Explanation
BACKGROUND: By Ordinance Nos. 2446-2003, 0451-2004, and 1007-2004, City Council, as the “organizational board of commissioners,” determined a petition for a new community authority filed with the Clerk of City Council by Downtown Columbus, Inc., formerly Columbus Downtown Development Corporation, (the “Developer”) was sufficient and established the RiverSouth Authority (the “Authority”) pursuant to Ohio Revised Code Chapter 349 to support the redevelopment of several square blocks in downtown Columbus generally bounded by Town Street and State Street on the north, High Street and Wall Street on the east, Rich Street and Cherry Street on the south, and Front Street and Ludlow Street on the west (the “District”). In partnership with the City to implement the 2022 Downtown Columbus Strategic Plan adopted by City Council pursuant to Resolution No. 0164X-2022, the Developer is currently planning new financing, land acquisition, land development, and community facilities in downtown Columbus. By Resolution Nos. 0018X-2023, 0034X-2023, and 0046X-2023, the District was expanded by a first amendment to petition to include three additional non-adjacent properties located near the following intersections: Long Street and Wall Street, Gay Street and Front Street, and Walnut Street and Washington Avenue.
To further implement the 2022 Downtown Columbus Strategic Plan, the Developer now seeks to add to the District certain additional properties it owns or controls. On or about October 23, 2024, the Developer submitted to the Clerk of City Council a second amendment to petition (the “Second Amendment”) to add the Developer’s additional properties to the District. City Council is now required by Ohio Revised Code Chapter 349 to determine the sufficiency of the Second Amendment, authorize public notices, and fix a time and place for a public hearing on the Second Amendment for the additional properties. City Council in this Resolution also authorizes the City’s Director of the Department of Development, or his or her authorized designee, to publish a public notice of the time and place for the public hearing regarding this proposed Second Amendment; to hold the required hearing on the Second Amendment; and to forthwith certify to City Council that the hearing was held as advertised.
Emergency Justification: An emergency exists in the usual daily operation of the Department of Development in order to provide notice in a newspaper for three weeks prior to the public hearing and set the public hearing date within 30-45 days of the date after the Second Amendment was filed with the City Clerk in accordance with the requirements of Ohio Revise Code Chapter 349.
FISCAL IMPACT: No funding is required for this legislation.
Title
To determine that the Second Amendment to Petition for Organization of a New Community Authority that provides for the addition of certain developer-owned or controlled property to the new community district of the RiverSouth Authority is sufficient and complies with the requirements of Chapter 349 of the Ohio Revised Code; to set the time and place for a public hearing on the Second Amendment; to authorize the notice of such public hearing by publication in a newspaper for three consecutive weeks; and to declare an emergency. ($0.00)
Body
WHEREAS, pursuant to Chapter 349 of the Ohio Revised Code, on March 15, 2004, Downtown Columbus, Inc., formerly Columbus Downtown Development Corporation, (the “Developer”) filed the Petition for Organization of a New Community Authority (the “Original Petition”) for the establishment of the RiverSouth Authority (the “Authority”) with the Clerk of City Council (the “City Clerk”); and
WHEREAS, City Council passed Ordinance No. 2446-2003 on November 17, 2003, which directed the City Clerk to execute and sign the Original Petition on behalf of City Council and the City of Columbus; and
WHEREAs, City Council, as the “organizational board of commissioners” as that term is defined in Section 349.01(F) of the Ohio Revised Code, passed Ordinance No. 0451-2004 on March 15, 2004, determining that the Original Petition complied as to form and substance with the requirements of Section 349.03(A) of the Ohio Revised Code and fixing the time and place for a hearing on the establishment of the Authority; and
WHEREAs, City Council, as the organizational board of commissioners, held a public hearing on the Original Petition on April 19, 2004, after public notice was duly published in accordance with Section 349.03(A) of the Ohio Revised Code; and
WHEREAS, City Council passed Ordinance No. 1007-2004 on June 21, 2004, determining that the RiverSouth District encompassing several square blocks in southwest downtown Columbus (the “District”) would be conducive to the public health, safety, convenience, and welfare and that it was intended to result in the development of a new community as described in Chapter 349 of the Ohio Revised Code, and declaring the Authority organized as a body corporate and politic in the State of Ohio; and
