A developer's plan to bring 40 duplex units to a stretch of W. Goeller Boulevard in Columbus Township cleared a key hurdle this week, but not without a fight. TDAK Development Inc. is seeking to annex 12.64 acres at 4450 and 4570 W. Goeller Boulevard, and while the annexation sailed through unanimously, the companion rezoning request split the Columbus Plan Commission 6-2.
According to The Republic, the request to annex the property was quickly and unanimously given a favorable recommendation, but the rezoning vote that followed told a different story. The conceptual plan calls for 20 duplex buildings consisting of 40 dwelling units, with one access point onto Goeller Boulevard and another onto Traditions. The property sits beside Traditions of Columbus, an independent- and assisted-living community for seniors, adding a layer of sensitivity to how the site gets developed.
The rezoning piece covers 11.4 acres and would shift the larger parcel from RS1 single-family residential to RM multi-family residential, while the smaller parcel would move from AP agricultural preferred land to RS1, per the same report. Chad Leinart and Jonathan Isaacs, representing independent land surveying, presented the rezoning plan to commissioners. The applicants have said existing single-family residences on the property would remain as they are.
Why Two Commissioners Pushed Back
The favorable rezoning recommendation passed by a bare quorum of the commission, 6-2, with Michael Kinder and Evan Kleinhenz voting against it. Their objection centered on a core tension: the duplex layout shown to the public isn't a guarantee of what actually gets built. Planning staff and opponents said the concept plans have no conditions or commitments requiring the duplexes to be built as shown, the station's report noted.
Kleinhenz said there is no guarantee the concept will be built as presented, and he raised a sharper concern — that the property could be sold and the public notice could misleadingly suggest the duplexes would certainly be built. Assistant Planning Director Melissa Begley acknowledged the same possibility, saying a rezoned property could be sold to a different developer who could then build something more dense than what's on the concept plan. The RM designation's typical maximum is 25 units per acre, regardless of which developer ends up owning the land.
Traffic and Terrain Concerns Set Aside
Both the commission and members of the public raised concerns about uneven topography and heavy traffic on Goeller Boulevard during discussion of the project. Those concerns were treated as unrelated to this specific annexation and rezoning request and considered more suitable for a later stage of review, according to the same account.
State law requires that at least 12.5 percent of a property be contiguous with a city's corporate limits to qualify for annexation; the Goeller Boulevard property is contiguous with 90 percent of Columbus's corporate limits, well above that threshold. The Columbus Plan Commission's recommendations on both annexation and rezoning now head to the City Council, which holds final authority over whether the annexation and rezoning are approved.
Part of a Broader Wave of Columbus Rezoning Requests
The Goeller Boulevard case lands amid a string of similar annexation and rezoning requests moving through Columbus this fall. On the same day, the same plan commission advanced a separate proposal to rezone nearly 12 acres on the city's west side after debate over sidewalk-construction requirements, as reported by The Republic News. In September, the City Council finalized annexation and rezoning for roughly 80 acres on the east side, clearing the way for a subdivision of twin-patio homes, The Republic News reported.
For now, the Goeller Boulevard proposal remains a concept on paper — one that cleared the plan commission but still needs City Council sign-off before any duplexes, or something denser, can rise next to Traditions of Columbus.
