Cooper Park Development Moves Forward In Columbus

COLUMBUS CITY COUNCIL

MEDIA ADVISORY

For Immediate Release: June 27, 2011

For More Information:

John Ivanic

Cooper Park Development Moves Forward

(Columbus)--The Columbus City Council unanimously voted to rezone 1215 West Mound Street, the Cooper Stadium site, from Rural to Commercial Planned Development, but not before making significant amendments to the legislation that will give increased powers to the City’s code enforcement effort. Among the changes to the application, the City Council clearly outlines enforceable language in the zoning application to strengthen the design, material and construction standards for the proposed sound wall, require a periodic inspection of a sound wall, and create a compliance review to occur one year after the beginning of operations at the site. The legislation also empowers the Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA) to limit the dates and times of all spectator events, not just motorsport events at the site.

“This has been one of the most carefully researched and considered decisions this City Council has ever made,” said A. Troy Miller, chair of the Zoning Committee. “We have received hundreds of e-mails, dozens of phone calls, held public hearings and realize that this is still an issue that divides many in the community.”

The vote is the latest step, not the last, in the process that may lead to the creation of Cooper Park, a creative reuse of a current brown field. Cooper Park will turn the site into mixed use educational and entertainment development with a proposed investment of $40-million that would revitalize the property, creating an estimated 300 jobs, an automotive research and development facility, restaurants and convention space that would serve as a regional attraction and provide and economic boost to the west side of Columbus. The BZA now will be asked to approve a special permit for any spectator events at Cooper Park.

“We believe that the amendments offered this evening will strengthen the zoning application, giving the BZA the ability to better to monitor and regulate events at the site, ensuring the development will be a good neighbor, not just in word, but in action,” said Miller.

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