Columbus approves requests to add senior living project to city

The city of Columbus would add almost 40 acres on the northeast side of the city under an annexation and rezoning plan given first approvals Tuesday night by Columbus City Council.

Developers are planning a 103-unit retirement community at the northeast corner of Talley Road and Rocky Ford Road or County Road 250N.

Neighbors expressed concerns about drainage in the area. Their worry is that the water at the location flows into the Sloan Branch creek, which already has flooding problems. Neighbors said that adding in the homes, surface streets and parking spaces would increase the water runoff, making that flooding problem worse.

City-County Plan Department Director Jeff Bergman said that under state law, the builders will have to show engineering plans that will not make the problem worse than it is now in order to build.

Council voted unanimously to approve the first reading of the annexation ordinance.

The Council also gave its first approval of a rezoning request that would change the property’s use from Agriculture to Multi-Family Residential. The changes would return for council’s final approval on July 7th.

Developers with BHI Retirement Communities said when the proposal first came before the city in February, that they had originally hoped to start construction this summer . They are still optimistic that they can begin site work this summer.