COLUMBUS ADEQUATE PUBLIC FACILITIES ORDINANCE: A NEW USE FOR AN ESTABLISHED TECHNIQUE

Deneen M. DeRodes, Beth Clark, and Stephen R. McClary
Copyright 1997 Derodes, Clark and McClary

Columbus Growth History

During the past several decades Columbus has been a city in love with territorial growth. Beginning in the mid-1950s and continuing into the current decade, most elected officials, civic leaders and business executives believed that the unfettered expansion of Columbus would assure its prosperity. This belief became the cornerstone of development policy for nearly forty years. It went unquestioned until 1991 when the city undertook its first comprehensive plan in over eighty years. Today the city considers its first growth management tool -- an adequate public facilities ordinance -- a remarkable occurrence for a community with a long tradition of growth at any cost.

Columbus growth policy was established in the mid-1950s with the expansion of its sewage treatment and water distribution facilities. Soon thereafter, agreements were reached with suburban villages defining future service areas, thereby discouraging the development of competitive systems. Having control of the facilities desired by developers, the city, with the support of suburban communities, instituted a policy requiring annexation as a condition of receiving sewer and water services. This policy produced the intended benefits. Columbus grew from 40 square miles in 1950 to 195 square miles by 1990.

During most of this period of territorial expansion, pro-growth/pro-development policies were firmly in place. As recently as 1987, it was the written policy of the city s Development Department to engage in no long-range planning because it reduces the flexibility of the private sector. Within four years, the city would undertake a comprehensive planning process which would question traditionally held beliefs and lead the community to a new understanding of the costs of unmanaged growth.

Columbus Comprehensive Plan

The city of Columbus undertook a comprehensive plan in 1991 because the community demanded it. The city had not done a comprehensive plan since 1908. By the time Columbus City Council adopted the Comprehensive Plan in 1993, it had been 85 years since the city had charted a course for its own future. But by the late 80s, Columbus was feeling the growing pains associated with its rapid expansion and development.

The Columbus Comprehensive Plan arose from the rubble of a controversial development proposal which pitted developers and neighborhoods against each other and resulted in the appointment of a broad-based task force to sort out issues, make recommendations to the city, and dim the bright light of controversy. Out of the group s deliberations came the realization that making decisions for a part of the city makes sense only in the presence of a larger context. Columbus, at that point, had no larger context. No comprehensive plan existed. Thus, the Northwest Development Task Force told the city, among other things, that a long range comprehensive plan for the city s future was needed.

City officials promptly agreed and staff members waded into the quagmire. It was clear that the comprehensive plan process should provide the mechanism to set future growth policy. It was perfectly positioned. The plan process included the most ambitious community involvement program in the city s history. The administration had embraced the work program and the city council had adopted it. The time was right and the challenge was clear.

A fundamental mandate in the decision to undertake a comprehensive plan was to create a way to better balance the timing of development with the timing of infrastructure and other city services. Columbus was -- and is -- in an enviable position of prosperity and growth. But the city had been playing catch-up with needed public facilities and services for too long.

Why an adequate public facilities ordinance?

Columbus traditional approach to providing facilities and services for new development was to follow new development where the market took it. However, the traditional approach had begun to cause problems for the city and for the city s residents and businesses. Columbus extended utilities services to serve new development. Doing so, however, caught other city agencies by surprise. The city added value to farmland by providing sewer and water services to it and then found itself unable to afford to buy parkland to serve the new development. City leaders realized that it would be impossible to ever have adequate parkland in the burgeoning northwest. Inadequate plans and funding for highway and street improvements also resulted from the traditional approach. It became more and more difficult to provide adequate city facilities and services in the face of explosive territorial growth. Many people -- citizens and city leaders alike -- realized it was time for a change.

The community was asking the critical questions:

The comprehensive plan process was the place to answer those questions.

The Columbus Comprehensive Plan is a long-range policy plan designed to help decision makers of all kinds make the day-to-day decisions that add up to the future of a community. Developing a mechanism to balance the timing of growth and infrastructure was one of hundreds of issues faced in the 18-month technical process to develop Columbus first comprehensive plan in more than 80 years. The plan is organized generally into three areas -- land use, infrastructure, and community facilities. The plan focuses attention on downtown, neighborhoods, development districts, environmental districts, and citywide.

