08/31/2014
New scope for The Olympic
You spoke, we listened.
The constructive and informed comments we’ve received from Clintonville residents and neighbors have had significant impact on plans for The Olympic. The message has been generally consistent: the project reflects the highest and best use but there are five points that are questioned. Theses points are density, setback, height, parking and traffic. After considering all perspectives we have made the following changes.
DENSITY:
The Olympic has been tested at unit counts ranging from 138 to 181. Although we initially settled on 152 apartments, we now propose 138 apartments.
SETBACK:
We agree that the project benefits from greater distance from the right of way and existing power lines. Although The Olympic was originally proposed to be 16’ from the curb, we have compressed the structure and The Olympic is a minimum of 20’ from the curb.
HEIGHT:
Additional setback minimizes the impact of height. We have also removed 2’ from the project’s overall height by lowering the ceilings in the first floor commercial space. This puts The Olympic’s finished height of the third floor facing Indianola at 36’.
PARKING AND TRAFFIC:
By code our new project scope requires 335 parking spaces. The Olympic’s parking can be divided into three buckets; on site, irrevocably assigned spaces from the tennis lot, and spaces available when not used by tennis. On site there are 224 spaces. These are contiguous to 34 spaces being irrevocably assigned to The Olympic from the tennis lot. Therefore, 258 spots available at all times. Additionally, when the tennis club is closed, another 81 parking spaces are available. Accordingly, based on over 40 years of historic operations at the tennis facility, there will be 339 spaces available to The Olympic for nearly half the year.
Additionally,
The biggest generator of parking demand will be restaurants; we are prepared to introduce valet parking which is already used and accepted in the area.If residents along neighboring streets experience spillover parking they have the option of creating permit parking zones in front of their homes. This is common in many Columbus neighborhoods.If the Department of Public Utilities opens their neighboring lots for shared parking it benefits the project and community. Our architect’s review of the city site reveals as many as 80 – 90 parking spaces available after the city’s regular business hours.
Regarding parking, The Olympic presents a strong inventory of parking in an area that often receives applications for significant or total waivers from code requirements.
Regarding traffic, the study by E.P. Ferris concludes that The Olympic will not produce new traffic issues in the short or long term. The reduction in unit count only reinforces this conclusion.
CONCLUSION
We have heard the community and have done our best to be responsive while maintaining an economically viable project. We thank everyone for their constructive input and look forward to delivering resource that gives the community great pride.
Copyright 2014 Olympic Beach Acquisitions, LLC.
