Hello Worthington! Here's your recap of what happened at July 9's Architectural Review Board and Municipal Planning Commission meeting. Below are summaries of the commercial and institutional projects that directly impact our community. For those interested in the full details, we've included links to longer articles where appropriate.
Crawford Hoying's West Wilson Bridge Plan Gets Its First Hearing, and Is Tabled
The Municipal Planning Commission took its first public look at Crawford Hoying's proposal to replace three aging office buildings at 400, 450 and 500 West Wilson Bridge Road with a mixed-use neighborhood: 250 apartments, 182 condominiums, 150 senior living units, 8 townhomes, two hotels, and roughly 211,000 square feet of office and 134,600 square feet of shops and restaurants across about 17.6 acres. City staff said before the applicant spoke that the commission could only table the application, because a required traffic study does not exist yet.
Ten residents came to speak, and most of them said they support the project. They then spent their three minutes on traffic, and specifically on the fear that drivers escaping backups at High Street will cut through Worthington Estates and Olentangy Hills on Rieber Street and Caren Avenue. Worthington Estates Elementary School sits on Rieber Street. Board members did not push back. Chair Mikel Coulter said the traffic question is "a significant part of what's gonna make this project work, not only for them but for the neighborhoods as well. We cannot get it wrong."
One detail is worth watching. When Crawford Hoying first presented the project in April, the plan called for cutting the development's internal road off from the Rieber Street intersection precisely so the site could not become a cut-through. That reversed at the June community meeting, and the July drawings keep the Rieber connection in place. Nobody on the commission asked the applicant to explain the change.
The board's reception of the architecture was cooler than its reception of the concept. "What it is now I would not support," board member Edwin Hofmann said of the renderings, asking the team to study Worthington's character and to pull the buildings back from West Wilson Bridge Road to buffer the homes across the street.
In Other News
The July 23 meeting is reserved for the Comprehensive Plan, and it is built around public comment. The entire session goes to the draft land use plan. Staff will give a presentation of "10 minutes or less" and then open the floor. Comments made by board and council members at their July 6 joint work session will not be folded into the draft yet; the plan comes back to the commission in September. If you have something to say about how Worthington grows over the next decade, this is the meeting.
COTA is watching this corridor. Brown said the transit agency's five-year plan now includes a possible east-west route extension along Wilson Bridge Road, added in part because the city told COTA the redevelopment was coming. Whether it happens depends on ridership.
The consent agenda (window and signage applications at 5721 N. High Street, 633 High Street, 315 W. Dublin-Granville Road, 1030 High Street and 6830 High Street) was approved unanimously with no discussion. The one item on the regular Architectural Review Board agenda, a fence replacement at 600 High Street, was withdrawn by the applicant before the meeting.
Stay connected to what's happening in Worthington, Ohio.
Upcoming Dates
- Monday, July 20, 7 p.m. — Worthington City Council, Municipal Building. Two public hearings: the Boundless site rezoning at 445 E. Dublin-Granville Road, and the charter amendments headed for November's ballot. Details
- Monday, July 20 — Second-half Franklin County property tax payments due. These bills still use the old values; the new 2026 appraisals show up on tax bills in January 2027.
- Tuesday, July 21, 6 p.m. — Parks & Recreation Commission, Worthington Community Center. Details
- Thursday, July 23, 7 p.m. — Architectural Review Board & Municipal Planning Commission, Municipal Building. This session is dedicated entirely to public comment on the draft Comprehensive Plan. The Crawford Hoying application is not on this agenda. Read the draft plan
Following the Crawford Hoying Project
The city has created a project page for the West Wilson Bridge redevelopment where the submitted drawings are posted and where you can sign up for email notification of every meeting on this item: worthington.org/2468/W-Wilson-Bridge-Rd-Mixed-Use-Development.
The application returns to the commission for at least one or two more public meetings before any recommendation reaches City Council, so there is still time to weigh in. Emailed comments are distributed to every board and commission member, and one member asked that residents send them a day or two ahead of a meeting rather than the afternoon of, so members have time to read them.
Thanks for reading this summary of the Architectural Review Board and Municipal Planning Commission meeting. You can watch the original full video here
Note: This recap focuses on commercial and institutional projects that affect the broader community. Individual homeowner applications, while important to those involved, are not included in this community newsletter.