City council holds zoning public hearing
November 24, 2014
By Temple Ligon
Columbia City Council met Tuesday, November 18, at 2:00 p.m. for its work session. Its regularly scheduled meeting was on the same day at 6:00 p.m.
Top of the agenda at the work session was Finance Director Jan Alonso’s financial update as of September 30. The city’s revenue in the general fund budget for the current year comes to $128,899,726. The actual prior year 2013/2014 had total revenue and transfers in of $123,200,966, and expenditures and transfers out came to $116,978,642, concluding the actual prior year with a surplus of $6,222,324.
The 6:00 p.m. meeting included a zoning public hearing. The hot-button issue was the private dormitory amendment. At the northwest corner of Harden and Gervais, the site of the Greyhound Bus station, Atlanta-based Peak Development plans to build a $50 million apartment building aimed at college students. The site is currently zoned C-3, and Mayor Benjamin proposed all C-3 zoning allow for such buildings. A density restriction of no more than 150 bedrooms per acre would apply. Also, parking spaces per unit would come to .75, while bicycle spaces per unit must come to .25.
The current restrictions of such buildings and current zoning includes a 600-foot buffer distance from residential areas. The new buffer distance is 300 feet if there is also an active railroad track or commercial zoning or arterial street.
The private dormitory cannot have more than 60% of its units designed to accommodate three or more occupants.
The descriptive term for the building is private dormitory or student housing, but the developers cannot discriminate. All current housing equal-access language applies.
Council voted for the zoning change, and a second vote is required.
Left out of the discussion was the matter of where to relocate the Greyhound station. In the day’s agenda was a resolution to explore the feasibility of passenger rail between Columbia and Charlotte, but there was no consideration of combining the relocated Greyhound station and an improved passenger train station. Council voted for the resolution, but no one offered to discuss all the ramifications, especially the possible combination of the bus station and the passenger rail station.