WHEREAS, pursuant to Section 349.03(B) of the Ohio Revised Code, on January 19, 2023, the Developer submitted to the City Clerk an Amendment to Petition for Organization of a New Community Authority (the “First Amendment”) to add additional non-adjacent properties to the District; and
WHEREAS, City Council, as the organizational board of commissioners, adopted Resolution No. 0018X-2023 on January 30, 2023, as amended by Resolution No. 0034X-2023 adopted on February 27, 2023, determining that the First Amendment complied as to form and substance with the requirements of Section 349.03(A) of the Ohio Revised Code, authorizing the consent to add certain property to the District, and fixing the time and place for a hearing on the first expansion of the District; and
WHEREAS, City Council, as the organizational board of commissioners, held a hearing on the First Amendment on February 21, 2023, after public notice was duly published in accordance with Section 349.03(A) of the Ohio Revised Code; and
WHEREAS, City Council, as the organizational board of commissioners, adopted Resolution No. 0046X-2023 on April 3, 2023, authorizing the first expansion of the District pursuant to the First Amendment, approving supplementation of the Authority’s new community development program in alignment with the 2022 Downtown Columbus Strategic Plan adopted by City Council pursuant to Resolution No. 0164X-2022, and certifying that the public hearing was held in compliance with the requirements of Chapter 349 of the Ohio Revised Code; and
WHEREAs, Section 349.03(B) of the Ohio Revised Code authorizes the Developer to file one or more amendments of the Original Petition by filing an application to add land to the District at any time after the creation of the Authority, and upon the filing of such an application, City Council, as the organizational board of commissioners, shall follow the same procedure to approve the amendment as required by Section 349.03 in relation to the Original Petition; and
WHEREAS, the Developer, as the “developer” within the meaning of Section 349.01(E) of the Ohio Revised Code, filed a second amendment to the Original Petition (the “Second Amendment”) with the City Clerk as required by Chapter 349.03(B) of the Ohio Revised Code for the second addition of territory to the District as shown on Exhibit A attached thereto (the “Expansion Area”); and
WHEREAS, the Developer has requested that City Council, as the organizational board of commissioners, determine that the Second Amendment complies as to form and substance with the requirements of Section 349.03 of the Ohio Revised Code, and fix the time and place of a hearing on the Second Amendment; and
WHEREAS, an emergency exists in the usual daily operation of the Department of Development in that it is immediately necessary to make the legislative determinations regarding the sufficiency of the Second Amendment in order to provide notice in a newspaper for three weeks prior to a public hearing and set the public hearing date within 30-45 days of the date after the Second Amendment was filed in accordance with the requirements of Chapter 349 of the Ohio Revised Code, all for the preservation of the public health, peace, property, safety, and welfare of the City; NOW THEREFORE,
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS:
Section 1. That this Council acknowledges and determines that it is the “organizational board of commissioners” for all purposes of Chapter 349 of the Ohio Revised Code; that this Council has examined the Second Amendment and finds and determines that the Second Amendment complies with the requirements of Section 349.03 of the Ohio Revised Code as to form and substance.
Section 2. That the Director of the Department of Development, or his or her duly authorized representative, shall hold a public hearing on the Second Amendment to expand the District to include the Expansion Area, and such hearing shall be held at 9:30 a.m. on November 22, 2024, in the Michael B. Coleman Government Center, 111 North Front Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215. That the Director of the Department of Development, or his or her duly authorized representative, shall certify to City Council in writing that the hearing was held as advertised.
Section 3. That the City Attorney, City Clerk, the Director of the Department of Development, or any of them individually, shall arrange for notice of the public hearing by publication once each week for three consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in Franklin County pursuant to Section 349.03(A) of the Ohio Revised Code; provided that each such publication shall appear prior to the public hearing described in Section 2 hereof.
Section 4. For the reasons stated in the preamble hereinabove, this Resolution is declared to be an emergency measure and shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage and approval by the Mayor, or ten days after the passage if the Mayor neither approves nor vetoes the same.