By Theresa Garee
Messenger Editor

The Greater Hilltop Area Commission held its meeting on Oct. 7, at the Hilltop Library.

There were many residents in attendance.

The majority of the evening was spent on zoning.  Chairperson Nick Bates opened the floor to address the smaller variances first followed by the larger variances.

First reviewed was a homeowner requiring a variance for continued use of a privacy fence. The homeowner placed the privacy fence due to continued illegal activity surrounding their home including two shootings nearby, drug use in their shed and a home robbery in June of 2025.  The homeowner’s neighbor requested the fence be taken down due to visibility issues from exiting their driveway.  After the owner’s personal account and dealings with the neighbor, the committee approved the variance.

Other variance requests included signage changes at the local Sonoco gas station and parking lot variants for a new location of an already established Animal Hospital on W Broad Street.  Both variances were passed.

The remaining variances took the most time, the first was to discuss and vote on a variance for property at 1100 Georgesville Green and Hall Road. The applicant seeks to rezone from commercial to multifamily in order to construct a 48 unit apartment complex. The owner mentioned that the 2 buildings of 24 units would have one leasing unit until both buildings were leased then there would be a resident assistant, to make sure that the parking lots are cleaned etc.  Rick Kitchen, a resident of Georgesville Greens, spoke against the variance due to the traffic intensity on Hall Road. Zoning Commissioner Nick Bates mentioned that the applicant cannot control traffic issues, that is a city duty.

After the variance was voted down, Bates said that he hoped if this goes further to Columbus that Columbus would therefore look at it and discuss how to create more livable communities and the traffic issues on Hall Road.

The last variance discussed dealt with property at 2720 Briggs Rd. The Marian Group seeks  to build a 118 unit senior assisted living facility.  The four story building would be placed on a 2.81 acre lot.  The lot is currently 2 parcels therefore the builder sought a variance for parking to be addressed as one parcel. And then reducing that required amount, normally 89 spaces, to 60 space.  The third part of the variance request was to change in height limit of the building.  Currently the height limit is 35 feet and they requested a variance to 60 feet.

“Why would you pick this location?” Chairperson James White asked.

Jarrod Burgess, Developer for the Mariam Group, answered, “We appreciate Columbus’s affordable housing initiatives.”

Brookshire resident Natalie Fiber stood up to speak for the neighborhood.  Fiber mentioned that currently the neighborhood surrounding this parcel is an area of single story ranch homes and then addressed the three parts of the variance request.

In regard to the reduced parking, Fiber explained a possible scenario: with the possibility of 25 staff onsite regularly, and a hypothesis of only a third of the seniors having their own car regularly and only a third of the seniors having a visitor on a given day… would be too few parking spaces.  At least 103 spaces would be needed for that hypothetical day.

Fiber then addressed the requested height variance.  She shared that some surrounding houses have solar panels, and the building would block their consumption of sunlight.

Burgess mentioned that unless the houses were to the north of the building they will not be in the shadow of the building.

However, the Commission voted against the variance.

Other items:

Hilltop Rise representative Danny Peterson spoke about the upcoming tire collection on October 18.  He briefly spoke on the purchase of the two mixed-use properties purchased and the upcoming meeting where he invited residents to come speak and interact with Hilltop Rise. The meeting will be held at the Hilltop Library and more information can be found via the event Facebook page, Hilltop Community Conversations.

Residents were invited to contact the city in regard to lead pipe replacement initiative, Lead Service Line Replacement.  Representative Hannah Mullen invited residents to come and speak with them at the Mid-Ohio Farm on October 16th at 6 p.m.  Columbus Water and Power will present the mapping of which residents will be able to jump into new pipe replacement via planned city construction and how homeowners, not on the planned construction map, can find out how much upgrades would cost them.  The event is also hosting free pizza.