The Comprehensive Plan goals that deal with the location and timing of growth and infrastructure financing set the stage for a strategy to manage future expansion of the city. The ability to control sewer extensions gave Columbus the ability to control the timing and conditions of development in new areas. There are areas within the Comprehensive Plan s planning area that neither have sewer service nor is such service programmed to be provided. Thus, it was possible to develop an approach which linked public decisions to extend sewer services with meaningful information about the city s ability to provide the other necessary public facilities and services within a reasonable time of the development which would be triggered by the sewer service. The strategy involved preparing an adequate public facilities ordinance and applying it to the opening of new areas for development.

The Plan Implementation Program

The Plan Implementation Program was adopted by Columbus City Council at the same time as the Comprehensive Plan. It was intended to serve as a work program for those tasks considered most important for the Comprehensive Plan s implementation. The tasks were divided into two categories: priority implementation tasks, which were those deemed to be the most important in the first eighteen months, and additional implementation tasks, which were to receive the greatest attention during the following time period. Development of an adequate public facilities ordinance was included as a priority implementation task.

Ordinance Development Process

The Columbus Planning Division organized and staffed a working group whose mission was to prepare an adequate public facilities ordinance with specific level-of-service standards for the various types of municipal services needed to responsibly support urban development within the new development areas. The working group included representatives from city agencies, development organizations, neighborhood groups and local and regional agencies.

Early meetings of the working group included discussion of the concept of an adequate public facilities ordinance: what it is, what it does, and the application of such an ordinance to new development areas. Working group members were supplied with materials summarizing approaches to adequate public facilities or concurrency ordinances used around the country.

Planning Division staff met individually with representatives of the city service providers to discuss appropriate levels of service. During the one-on-one sessions, standards or service goals were agreed upon with each city division. Using the standards agreed to during the individual meetings, Planning Division staff was able to compile a document containing level-of-service standards for each municipally-provided facility or service. The standards were accompanied by a short dialogue explaining the rationale for, or limitations of, the standards.

Once the working group was able to refer to a document containing level-of-service standards, there was a greater understanding of the usefulness of the ordinance. Additionally, members of the committee felt comfortable asking other members about their agency s standards and suggesting modifications to those standards. The standards document spurred thoughtful questions and meaningful discussion about adequate levels of service and about the adequate public facilities ordinance in general.

Level of Service Standards

The adequate public facilities ordinance includes specific numerical terms describing the capacity of public facilities and services required to serve urban development. The facilities and services for which standards are set are sanitary sewerage, water (including fire flow), stormwater, electric service, transportation, refuse collection, parks and recreation, law enforcement, and fire protection and emergency medical service.

Sanitary Sewerage System

The extension of sanitary sewers is one of the first steps in opening an area to development. Although there are no exact formulas for estimating wastewater flows or specifying pipe size that can be applied uniformly to all tracts in all circumstances, there are some general guidelines that have performed well in the past. City of Columbus sanitary sewer system design standards are focused on providing a collection system of adequate but not excessive capacity for conveying design flows from a given area. The design flows are based on flows generated from given areas with an assumed population density and hence are related to the zoning of the area.

Current city standards assume an average sanitary flow of 130 gallons per capita per day (0.0002 cfs/person). To provide for peak flows, this average flow is multiplied by a peaking factor (which varies with the flow from a given area) which generally ranges from a value of 3.3 to 4.0. The total design flow is arrived at by adding to the peak design flow an allowance for Inflow and Infiltration (I/I) into the sewer system. Current city standards assume an I/I allowance of 1,939 gallons per acre per day (0.003 cfs/acre).

All sanitary sewer systems designed within the city of Columbus must meet the requirements outlined in the Division of Sewerage and Drainage's Sanitary Sewer Design Manual. Any deviations from those requirements must receive approval from the Division of Sewerage and Drainage.

Water

Water is usually the first municipal service to follow sewer lines into an undeveloped or newly-developing area. To provide for an adequate supply of drinking water and fire flow for the development of the new areas, the city of Columbus will provide for an average daily flow of 120 gallons of potable water per capita per day of total population served in conjunction with a design flow peaking factor of a 1.5 multiplier.

Also, at the time of application for connection to the public potable water system, minimum fire flows and hydrant spacing consistent with the Fire Division standards are required. These standards are:

Stormwater

As land is developed, the stormwater flow pattern for that land, as well as surrounding parcels, is altered. This can cause erosion, flooding, and water pollution.

