Columbus Finalizes McCoy Park Rezoning for NWSL Training Site

Columbus has finalized the rezoning of 21.3 acres on the city's southwest side, including part of city-owned McCoy Park, to allow a private National Women's Soccer League training facility. City Council's zoning committee approved the change on September 14, 2026, and no construction permit had been filed as of October 2.

What the rezoning allows

Ordinance 2452-2026, carrying rezoning case Z26-022, changes 21.3 acres at 600 Stimmel Road from a mix of residential, rural, and commercial districts to a Commercial Planned Development district, according to the Columbus City Council record. The city's own development staff report describes the proposed use as a private athletic training facility for the National Women's Soccer League, and lists the City of Columbus as the property owner and Phil Dangerfield, represented by attorney David Hodge, as the applicant.

The 21.3-acre site is made up of four parcels: one holding the public McCoy Park, two that are undeveloped, and one that was previously a manufactured-home park.

How it cleared city hall

The Columbus Development Commission, which reviews zoning cases before they reach the council, recommended conditional approval at an August 13, 2026 hearing, pending a traffic access study. The council introduced the ordinance on August 28, 2026, and its zoning committee approved it on September 14, 2026, waiving the measure's second reading.

The council president and mayor signed the ordinance and the city clerk attested it by September 16, 2026, making the rezoning final, though the online legislative record does not publish an individual roll-call tally.

What the facility would include

Independent coverage by WOSU and NBC4 described a roughly $50 million project backed by the Haslam Sports Group, with five soccer fields and a two-story, 45,000-square-foot training building. The same reporting put $25 million from the city alongside $25 million from Franklin County, plus commitments of $12 million for food-insecurity and early-childhood programs and $3 million toward new southwest-side parks.

Those accounts, published in April and June 2026, described a site of nearly 30 acres and a groundbreaking targeted for later in 2026, figures that are broader than, and predate, the 21.3-acre rezoning the council has now completed.

The park at the center of the debate

The McCoy Park parcel is designated for 'park and open space' in the city's 2009 Southwest Area Plan, a guide the private athletic use departs from, the staff report notes. On September 16, 2026, the council also authorized moving $941,941.53 to modify a Kimley-Horn contract for a 'Gender Road Park and McCoy Park Improvements Project,' according to a separate council ordinance.

Earlier reporting said the city shelved an adaptive-park design after neighborhood opposition and pledged a working group and a replacement park on the southwest side.

What the records leave open

A CREN search of the City of Columbus building-permit dataset on October 2, 2026 found no construction permit on file for the Stimmel Road site, consistent with a project that has cleared zoning but not yet filed to build. The council record marks the ordinance passed but lists no individual vote count, and the facility's field layout, building size, and acreage figures come from news coverage rather than the rezoning text itself.

What to watch next

The McCoy Park rezoning is now law, but the next verifiable step is a building-permit application for the Stimmel Road site, which would signal a construction start and appear in the same public dataset CREN checked. A separate replacement-park plan and the facility's groundbreaking remain the public milestones that would move the project from a zoning decision on paper to construction.