City Council approves West Ash downzoning request

UPDATE: The Columbia City Council approved the request from the residents to downzone their properties. Councilman Matt Pitzer was the only dissenting vote.

ORIGINAL STORY: The request to downzone 38 homes in central Columbia will come before the City Council on Monday night.

According to a council memo, if the rezoning is approved, 33 homes will go from being two-family dwellings to one-family dwellings, four will go from being multiple-family dwellings to one-family dwellings and one will go from being a multiple-family dwelling to being a two-family dwelling.

Downzoning is a process by which an area is rezoned to a less dense and developed usage. The goal of the rezoning is to discourage the growth of large redevelopment projects in the West Ash area.

The Planning and Zoning Commission considered the request on March 8. Four people, including the applicant, Christine Gardner, spoke in favor of the request. Gardner made the request on behalf of the group of 38 people.

According to the memo, although commissioners shared concerns about decreasing the available density of the area and how that may affect housing affordability, they voted unanimously to approve the request. Gardner had indicated that they could approve accessory dwelling units as necessary.

All the homes are located within the West Central Columbia Neighborhood Action Plan.

Benton-Stephens residents just requested and were granted a similar downzone which included 35 parcels.