Current Columbus standards require construction of storm sewers to convey the 2-year, 24-hour storm event within the pipe and a 5-year, 24-hour storm event within the piped system. Development must restrict the peak flow from a property to a 2-year, 24-hour storm event at a runoff coefficient (rational method) of 0.4, or limit the peak flow to the ability of the downstream stormwater system to convey the flow. Storm systems are required to be developed such that no structure is directly impacted by a 100-year, 24-hour storm event.

All stormwater management systems designed to be built within the city of Columbus are to meet requirements of the Division of Sewerage and Drainage's Drainage Manual. Deviations from those requirements must have approval from the Division of Sewerage and Drainage.

Electric Service

Columbus has made a commitment to install and service street lights on every Columbus street. The provision of street light-related electric service to the newly developing areas will be an important part of this initiative.

The Division of Electricity requires any developer of commercial or residential properties within the city to install street lights along public rights-of-way. The lighting system must be designed to provide average maintained illumination values (measured in foot candles) on the street pavement according to Division of Electricity standards shown in the table below.

STREET AREA CLASSIFICATION
CLASSIFICATION Commercial Intermediate Residential
Major 2.0 1.4 1.0
Collector 1.2 0.9 0.6
Local 0.9 0.6 0.4
Alleys 0.6 0.4 0.2

Commercial areas are densely developed business areas outside, as well as within, the central part of a municipality. The area contains land uses which attract a relatively heavy volume of nighttime vehicular and/or pedestrian traffic on a frequent basis. Intermediate areas are those areas of a municipality often characterized by moderately heavy nighttime pedestrian activity such as in blocks having libraries, community recreation centers, large apartment buildings, industrial buildings, or neighborhood retail stores. Residential areas include residential developments or a mixture of residential and small commercial establishments, areas with single-family homes, town houses, and/or small apartment buildings.

Transportation

The Columbus Comprehensive Plan s Thoroughfare Plan identifies long-term right-of-way requirements for those existing and planned arterial roadways needed to foster the development of adequate, safe, continuous transportation infrastructure. It is designed to promote the public s safety and welfare by advancing efficient transportation which contributes to economic development, individual mobility, and the swift movement of police, fire and other emergency personnel.

Streets and highways addressed by the Thoroughfare Plan have been determined to be necessary to provide adequate access to sites throughout the city. Development activities directly impact traffic volumes and, in many cases, contribute significantly to congestion and a reduction in service levels.

A traffic standards code has recently been adopted by the city of Columbus to address the impacts of continued development on the transportation system in the city. The traffic standards code will require traffic impact studies to be conducted for major developments. These studies will assist in the city's determination of the impacts the developments will have on the adjacent roadways.

The traffic standards code specifies a base engineering design standard for Columbus roadways at level-of-service (LOS) "D". The roadway system in the new development areas should operate at or above this level of service.

Refuse Collection

It is the responsibility of the city to provide refuse collection services to its residents. To provide for safe, modern, sanitary, and efficient refuse collection and disposal operations within the city of Columbus, one new route equivalent to one eight-hour shift should be allocated for each addition of 500 to 600 households to the service area. The method of collection and type of containerization is determined by the kind of residential development (i.e. single-family dwelling, multiple-family dwelling, condominiums, townhouses, etc.).

Parks and Recreation

Recreation facilities and the open space often associated with them are integral ingredients for a viable community. Yet, nowhere in Columbus is there greater deficiency in this regard than in the post-1950s city. Often, approaching development in newly-annexed areas of the city causes real estate values to surpass the city's ability to acquire parkland in those areas. The result of this is expensive, after-the-fact parkland acquisition or areas with few open spaces and recreational opportunities.

To ensure that adequate and appropriate land is set aside for the development of parks, open space, and recreational facilities in the new development areas, the Columbus Comprehensive Plan includes the following provisions:

Law Enforcement

The extension of law enforcement services to newly-annexed areas of Columbus is a necessary part of urban growth. When annexed area is surrounded by the city, its addition is fairly easy to accommodate. However, when land on the fringe of the city is annexed, the provision of adequate police services may be a greater challenge.

To maintain law and order within the established city, as well as within newly annexed land, and to create and sustain a personal sense of safety and security among Columbus residents and businesses, the city establishes the following goals:

If land within one of the new areas is to be served by another police agency rather than by the city of Columbus after annexation, the above levels of service will apply. Additionally, services will be provided by permanently assigned full-time crews with staffing levels and training comparable to crews in Columbus.

