When trying to get a preview of what Zone In could do to Columbus’s most popular corridors and neighborhoods, it’s looking more and more likely this future of “density” will drastically alter Old North first. 

Old North is also known fondly by many a campus kid as “North Campus,” but those who have spent a lifetime here prefer Old North. What remains of its early-to-mid-20th century buildings stretch from Lane and High to Glen Echo Ravine. And in this popular corridor the last morsels of old-school Columbus live on, such as Dick’s Den, the (new) Blue Danube, and Ace of Cups, for example.  

But two large mixed-use developments separated by just a few hundred feet are moving forward on North High Street in Old North and there’s no way to stop them, says Seth Golding, an Old North activist and homeowner. Both developments also include apartment towers, and the tower proposed for Lane and High could reach 16-stories and not offer a single parking space, he says. Before Zone In, passed by City Council in 2024, the highest a developer could go on High Street near campus was six stories.

“And six would be with special, special variances. And we’d step them back, so it didn’t look like the Titanic was parked on High Street ,” says Golding, who also chairs the zoning committee of the University Area Commission. “Out-of-state developers must me salivating. ‘We can build it ten stories without no parking.’ They got everything they want with Zone In. ‘We can go high, and we don’t have to park a damn car.’ It’s really crazy. This just recently passed [Zone In], but they’re going to come in with Brinks trucks of money and buy blocks – and you’re not going to be able to stop it.” 

Golding stresses he is strictly speaking from the point-of-view of a multi-decade Old North homeowner and not in his capacity as an area commissioner. And the Free Press is well aware the astro-turf group Neighbors For More Neighbors and its supporters bitterly call us “Nimbys” (Not In My Backyard) and will label Golding with the same insult. But those who love Old North have legitimate beef with the out-of-state developers who are behind the two developments, and they want to be heard.

For starters, there’s plenty of open spaces throughout Columbus where density seems far more reasonable and needed, such as long-vacant Cooper Stadium in Franklinton. And while the faux Neighbors For More Neighbors will continue to condescend and dismiss so-called Nimbys, you can’t fool all of them. Many are aware of what’s truly behind this need for density – which some argue is code for brutalist-styled towers or buildings made-on-the-cheap and crammed with overpriced match-boxed size apartments.

On Lane Avenue up the street from Ohio State is the new 380-unit Rambler House which just opened this summer and laughably describes itself as “luxury student housing.” True, the price of lumber and steel are up as well as borrowing costs, but the cheapest six-bedroom at 1,900-square feet costs each roommate $1,225 a month – putting a serious crimp into the argument that density will lower the cost of housing for everyone. Which is ironic, considering musicians and artists gravitated to Old North because of its (past) affordability. But no doubt any new development here will be “luxury student housing.” What’s more, the University District, which Old North is a part of, is already the densest district in the state of Ohio.

“Yet they want to keep jamming in projects,” says Golding.   

Zone In also reduces the need for variances, which is Golding’s expertise as zoning chair (“I don’t think there’s a building on High Street we hadn’t had input in,” he said referring to before Zone In took effect). Thus, it takes away the concerns and recommendations of area commissions, which negotiate with developers on height, setbacks and parking.

Golding recalls when a developer came to his commission with plans for a mixed-use, and a homeowner who lived very close to the proposed development looked at the plans and noticed their driveway was missing from the design. 

“They would have had a big wall, from a parking entrance, directly in front of their house,” he says. “The community will be left out of dialogue because they are deemed unneeded. And whether you like it or not, by coming to zoning, and having the neighbors weigh in, you eradicate a lot of huge problems, which is helpful for developers. [But] the City says, ‘If you don’t need a variance, leave them out of it.’” 

When City leadership first proposed Zone In, they blared to the community “We need this!” or “Our current zoning code is 70 years old,” says Golding, who scoffed at these talking points.

“Well, it doesn’t mean because it’s old that it was bad. I equate it to traffic lights. Stop is red and green is go. We’ve had those for 100 years and it works really good. Our zoning codes were working pretty good. It gave residents a great way to weigh in, and stop things like, ‘You’re building a wall in front of my place – oh, we didn’t realize that.’ Yeah, because you’re having dialogue with the people who are going to be totally affected,” he said.

Besides the possible 16-stories at Lane and High, the second development in question is where the current Little Bar site is. Before Zone In, the Texas-based developer American Campus Communities proposed to go 6-stories, now they want 9-stories offering 800 beds. As for the Lane and High project, proposed by Georgia-based Landmark Properties, Golding says he has “no idea” where it stands, but it’s certainly going to be built.

“I haven’t seen a thing about it, and here I chair zoning. And I may not even see a thing,” he says.