Franklin County Weighs Rezonings for Lennox and a Used-Car Lot

Franklin County's commissioners hold a rezoning hearing October 13 on two requests in the county's unincorporated townships: a used-car lot on South Hamilton Road in Madison Township and a new retail zoning for the Lennox Town Center shopping center in Clinton Township, both recommended for approval.

The county, not the city, is deciding

A Franklin County rezoning like these two runs through the county government rather than Columbus City Council, because the parcels sit in unincorporated townships that Franklin County zones directly. The three-member Board of Commissioners weighs recommendations from the county Rural Zoning Commission and can adopt, deny, or modify them, and any change it clears takes effect 30 days after the hearing.

A used-car lot in Madison Township

Case ZON-26-08 asks to rezone a 2.064-acre property at 3280 South Hamilton Road, across from Helen Drive, from the Rural district to Community Service so the owner can open a used motor vehicle dealership. Macca Auto Sales, acting for owner Dashnor Kodhelaj, filed the request, and the county staff reports show that staff, the Planning Commission on September 9, and the Rural Zoning Commission on September 17 all recommended conditional approval, asking only for an access easement across an existing shared driveway.

Backed despite the area plan

The Community Service district is more intense than the 2011 Blacklick-Madison Area Plan recommends for the site, which calls for lighter office, neighborhood-commercial, or apartment zoning. Staff endorsed the change anyway because the lot sits between a Community Service parcel to the south, used as an auto-parts store, and a parcel to the north rezoned for commercial use in 2025, so the switch would close a gap between two commercial zones. The file carries one caution: the northeast corner of the property lies in a FEMA-designated floodway, with the rest in a 500-year flood plain.

The Lennox Town Center case

Case ZON-26-09 would rezone the Lennox Town Center shopping center at 777 Kinnear Road, off Olentangy River Road near Ohio State University, from Limited Industrial to a Planned Shopping Center district with a Smart Growth Overlay. The staff report lists the five parcels at a combined 35.7 acres, though the county's public hearing notice summarized the request as covering about 11 acres. Applicant Jonathan Wocher filed the case for owner Lennox Town Center Limited, and staff, the Planning Commission, and the Rural Zoning Commission again recommended approval, with a revision condition the applicant has since met.

Decades as a non-conforming shopping center

The rezoning would align the center's zoning with how it has run for nearly 30 years. The center opened in 1996, and the Lantern that year pegged it at 370,000 square feet along Olentangy River Road between King Avenue and Kinnear Road, but a county zoning change in the 1990s recategorized the land to Limited Industrial, which bars retail and left the stores legally non-conforming. A 2023 Smart Growth Overlay later added standards the site also did not meet. County staff said a Planned Shopping Center district would give the center an underlying zoning that fits its history and let future tenant changes move with more predictability.

What to watch next

The commissioners' vote on October 13 is the final county step, and if either rezoning passes it becomes effective 30 days later, with the official result recorded in the board's next monthly hearing minutes. This article was prepared from the hearing agenda and staff reports before the vote, so it does not report how the commissioners ruled.