The process to update Jerome Township’s comprehensive plan will last longer than officials initially anticipated.
During the Board of Trustees meeting Tuesday, Zoning Inspector Eric Snowden said the township received just one response to a Request for Qualifications surrounding a comprehensive plan update.
Snowden said the Union County Prosecutor’s Office recommended the trustees motion to reject the submission, and motion to repost the RFQ in hopes of receiving more applicants.
The board approved both motions with 2-0 votes, as Trustee Barry Adler was absent.
“We definitely would like more than one response, obviously,” said Trustee Chair Megan Sloat.
The zoning inspector noted that the initial RFQ included a one-year timeline for completion of the work.
He noted that “a lot of firms are already booked out,” which may have prevented some potential consultants from sending a submission.
Snowden said Wednesday morning that it is “hard to tell” what the revised timeline for completion of the project will be.
He said he plans to leave it “open to consultants” in order to increase the applicant pool, though a one-year timeline is “still typical.”
Snowden said the new RFQ will be posted April 8, with qualifications due on May 27.
The zoning inspector emphasized that the timeline for a comprehensive plan update initially pitched to the Board of Trustees, which aims for a final plan to be submitted to the board in 2023, was intended “just to be a framework.”
He said during the meeting that re-advertising the RFQ will delay the overall process.
“Things are getting pushed back and that’s just the reality,” Snowden said.
A tentative consultant selection schedule included with the RFQ indicates the top consultant will be presented to the zoning commission in August, following an interview process with a selection panel. Then, the Board of Trustees will be asked to approve a contract in August, with a notice to proceed issued in September.
The trustees also held two zoning hearings prior to their regular meeting, one for a final development plan and another for a rezoning request.
The trustees voted 2-0 to approve the final development plan for the Farm at Indian Run, although their vote was essentially a formality because a legal agreement required approval.
The residential development located on the south side of McKitrick Road will consist of 40 detached, single-family homes on 24.729 acres.
The Board of Trustees voted in August 2020 to approve rezoning the land from Rural Residential District to Planned Development District. That decision was stuck down in a May 2021 referendum election.
Developers of the property, Wicked Chicken, LLC, joined a lawsuit against the township that ultimately resulted in a consent decree which upheld the trustees’ original rezoning and mandated approval of final development plans affiliated with the property.
Rebecca Mott, attorney for the developer, said the plan is “exactly the same” as the one submitted with the consent decree.
The board also closed a hearing, but did not vote, on an application that would rezone a 3.63 acre site at 0 Industrial Parkway from Planned Development District to Regional Retail District.
Snowden explained that the site is a subarea of a development consisting of a multi-use business park and residential neighborhood, commonly known as Jerome Park, at the corner of U.S. 42 and Industrial Parkway.
Snowden said Casto, a commercial real estate agency based in Columbus, already owns the subareas with frontage along U.S. 42, which are zoned Regional Retail District.
The site in question is directly behind those subareas. The rezoning request is an attempt to bring their properties into the same zoning district, said Brent Myers with Casto.
Myers noted that a specific use for the site has not yet been established.
“This is a speculative purchase for us,” he said.
The trustees must render a decision within 20 days.
In other business:
– Jerome Township Division of Fire Chief Douglas Stewart said construction on the department’s second fire station, known as Station 211, will begin on May 5.
The township is hosting a groundbreaking ceremony for Station 211 at noon, April 11. The location of the new station is 11840 Ewing Road, near the intersection of Ewing Road and Ravenhill Parkway.