Good Examples of Zoning
Retail on Lane and High
The northern side’s characteristic of Lane Avenue and High Street intersection is a prime example of retail zoning. Some of the retail stores in this area includes CVS, Buffalo Wild Wings, Jimmy John’s, Chop Shop, and Dominos. All of the structures are at a uniform height and have a brick and mortar theme that matches many of the other retail stores in Old North Columbus. Businesses within this area all have similar use and occupation. Because of this consistency, there is not a disruption in the community when searching for a bite to eat or retrieving everyday needs. The Buffalo Wild Wings is at the corner across the street from The Ohio State University’s Campus. The height of this building is slightly higher to mimic the dorms directly across, as they both have similar roof systems. This feature unites the identity of the OSU community’s aesthetics and smoothly transitions it into a retail zone of the Old North Columbus area.
The Residential Neighborhood on West Norwich Avenue
The residential neighborhood on West Norwich Avenue is located right next to campus, so that makes it a great place for not only families, but students as well. This makes it a nice, easy walking distance for their classes. Buildings in this neighborhood are all old models, and most look similar in that respect. The size, height and shape of them are also cohesive with each other because of how the duplexes and single family homes look on the outside and there are similar facades. Housing spaces are narrow, but if there was more spacing then there would be less housing for Ohio State students. Setbacks of the properties are normal since it is student housing. These include: lack of physical maintenance to the exterior, old, dirty furniture on the porches, and overgrown lawns. Parking on campus is rather difficult due to the minimal spaces that are allotted and street parking is always full. A lot of the time, in the backyard parking, people are blocking other cars and that can make it hard to get out of the space.
As seen above the spacing is different on either side of the house and not uniform. Although the discrepancies are not major they still exist and the slight variation is extremely noticeable on the larger scale. Some of the houses are Victorian looking in style as seen on the left. And other homes are more modern in style. Most residences do fall into these categories and overall create some continuity on a larger scale.
Bad Examples of Zoning
The Outlier on Tuttle
Blackwell Inn is a hotel located on Tuttle Park Place. It is on The Ohio State University’s campus which seems to be an outlier of it surrounding area. Nearby is Fisher’s School of Business, Knowlton’s School of Architecture, Remembrance Park, and The Ohio Stadium. While the Blackwell is owned by the university, hotels are normally zoned in commercial areas. Universities are considered an institutional zone, witnessing the functions of this building shows why some zoning should not mix. The circulation of an Ohio State student or staff is disturbed as a valet horseshoe interrupts the sidewalk. It is not successful in function because traffic direction is depended on the workers. If workers of the hotel are not present, confusion arises between pedestrians and drivers determining who should proceed forward. Another setback with a hotel in an institutional zone, is the lack the common community receives to utilize the facility for everyday educational purposes. This is not a common place on campus that promotes academic studying, but rather attracts the audience of visitors. For an institutional zone, hotels should remain in a more commercial area due to the inconsistency it contributes to the area.
Bar Directly Next to Residential Areas
Threes Above High, along with a couple other bars are located right among residential areas. As seen in the photo above directly adjacent to the bar. This isn’t ideal for the zoning of the area because of noise and traffic congestion. But this is most likely a necessary issue in place because of the sheer number of off campus housing necessary to house all upperclassmen students and without the result of the zoning there would be a major setback in off-campus housing for students.