I truly understand them not wanting to have something new, but this is something that’s nice,” Frye said. “This is not something that’s going to bring some low-income (residents) and that was the whole thing — they kept saying it was going to be low-income, but it’s not low-income.”
Stafford confirmed he and Turnage discussed property swap options with Frye, noting it was the developer’s prerogative whether to accept any of those options.
A property swap, Stafford said, could include a piece of city property or private property.
“There are multiple properties he could consider,” Stafford said. “There’s some the city or the Redevelopment Authority may have, or some a church or private citizen may have.
“Depending on what property he likes, that would determine the facilitator,” he added.
Objections
Should Frye decide to stay at the property, Williams will likely proceed with her appeal to the council to change to the lot’s zoning from R-3 multi-family residential to R-1 single family.
Williams, who lives next to the lot, expressed concerns about her privacy and property value at last week’s zoning board meeting.
Wiegel said zoning changes aren’t common and have to meet a high bar.
“By state statute, if you cannot prove, one, a mistake in the original zoning or, two, there’s been a significant change in the character of the neighborhood and a public need, legally the commission and council cannot recommend rezoning,” he said.
The city first zoned the neighborhood as R-3 in the 1970s. Today, there are four apartment complexes located within a four-block radius of the Frye site.
Williams could not be reached for comment.
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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