Plain Township Land Use Plan Keeps its Rural Aim

BHC will present recommendations to Plain Township's Zoning Commission December 13.

Plain Township residents can suggest final tweaks to the proposed new land use plan at a public hearing before the township's zoning commission Thursday, Dec. 13.

Bird Houk Collaborative, which the township hired this spring to update the plan, will present its final recommendations to the to the commission and to the public next week.

The proposed plan, available on the township's Web site at plaintownship.org, lays out recommended development strategies, such as focusing any retail growth on small scale retail rather than large scale, encouraging the development of the planned metro park, and working with the Ohio Department of Transportation to fix problem intersections.

Bird Houk planner Gary Smith suggested that residents who plan to attend the meeting read through the proposal so that questions or concerns can be addressed at the zoning commission meeting.

"It would be a good time to have things talked about and have questions answered," he said.

Trustees agreed in March to pay Bird Houk $24,500 for suggesting updates to the plan, which was last revised in 1996.

"Basically, we researched what's gone on over the last 10 years -- the changes and the growth that's happened in housing and the growth that's happening in the schools," Smith said.

"The character of the township has changed," Smith said. "It's no longer a sleepy rural little town. They're forced to look at ways they can keep the rural atmosphere that they have, but continue to grow in the right direction."

Planners on the project interviewed leaders from adjacent communities about their own plans for the future. Jersey Township, Harlem Township, Monroe Township, New Albany and Columbus were all part of the process.

"When you do these kinds of plans, you can't look at the township as though it's in a vacuum," Smith said

Public open houses held in the summer helped Bird Houk uncover what township residents were hoping to see in their community.

The new development strategies take into account the principals of the Rocky Fork Blacklick Accord, a development agreement between Columbus and New Albany created in the late 1990s.

"It's important that this document ... is sensitive to what the accord has proposed," Smith said.

Agreement with the development guidelines of the accord, if not the exact development plans, is essential. As the township walked the path toward the creation of the metro park in the past year, their acceptance of an annexation agreement has guaranteed them two seats on that panel.

Another big change from the plan created 10 years ago is the introduction of "conservation development," Smith said.

"It's a way to cluster housing so that you maintain a larger portion of open space as land is developed. It helps you preserve significant natural features and more of the rural character."

Zoning Commission Chairman Tom Rybski said that a first draft of the plan was presented to the zoning commission about two months ago.

"We had a preliminary draft of the plan presented to (the commission) about two months ago," Rybski said. "Now we're at the stage where we have a final draft. It's pretty much what we have concluded will be the plan. It's still subject to changes, but we believe they will be minor, if any."

The plan is just that -- a plan, a recommendation -- rather than code, Rybski said. Zoning designations on the map do not change that land's current zoning, but do help the commission make future zoning decisions.

"It was somewhat difficult to make zoning decisions using a land use plan that was old. (The new one) is more in line with what's going on in the township today," Rybski said. "With all the changes that have transpired in the last 10 years, it surely needed an update."

The public hearing scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Dec. 13 will be held in the Plain Township Fire Department, 9500 Johnstown Road, and will be followed by a vote from the zoning commission. Assuming the plan is approved, it will then be passed on to the township trustees for another public hearing and final vote, most likely in January, Board of Trustees Chairman Bud Zappitelli said.


Copyright © 2007 - Columbus Local News

By LISA AURAND
Published: Wednesday, December 5, 2007 6:06 PM EST