River Gate apartments get go-head from city

Plans for a $15 million, 3.5-story apartment building called River Gate near Ohio University's South Green have been approved by the Athens Planning Commission.

Last Thursday, the Planning Commission approved by a 4-1 vote site plans for River Gate, a proposed 232-bed apartment building slated to replace the building that now contains the New Life Assembly of God Church at 10 S. Green Drive.

The planners met after a single requested variance from Athens' property code was approved by the city's Board of Zoning Appeals this past September.

Development of the property will be allowed to proceed even as attorneys for the Summit at Coates Run apartments on Richland Avenue have filed an administrative appeal of the variance the Board of Zoning Appeals granted the River Gate property owners.

On Oct. 9, in a filing in Athens County Common Pleas Court naming the city of Athens, its code director, and the Board of Zoning Appeals, Coates Run LLC attorney B. Lafe Metz requested the court reverse that variance granted for the construction of the River Gate apartment building.

Homestead U originally requested a variance allowing a 4.5-story building, with 82 percent lot coverage, which refers to the footprint a building makes on its property site. Maximum lot coverage allowed by city code is 60 percent.

That variance was rejected. After redrawing plans, Homestead U brought the proposed building down to 3.5 stories, matching code requirements, and requested a variance for 77.5 percent lot coverage. That variance was granted by the Board of Zoning Appeals in September.

Both variance hearings were attended by Coates Run property manager Pam Wells, who objected to the variance requests each time, pointing to the Summit complex being required to satisfy code regulations that Homestead was seeking to skirt.

Dave Anderson, president of Columbus-based student housing firm Homestead U LLC, which owns the River Park apartments and proposed the River Gate project, and Dave Fisher, lawyer for Homestead U, both declined to comment Thursday on a timeline for when construction will start on the River Gate project.

John Paszke, city code enforcement director, said Friday that Homestead U has received a demolition permit for the building that formerly housed the New Life Assembly of God; the company bought the parcel the church sits on for $1.7 million earlier this year.

Read the original:
River Gate apartments get go-head from city