Fire Protection and Emergency Medical Service

Fire protection is another necessary service provided by the city of Columbus to its residents, so extension of this service must be made to newly-annexed areas as a necessary part of urban growth. However, when land on the fringe of the city is annexed, the provision of adequate fire service may be a challenge.

To provide for fire protection and emergency medical service (EMS) within the established city, as well as within newly annexed land and to create and sustain a personal sense of safety and security among Columbus residents and businesses, the city establishes goals of :

Fire response time less than four minutes in all parts of the city.

EMS response time less than six minutes in all parts of the city.

As with law enforcement, if land in a new area is to be served by the township fire and emergency medical services rather than by the city of Columbus after annexation, the above levels of service will apply. Additionally, services will be provided by permanently assigned full-time crews with staffing levels and training comparable to crews in Columbus.

How Columbus Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance Will Work

This ordinance conditions the opening of new areas for development upon a finding that adequate public facilities are, or will within a reasonable time period be, in place to serve proposed development. The ordinance sets quantitative standards for required public service levels and links the opening of areas with the ability of public services to achieve these standards. The opening of a new development area would allow the extension of sanitary sewer lines following the adoption of an area facilities plan by City Council.

An area facilities plan will be developed for each of the new development areas as development pressure increases. Area facilities plans will recommend land use and development patterns for each area. These recommendations will be developed with input from land owners and other stakeholders in the new development areas. The intent of an area facilities plan will be twofold: first, to determine likely development scenarios and second, to calculate the costs of serving the proposed development with the specified levels of service.

With the information contained in the area facilities plans, City Council can better balance the timing of private development and public expenditure in the expansion areas. Council resolutions will open specific territories to development as part of the city of Columbus upon a finding that all adequate public facilities ordinance standards have been properly and appropriately addressed by approved city plans, timetables and budgets.

Lessons Learned

It is important, at the conclusion of any process, to review the work that was done and to learn from the experience. The discussion of growth management is so new to Columbus that many of the obstacles to the process arose out of unfamiliarity. Were a similar process to be initiated now in Columbus, it might be easier as a result of the conversations held during the development of the adequate public facilities ordinance. Working through this new concept allowed us to learn a few lessons.

First, although the approach we took to growth management through the development of an adequate public facilities ordinance is extremely logical, it is so contrary to the history of growth in Columbus that many of the working group members did not understand what the result of their work would be. The working group made significantly more progress once the members were given a document specific to Columbus showing actual service standards and goals.

Second, be aware of undercurrents that seem unrelated to the process at hand. Early in the process of developing this ordinance, the city of Columbus annexed a large parcel of land in one of the potential growth areas and made agreements to serve that territory with municipal services. Although sewer and water services are to be provided by the city of Columbus under this agreement, the annexed township territory will still be provided with fire and emergency medical services by the township. The situation resulting from the agreement not to conform boundaries led to concerns on the part of the Columbus Fire Division that Columbus residents in the new territory would receive diminished levels of service as compared to the rest of the city. Additionally, under mutual aid, the Columbus forces would still be called on to respond to emergencies in the annexed territory, although no corresponding increase in equipment or personnel would occur. This perception of unequal forces lent a skeptical tone to the comments from the Fire Division representative until we determined the source of his dissatisfaction and addressed it.

Third, municipal service providers may be reluctant to cite standards for an adequate public facilities ordinance that differ from levels of service in the current service area because of concerns with lawsuits. Similarly, service providers (as in the case of the Columbus Police Division) may be reluctant to call their level of service a standard, preferring instead to call it a goal.

Conclusion

Adequate public facilities ordinances have been used in many cities to manage growth. In Columbus, territorial expansion continues to occur as sanitary sewer facilities are extended. The ordinance crafted for the city of Columbus conditions the extension of sewer facilities on a finding by City Council that adequate levels of public services exist or will exist to support development in new areas of the city.

The adequate public facilities ordinance is not intended to fetter the city s growth. Instead, it is intended to promote planned, rational, and affordable growth for Columbus so that the city will no longer have to play catch-up with needed public facilities and services.

Deneen M. DeRodes, Senior Planner
Beth Clark, Long Range Planning Manager
Stephen R. McClary, Planning Administrator
Planning Division
City of Columbus