The Planning & Zoning Committee of the City Council met on Wednesday to hear the presentation by BR Realty Properties regarding their plans for a housing development right across the street from Ohio Christian University (OCU). Speaking for the developer was their consultant, Gary Smith of G2 Planning & Design.
Smith went through the images from the original design to the most recent, showing the evolution of the project as it successfully accommodated the requests of the various entities involved. The development project, named the Jodiro Property, started out as a “low density housing development” has now become a “planned urban development.”
A planned urban development, or PUD, is an agreement to develop an area of land, usually large, to include a diversified group of residential, commercial, industrial, and natural structures. What started out as 586 single-family homes has become a mix of 550 homes, townhomes and apartments. This mixed use resulted from the need to make accommodations.
The first change request concerned the original location of the entrance off US-22. The city asked that the entrance off US-22 be moved so that it would be right across from the main entrance to OCU. This request was first made in December 2022. Another request was to make a second entrance from the Jodiro Property onto Bolender Pontius Road.
The requested change in the location of the entrance off US-22 led to the developer entering into discussions with Rev. Mike Holbrook, the General Superintendent of The Church of Christ in Christian Union (CCCU) located at 1553 US-22, just to the north of the Jodiro Property.
The first meeting between the developer and Holbrook took place in the spring of 2023, and proceeded slowly due to the need to involve the entire board in the decision.
This spring, when the entire church board was able to meet and see the plans, they came back with two requests. They wanted the apartments to be relocated away from the school, and they wanted the developer to set aside three acres of land within the Jodiro Property to be a site for an actual church for parishioners.
These requests were agreed to by the developer, and the updated plot plan is included here. These updated plans await final and formal approval by the church board. The lot sizes for the single-family homes were not shrunk in the process of making all the changes.
The owner of the property adjacent to the Jodiro Property wanted to know why his property was zoned “non-residential” and yet the Jodiro Property was zoned for single-family housing. Without all of the facts in hand, it was difficult for Chairman Jim Stanley to provide a complete and final answer. However, it was noted that if the Jodiro Property had already been annexed into the City of Circleville, then it would automatically get the residential zoning that his lot does not have. This concerned citizen also stated his opinion that the Jodiro Property was inside the floodplain. This was not the understanding of Chairman Stanley, but it will no doubt be looked into and confirmed.
The final comment came from another adjacent property owner who was concerned about any potential drainage on the properties. The engineer for the developer stated that any water that is currently coming from the Jodiro Property, or from any other property and onto their property, would go into a storm sewer system. He explained that there will be a network of storm sewers and catch basins to collect all that water and deliver it to a regional detention system where its release will be delayed to prevent flooding.
He also stated that the entrance onto Bolender Pontius Road was at a low spot, making it potentially difficult for drivers on the road to see cars exiting the Jodiro Property.
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