Similar to local Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) offices and programs, Columbus’s 21 area commissions could someday be shuttered by those in power, several housing advocates and activists told the Free Press.
While fundamentally different, DEI offices and area commissions share similar missions: They are pro-people by giving one and all a chance to speak out against those who control the strings and pocketbooks.
From the Near East to the Hilltop to the Far South Side to the Far West Side, these 21 area commissions are resident-based and strictly recommending bodies, they have no legal authority. But they have a consequential purpose: To represent their neighborhood(s) when City officials try to force unwanted development into their community. Commissions are also committed to preservation and enhancement of parks, streets and traffic. And during this time of unprecedented growth, logic suggests these commissions are needed more than ever.
However, the recent overhaul of local zoning codes, formally called Zone In, promises to streamline the variance process with this mostly in mind: Build more density – higher with less parking – in Columbus’s most popular corridors, such as on High Street in Clintonville. But City officials barely mentioned specifics on what would be “streamlined,” thus lost on most residents who are too busy to fully grasp the process.
Now, where Zone In applies, area commissions are no longer allowed to give recommendations or push back on new developments unless they are one of the few commissions with architectural review powers, such as in German Village. Area commissions, for example, after hearing from residents, take votes on zoning variance requests. What’s more, two years ago before the roll out of Zone In, City officials took away each area commission’s $2,500 stipend to pay for expenses.
“One of the gripes by developers was having to work with area commissions,” said former Columbus mayoral candidate Joe Motil. “Area commissions presented too many demands which slowed the construction process, and, in their opinion, added costs to projects. That was one of the intentions of Zone In. Eliminating citizen input while catering to developers’ needs and their excessive profit margins. Tax abatements included, of course.”
Bruce Miller once led the Far South Columbus Area Commission – but was forced out by City officials for speaking out against Zone In. Nonetheless, Miller, who moved to Florida last year after being ousted, has kept an eye on his former commission. One which he believes has been “dormant” for at least a year because no developer has been able to get a rezoning application before them over the past twelve months. There’s also been no public meeting notices, or no minutes of meetings posted on the commission’s web site.
“I literally have had a dozen developers contact me in Florida looking for help trying to get their rezoning projects heard by the Far South Columbus Area Commission. They can’t get a hold of anyone to help,” he said. “Literally handcuffing these projects for eight to nine months, which opens up the City to litigation [sued by these developers].”
These developers are proposing projects outside the boundaries of Zone In’s South Side coverage, which is mostly the South High Street corridor, so they need the old style of community input, says Miller. Each of the 21 commissions is represented by a City employee, a Neighborhood Liaison, and the Free Press requested a response from Katherine Cull, the liaison for the Far South Columbus Area Commission. We did not hear back before publication, but will update the story if we do.
Miller had a passion for leading his former commission, and his dedication to the entire South Side remains to this day. But how the Far South Columbus Area Commission is being handled and treated these days does not come as a surprise.
“My gut is telling me that what I predicted,” he says. “I predicted [after Zone In was introduced] that area commissions will be merged forcibly. I think it will go from twenty-ish area commissions to maybe ten big ones. Packed with Ginther’s hand-picked appointees.”
Area commissions have subcommittees, such as a zoning subcommittee, which, for example, after a development is proposed, will go to the site and take a long look at whether the proposal is good fit for the neighborhood.
“We try to represent the neighborhood that you are from: Do you want this development or not? The civic [another subcommittee in a commission] votes it up or down,” said the chairperson who wished for anonymity out of fear of retaliation from City officials. “Then the zoning committee in a subcommittee votes it up or down. Even though commissions have no legal power there is an extensive pre-process when a development proposed in a Columbus neighborhood.”
The unnamed source takes their zoning committee responsibilities very seriously even though it doesn’t pay and takes up a lot of their time. Zone In, they believe, is the City’s indirect way of telling area commissions, their civics and zoning committees: ‘We are tired of all the zoning fights, the City knows best.’ The unnamed source confides that Zone In “could be a good thing,” but “I think it’s going to change the feel of Columbus to where it’s not going to be the Columbus we know.”
“We’re going higher, more density and storge of people,” they said. “It seems like a majority of people I talk to that don’t want it are not the people who want to go to the meetings and speak up. They just want to be left alone and live life. They don’t want the congestion and traffic that come with. You go up to the Short North and it’s a fight to find a parking spot. I didn’t move to New York, I don’t want to live in Chicago, and I don’t want New York and Chicago to move here.”
If or when the day comes area commissions no longer exist, the public is going to wake up, see the “ground broken and the build going up, and they’re going to ask, ‘What’s that for?’” said the unnamed source.
