An aerial view shows where a proposed use of an indoor soccer facility would be located at 965 Repp Drive. The Columbus Board of Zoning Appeals approved the request.
City officials approved a request to allow for a new indoor soccer facility.
The Columbus Board of Zoning Appeals on Tuesday night approved a use variance request made by Barrera Group, LLC to allow for a small-scale recreational use in the Industrial: General (I2) zoning district at 965 Repp Drive. The applicant indicated it would be used for indoor soccer for adults.
The I2 zoning district permits a wide range of uses from agricultural to commercial to industrial, but not recreational.
There are two buildings on the property — one used by Columbus Auto Group and the other 7,200 square-foot building would be the site for the indoor soccer facility. Barrera indicated to planning staff that 10 to 15 people would use the facility during practices and there would be 10 players and 20 spectators for games. Most activity at the property would occur on late afternoons, evenings and weekends, according to the planning staff report.
While a normal outdoor soccer field would not fit in the building, indoor soccer is played on a smaller field and with fewer players than outdoor soccer.
Planning staff’s preliminary recommendation was denial, saying one criterion the board looks at for variance of use requests had not been met. More specifically, whether there would be a hardship for the continued use of the property as an industrial space.
Planning staff wrote that some of the permitted I2 uses may not be viable on the property given its size and the layout of the buildings and parking lot, saying the applicant had not “demonstrated how other potentially viable industrial uses, which are permitted in the I2 zoning district, cannot be accommodated on this property.”
Ryan Brand, of Breeden Commercial, there on behalf of Barrera, disputed that interpretation.
“I think if the current property owner is planning on splitting those two buildings, and you’re trying to put an industrial space in that back building, it becomes problematic for it to be able to continue to be used as industrial if it’s in that setup,” Brand said, adding the owner is supportive of the use variance.
The county GIS system indicates the property is owned by P4 Holdings, LLC.
“I think I would also comment that it’s quite difficult for a user in this kind of capacity to find space like this that’s owned commercially in Columbus right now,” Brand said. “So they tend to have to try to identify buildings that are in (industrial) zoned spaces, and at least this one is adjacent to a commercial space.”
A motion to approve the request was approved by a 3-1 vote after a motion by board member Michael Kinder to deny the request did not receive a second.
