Blue tents filled with volunteers asking passersby to sign a petition have spread across Worthington this summer as a citizen group, Democracy Before Developers, seeks to put a City Council zoning decision that would allow an apartment complex to be built north of the Colonial Hills neighborhood on the ballot.
Worthington City Council's July 20 vote rezoned around 20 acres of land at 445 E. Dublin Granville Road to a Planned Unit Development zone, allowing builder Elford Development to construct a $52.4 million, 248-unit housing development on land currently owned by disability nonprofit I Am Boundless.
If the group gathers more than 3,000 valid signatures before Sept. 21, the zoning change will be placed on the Nov. 2027 ballot for voters to
approve or disapprove.
Under the development plan, Elford will buy the land from I Am Boundless, one of Worthington's largest employers. I Am Boundless agreed to retain its existing jobs and expand its workforce by 65-80 jobs as a part of the project.
Residents involved with Democracy Before Developers have a variety of objections to the apartment complex, including increased traffic, environmental degradation, affordability issues, and the tax abatement offered to Elford, organizer Martin Shumway said in a statement. The petition effort started July 23, just a few days after the council vote.
"Residents from several different parts of Worthington had spoken up at every stage of the city’s process, raising serious concerns. These concerns weren’t addressed. Instead, we were told 'change is hard' at the [Municipal Planning Commission] in late June. That was a turning point for a lot of us, and we met in July to explore what our options were. When council approved the re-zoning for the project on July 20, it became clear that the referendum was our only remaining recourse," Shumway said in an email.
The vast majority of the development's homes will be apartments in two- and three-story buildings, but there will be two single-family homes on the lot to provide a buffer between the development and surrounding single-family homes, according to project documents shared with Worthington City Council in July.
Patrick Maynard, president and CEO of I Am Boundless, said in an email that the developer had already adjusted building heights, the layout of the community, rooflines, setbacks, landscaping, and visual barriers because of public feedback. I Am Boundless is opposed to the citizen petition.
"Community engagement does not mean that every participant will receive everything they want. It means concerns are heard, considered, and used to inform decisions. That happened here repeatedly," Maynard said.
The Worthington Chamber of Commerce, development group Building Worthington's Future and several members of Worthington City Council have all stood by the July rezoning as the petition circulates.
Shumway did not share how many signatures his group had gathered when asked by The Dispatch, but said the group is "cautiously optimistic about our chances of success as long as we keep working hard."
Reporter Nathan Hart can be reached at NHart@dispatch.com, @NathanRHart on X and nathanhart.dispatch.com on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Controversial Worthington zoning change leads citizens to push for referendum
