As Columbus pushes for Great Southern metro park, residents worry about encroaching growth

Work on the new Great Southern Metro Park and the Scioto Trail extension continues as Metro Parks officials work on state legislators for $10 million to help build the park.

Meanwhile, many Far South Side residents are concerned with how the nearby South High Street corridor will develop, worried that the city's new zoning revamp will encourage developers to build dense apartment complexes along the corridor. The city plans to post the proposed zoning update, the first major overhaul of the zoning code in 70 years, in April.

But first, the park. Ohio House representatives did not include the $10 million for the park in the state's $700 million package, dubbed the "Super Duper Fund," for local projects when they voted 75-19 on Feb. 7 for how $350 million of that fund would be spent. The Ohio Senate has yet to vote on its $350 million share.

Tim Moloney, Metro Parks executive director, said if the park system doesn't receive that money from the state, it will take longer to complete the new park, which along with an extension of the Scioto Trail will cost $20 million.

"It is truly a shovel-ready project that will serve an often-forgotten area of central Ohio," Moloney said. "We hope the state sees the importance of this."

Great Southern Metro Park will sit between the Scioto River and the Great Southern Shopping Center on the city's Far South Side. It will include the former Heer Park site, the former Columbus city park where the city cleared out campsites for homeless people in June 2022.

Metro Parks owns 27.3 acres behind the shopping center. The 9-acre Heer Park site is still owned by the city, according to the Franklin County Auditor.

Moloney said the park will be a traditional Metro Park, with trails, play areas and picnic areas, and an existing wetland to the south. There also will be river access for canoes and kayaks.

The Scioto Trail is being extended four miles south from Scioto Audubon Metro Park. Moloney said that the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission awarded $7.98 million in federal funds to Metro Parks to build a bridge over state Route 104 and connections to the trail, which is 72% of the total $11 million cost. That funding is available in fiscal year 2027.

Part of the park could open late this year, Moloney said. Crews continue to clean up the site, but other than a bathroom building, and some cleared dirt, little has been done on the northern part of the Great Southern park area near West Williams Road.

A beached boat sits on the site. Campsites still dot the area within the woods near the river.

Area apartment complex also proceeding

As work on the park progresses, so do plans for 200 apartments that LDG Multifamily LLC of Louisville, Kentucky, wants to build just south of the Great Southern Shopping Center. The property is owned by a limited liability company connected with Casto, the Columbus real estate company that owns shopping center property, as well as the Walmart store at 3579 S. High St. that closed this month.

Zac Linsky, LDG's development manager, emailed recently that pre-development work continues, and that the company has no details on costs or when construction would start. Columbus City Council rezoned the site in December.

In 2022, Linsky told The Dispatch the complex could include one-bedroom to three-bedroom apartments, available to families making an average of 60% of the area median income. Today that's about $41,700 for a one-person household and $53,580 for a three-person household.

The apartment complex is not being developed in conjunction with the park, as Metro Parks did with Thrive Companies and its housing and other development at Quarry Trails Metro Park, Moloney said.

But Moloney called the apartments an "exciting opportunity" to have the park so close, especially to apartments with an affordable component.

Other apartment complexes are coming as well.

The local church-related nonprofit Community Development for All People is working with the Cleveland-based NRP Group to build affordable apartments on the Rice Bowl site, 2300 S. High St. Mike Premo, executive director of Community Development for All People, said that project received financing in December and expects to break ground soon.

The 240-unit complex of one- to four-bedroom apartments would be available to families making from 30% to 80% of the area median income. That would range from $20,850 to $55,550 for a one-person household and $30,000 to $79,350 for a four-person household.

And Woda Cooper Companies plans to build an 81-unit senior housing complex, Juniper Crossing, on Obetz Road east of South High Street, a $27.9-million development with construction scheduled to begin this year and finish by 2025.

The 284-unit WindMiller Pointe apartments at 2997 S. High St. opened in 2022.

Bruce Miller, president of the Scioto-Southland Civic Association and a Far South Columbus area commissioner, said turning that site into a park is a good thing. He said people drive four-wheelers, pickup trucks and SUVs in the area, causing environmental damage.

"Turning it into a park that is going to be controlled, it is a good thing," Miller said. "We don’t want to see anyone injured. We don’t want to see the riverfront demolished."

But he said the city needs to do a better job attracting businesses to the area as those such as Walmart leave.

And while a park is nice, fire protection and Central Ohio Transit Authority bus service must be improved if the area population grows with new apartments, he said.

A number of area residents are worried that when the city of Columbus completes its citywide zoning overhaul that it will call for dense residential development along South High Street, Miller said.

Miller said city officials will be attending a Scioto Southland Civic Association meeting scheduled at 6 p.m. March 4 at the Heritage Free Will Baptist Church, 575 Obetz Road.

Tony Celebrezze, deputy director of the city's Department of Building and Zoning and Services, said he plans to be at the meeting.

Celebrezze also said that the city plans to release the proposed zoning code update on April 2, with public comments into May.

mferenchik@dispatch.com

@MarkFerenchik

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Great Southern metro park presses ahead as area growth concerns rise