The Columbus City Council has approved the first reading of an ordinance to rezone Cummins Inc.-owned property so it matches the designation of another adjoining property, also owned by the company.
The vote on the matter was 7-0. Council member Chris Bartels, R-District 1, was absent. Council member Elaine Hilber, D-District 2, abstained because she’s a Cummins employee. Ordinances must be passed on two readings to be fully approved.
Cummins is asking to rezone 10.5 acres on the east side of International Drive, about 800 feet north of the State Road 58 (450 South) intersection, from Industrial: Heavy with commitments (I3c) to Industrial: Light (I1).
“Cummins indicated that they had purchased this site, they’d like to combine this property with the I1 zoned property to the east,” city/county Planning Director Jeff Bergman said to the council. “And prerequisite for doing that is that the zoning is consistent on both those parcels.”
Directly east of the site is the Cummins Olympia Building, zoned as I1.
The Columbus Plan Commission during their meeting on June 12 voted unanimously to forward a favorable recommendation to the city council on the request.
The favorable recommendation include five previous commitments applicable to both properties from when the subject property was last rezoned in 2016.
Some are these are that there be only one access point to County Road 300W from the subject property and that landscape buffering be provided for a residential area to the west. The most “consequential” of the commitments, Bergman said, was that road improvements be made on County Road 300W when a certain amount of development occurs, serving as a trigger of sorts.
The improvements to County Road 300W would be the widening of the travel lane to a minimum of 12 feet and the installation of a 2-foot curb and gutter.
“The improvement shall occur as part of the development of and prior to occupancy of the third lot on the subject property, or 15 acres or more, cumulatively (whichever occurs first).”
Council member Grace Kestler, D-at-large, asked Jeff Bergman why an applicant would want to decrease their zoning intensity.
“It’s really up to the applicants, and I think few people choose to drop down in intensity. I think Cummins was comfortable that that zoning met their needs, and they could’ve gone either way, choosing to rezone the existing I1 site to I3, but this is a choice they made to meet their needs going forward.”
