Columbus City Council has signed off on another massive housing development in the Big Darby Creek area, unanimously approving the annexation of 279.5 acres in Brown and Norwich townships for a 1,408-unit mixed-use project.
The Sept. 28 vote clears the way for Columbus-based Harmony Development Group to build on land at 6751 Roberts Road, just off the southwest corner of Roberts and Alton Darby Creek roads near Hilliard Bradley High School.
The approval comes only months after the city's Development Commission recommended a separate, controversially large project in the same corridor — Anderson Farm, led by Metro Development LLC, with roughly 600 apartments, 300 townhomes and 240 homes totaling about 1,140 units on roughly 152 acres at the southeast corner of Roberts and Alton Darby Creek roads. The Far West Side Area Commission, which advises the city on neighborhood issues, unanimously rejected that project.
Both sites fall within the Big Darby Accord, a land-use plan for the Big Darby Creek watershed that is being renegotiated for the first time in 20 years in an effort to balance growth with conservation of one of the most biodiverse areas in the Midwest.
Columbus paused the accord renegotiation in April to await additional research from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. City staff approved the Anderson Farm project under a patchwork of standards they said comply with interim guidance until a new Darby accord draft is approved.
— NewsForce Staff