On Development: Local strategies, national threats

This column is typically critical of public bodies and private businesses that shape the development and transportation of Columbus and central Ohio. Once Spring had sprung, however, I opted to take a rosier look at things.

I had already embarked on an account of attitudes and approaches that make me more optimistic about our region but then saw a news story about the Affordable Housing Trust for Columbus and Franklin County hitting the “pause” button on a program that is greatly needed and has shown promise.

The Emerging Developers Accelerator Program started three years ago and has since graduated four “cohorts” of smaller scale minority developers – 53 people in all. The program is aimed at neighborhood-oriented new developers and offers training on such details as site selection, zoning, finance, and construction. A Columbus Dispatch report noted that, so far, the program has led to 111 new apartments in 13 projects.

The training program costs $1,200, but those who complete it and submit development plans are eligible for forgivable or low-cost loans. Last year, however, available funding was “fully deployed,” stalling some projects.

But now the housing trust has put the program on hold. While it’s not unusual for programs to pause and be reassessed as time goes by, it seems odd to halt just as a new cohort of developers was ready to start in April.

Still, the program exists. And it’s likely to return with the same mission. Meanwhile, city officials are taking serious looks at innovative finance models for affordable housing of all types (models that, ideally, would reduce reliance on tax giveaways). The city and local advocacy groups see the need for smaller-scale, neighborhood-based affordable housing as well as the big projects that have dominated the scene.

Residents in the region agree. A recent survey by the Affordable Housing Alliance of Central Ohio shows broad support for duplexes, triplexes, townhouses and other multi-family buildings that blend in with typical neighborhoods. Almost 80 percent of respondents supported such housing – with 52 percent “strongly” in support. The survey of 1,400 covered people in 47 municipalities in nine central Ohio Counties.

Another example of simple, small-scale development has a complex and clunky name: accessory dwelling units, or ADUs. These small homes, typically behind a main house or above a garage, may be better known as carriage houses, granny flats, in-law suites, or alley houses. Columbus City Council is working on a pilot program that would provide incentives to build them.

That goal is helped by the city’s Zone In code update, which is much friendlier to small developers and projects than what the rigid former code allowed. City planners and Council members did considerable outreach, participating with residents in long sessions around the city. The first phase of Zone In – focusing on major corridors and busy areas – has been in effect since last fall, and other phases are emerging.

Zone In’s twin brand-name initiative is LinkUs – the $8 billion transit and active-transportation plan that passed with 57 percent of the vote in November. COTA had been funded by a 0.25 percent permanent sales tax, plus a 0.25 percent temporary tax scheduled to expire in 2026.

With passage of LinkUs, a full 1-percent of countywide sales-tax revenue will, over time, increase COTA service by 45 percent, initiate several faster bus-rapid transit (BRT) lines and help the city and Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission construct 150 miles of new sidewalks, bike lanes and recreational paths. It sounds great, but given the city’s achingly slow, incremental addition of bike lanes, some may be rightly skeptical. 

And BRT – cost-effective and workmanlike – lacks the cachet of rail. The BRT lines in Indianapolis are, indeed, rapid – or at least more rapid than the auto traffic. It’s Triple-A transit: Solid, but not Big League. Still, it’s a jump forward for Columbus.

Unfortunately, there is currently a strong movement in the country to move backward.

The Trump Administration’s effort to end congestion pricing for motor vehicles entering Manhattan shows the president’s desire to kill local programs he does not like (or, more accurately, programs whose supporters he does not like). The $9 fee has reduced congestion and improved movement of buses and fire trucks since it went into effect in January. The fees will support transit in New York City.

As with his denying of federal dollars for universities that don’t abide by his personal views, President Donald Trump shows a willingness, an eagerness, to stop local policies favored by local residents. This may apply to zoning as well – but in uncertain ways, given his flip-flopping on the topic.

We need to be vigilant about how local growth strategies are made, but now we need to be especially vigilant about national efforts to thwart our values.