Large housing development planned for Hilliard

Plans for more than 1,000 single-family homes and apartments on 369 acres on the east side of Alton & Darby Creek Road south of Roberts Road are moving forward now that Columbus City Council has approved annexation of the land.

The land will be annexed from Brown and Norwich townships into Columbus, and sits in Hilliard City Schools, said Tom Hart, an attorney representing the developers, Pulte Homes of Ohio and Harmony Development Group.

The next step will be to seek rezoning from the Columbus Development Commission, which would make a recommendation to the full City Council.

“We hope to go before the development commission in March or April,” Hart said.

The development is being referred to as Sugar Farm, a reference to the family that owned most of the land.

Some neighbors — even those a few miles away — are watching warily.

“We have many concerns,” said Debi Hampton, president of the Cross Creek Village Civic Association.

Although the civic association is several miles from the proposed development, it has been acting on behalf of neighbors until the Far West Area Commission for Columbus becomes an official advisory commission to consider such matters, Hampton said.

The developers would seek to rezone the land as a planned-unit development.

A nonbinding recommendation was expected from the Cross Creek association after a presentation from Hart that was scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 6.

“We have concerns about traffic and about the number of additional students that would go to (Hilliard City) Schools,” Hampton said.

Hart said “a significant traffic study” has been completed as part of the rezoning and development proposal. In addition to communicating with neighbors, the developers have reached out to the school district, including Superintendent John Marschhausen.

“We are proud that developers want to build in our district, yet are mindful of the fiscal impact of rapid growth,” Marschhausen said.

Hart said he did not know how many students the development would add to the district, but a “significant majority” of the proposed 1,108 residences are single-family homes, with a small number of apartments and emptynester housing.

Hart described the single-family residences as “move-up” housing, costing between $325,000 and $350,000.

If approved, construction would not begin for 18 months to two years, and the project has a seven- to 10-year buildout, Hart said.

Columbus leaders previously indicated the city has adequate sanitary-sewer and water services for the proposed development, Hart said.