Athens City Council discusses zoning changes to fill housing gaps and shows skepticism to possible changes to the city’s DORA

By: Jack Greene
Posted on: Tuesday, August 27, 2024

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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) – Athens city officials believe a proposed ordinance could bring more affordable housing to the city.

The proposal would decrease the minimum square footage for residential lots.

City Councilmember Alan Swank said at Monday’s Planning and Development Committee meeting, that there are several empty plots of desirable land across Athens.

He hopes the proposed changes will help fill those plots with affordable housing.

Currently for an R-1 zone, which is single-family homes, the minimum square footage in Athens is 8,000 square feet. Under the proposed ordinance that minimum would go down to 4,000 square feet.

The minimum square footage for homes in an R-2 zone would also decrease. The minimum square footage for one-family homes would go down from 6,ooo square feet to 3,500 square feet. For two-family homes, the minimum square footage would decrease from 7,000 square feet to 5,000 square feet.

The minimum square footage for multi-family zones, or an R-3 zone, would also be trimmed down. The changes would cut the minimum requirement to 3,000 square feet for a single-family home and 4,ooo square feet for two-family homes. Apartment complexes would also see a decrease in lot size. The minimum requirement would change from 10,ooo square feet to 5,000 square feet.

Swank said “a vast majority” of lots in Athens are already under the minimum square footage requirement in the city, including his own.

“I’m guessing mine is probably 6,000 at most, and it’s a typical lot on the Far East side,” he said. “We have lots even smaller than that.”

Swank said he believes these changes will open the possibility for more density in Athens.

“The infrastructure already exists. The water lines are already under the streets, the electricity is already on the poles, or buried in some neighborhoods, and sewer is already there,” he said. “It is just a matter of connecting up.”

Councilmember Solveig Spjeldnes, chair of the Athens Affordable Housing Commission, said she sees this as an opportunity for the city.

“This is certainly what is considered the best practices as a growing body of change,” she said.

Athens City Planner Meghan Jennings said this could help the city meet current affordable housing demand.

“Affordability is a big issue and this is just one piece of that puzzle,” she said. “These are things we can control as a city as we are allowing smaller and smaller homes through these revisions to actually be legal in our city.”

Swank said the proposed changes would not have a major impact on the look and feel of the city’s neighborhoods.

The proposed ordinance is expected to be up for first reading at the Council’s meeting next Tuesday.

The Committee of the Whole also met on Tuesday to discuss topics including a pilot program that would add additional days to the city’s Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area (DORA).

The city’s DORA runs through the summer while Ohio University students are on break, but under a new proposal, the DORA could be expanded into the school year.

The city administration proposal would add OHIO’s Homecoming, Mom’s Weekend, and Spring Commencement to the list of dates when the DORA is open.

City Council President Sam Crowl, filling in for Mayor Steve Patterson, said this is a “proposed change to see how it works.”

Crowl said the proposal was written in consultation with the Athens police and fire departments. He said the goal is to decrease the overcrowding at bars in Uptown during those weekends.

“If DORA is open and somebody can have their DORA beverage on the sidewalk, it is thought that will mean less people crowding inside the bar,” he said.

Crowl said instead of the DORA being open during only certain hours of the day, during the proposed weekends the DORA would be open the entire day.

Councilmembers seemed skeptical of the idea.

Many asked what this could mean for businesses and people traveling to Uptown for these events. They also wondered how this could impact city resources.

Spjeldnes said she doesn’t think the city needs any of that behavior with additional opportunities to drink.

“The last thing we need is more drunk moms,” she said. “That weekend is already a horrific embarrassment.”

Councilmember Michael Wood said he is in favor of the city’s DORA during the summer, but agreed expanding it into the school year would be “adding fuel to the fire.”

The earliest the proposed ordinance could go up for first reading is at the Council’s meeting next Tuesday, but members agreed the proposal is not ready to move forward.