Pataskala planning commission rejects rezoning request for 192-acre technical park
The Pataskala Planning and Zoning Commission opposed a plan to rezone nearly 200 acres for a technical park in the city's northwest corner.
After more than an hour of presentations, comments from residents and deliberation Wednesday night, the commission unanimously recommended denying rezoning 192 acres at the city's northwest corner from rural residential and medium-low density residential to planned manufacturing district. The recommendation now goes before Pataskala City Council, which has the final say on the rezoning.
A technical park developed by Fair Lady LLC and Greenbriar Licking LLC was planned for the land, which is bordered by Clark State Road to the northwest, Summit Road to the east and Graham Road to the south.
The 192-acre property abuts Beech Road and New Albany’s growing innovation district, which is home to tech giants Google, Facebook and Amazon.
The plans call for building the tech park in phases, and the numerous buildings would total more than 1.2 million square feet of industrial space, with about 349,000 square feet expected as part of the first phase.
Pataskala's comprehensive plans calls for large-scale industrial, research and office users in that area.
Fair Lady and Greenbriar Licking's plan was just conceptual and they were not beholden to adhere to it, city Planning Director Scott Fulton said. But he added the developers still would need to submit specific plans later in the development process.
"If they were to develop this in 20-acre increments, every time they develop, they have to have a plan; it has to be approved by council, and they have to provide all the plans and documentation that then they must adhere to when they build," he said.
But with no current specific plans about traffic impacts, when the site would have water and sewer service from the Southwest Licking Community Water and Sewer District and other factors, it left commission members with too many questions.
"There's a lot of concerns here. I know it would take years and years and years. But I don't know how you would resolve some of these issues when the whole surrounding areas are nothing but residential and agriculture," commission member Stephanie Daugherty said.
Nearby residents who were vehemently opposed to the rezoning packed the meeting, citing concerns about traffic, impact to their wells and septic systems and more.
Clark State Road resident Vicki Gigliotti said she struggled to see the rationale for rezoning the northwest corner of the city for an innovation area when there are hundreds of undeveloped acres along Board Street and Etna Parkway that already have the proper zoning and the necessary infrastructure to support large-scale development.
"This isn't about not wanting to live next door to an industrial park. We basically already do. For the innovation area to exist, our homes can't," she said. "If this rezoning is approved we, and eventually everyone in the innovation area, will have to completely start over."
Gigliotti said this rezoning would affect every aspect of daily life for nearby residents.
"This rezoning not only impacts us that are right next door to the Fair Lady project, but it ensures that every resident in the area will be at risk of the same fate in the future. There's already a daily cacophony of beeping, pounding, clanking and crashing that we hear from the New Albany business park," she said. "I can't imagine how much louder and more disruptive those sounds will be right next door. Not to mention the disruption of the eventual manufacturing businesses."
Jeff Koren, another nearby resident, said given the property's close proximity to the existing Google, Amazon and Facebook facilities, he said the city should take the time to ensure what is built is not just another "Etna-looking manufacturing district."
"We could use this opportunity to put Pataskala on the map instead of being New Albany's ugly stepsister," he said.
Anne Evans, who has owned the property for more than 40 years, said she wanted to change the zoning to manufacturing as a way to bring jobs to the area and not more housing that would flood the already growing Licking Heights Local Schools District with more students.
"I would rather see jobs here than people here," she said.
Pataskala City Council will hold its own public hearing on the rezoning in late November or early December, Fulton said. Council may accept the recommendation or overturn it with a super majority vote, which would be five out of the seven council members.
mdevito@gannett.com
740-607-2175
Twitter: @MariaDeVito13
This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Pataskala planning commission rejects rezoning for 192-acre tech park
