COLUMBUS, Ohio — City leaders are continuing to update the outdated land use policies in central Ohio as Columbus' zoning codes continue to change.
The goal of these improvements is to help with the housing crisis and promote economic opportunity across Columbus.
“This is a really exciting time in Columbus,” said Columbus City Council President Pro Tem Rob Dorans.
There aren’t too many people that would describe zoning codes as exciting. But Dorans said the changes Columbus is about to make will be felt for a long time.
“That really is going to be that foundation of what does the city really look and feel like in 10, 20, 30 years,” said Dorans.
On Thursday, Dorans joined Mayor Andrew Ginther to announce phase two of the city’s zoning code upgrade.
“We’ve been operating with zoning code that was put in place when Columbus had about 375,000 people. We’re knocking on a million and we’re going to grow by a third more over the next 30 years,” said Ginther.
This second phase is expected to change the code for nearly half of the land in the city. It follows Columbus finishing its first zoning code update that covered 4% of its land.
“This next step will have a greater impact, give us greater ability to bring more housing units at every price point,” said Ginther.
Architect Jonathan Moody, CEO of Moody Nolan architecture firm, is leading the design process. He’s in charge of figuring out how to most efficiently use the land under the new zoning codes. He said now more than ever is the time for change.
“We’re standing here in 2025, we’re talking about, you know, 50, 70 years in the future. But we’re also talking about the reality of the zoning code that we’re currently operating on is 70 years old,” said Moody.
“My goal would be for the second phase to have an opportunity for public review, certainly at the end of this year with hopefully a vote in likely early 2026,” said Dorans.
At his State of the City earlier this year, Ginther said the goal is to build 200,000 new homes in central Ohio over the next 10 years. He said this change has the potential to unlock 88,000 new homes in that same time period.