Required terms for incentive agreements in Ready for Opportunity areas
Columbus City Codes § 4565.09
in effect4565.09 - Required terms for incentive agreements in Ready for Opportunity areas
The stated terms and conditions applicable to agreements required for Ready for Opportunity areas by division (A) of Section 4565.06 are not self-executing terms for receipt of an Incentive.
(A) A Project Sponsor of a Development Project containing four (4) or more rental Housing Units in a Ready for Opportunity area shall be eligible for one of the incentives below:
a) One hundred percent (100%) of the increase in assessed value of the structure for a period of fifteen (15) years if, for the duration of the Incentive, a minimum ten percent (10%) of the Housing Units in the Development Project are Affordable Housing Units rented to occupants with Household Income at or below eighty percent (80%) AMI, and an additional ten percent (10%) or more of the Housing Units in the Development Project are Affordable Housing Units rented to occupants with Household Income at or below one hundred percent (100%) AMI.
(B) The Project Sponsor may receive credit equal to one (1) Affordable Housing Unit rental for each of the following:
a) For every one million dollars ($1,000,000.00) of Environmental Remediation Expenses required to construct the Development Project;
b) For every twenty-five thousand (25,000) square feet of Class A office space constructed as part of an affiliated commercial development or remodel within the area. The Housing Officer may establish rules defining what is an affiliated commercial development or remodel, taking into consideration their usual and customary business definitions.
c) If the Development Project is a renovation of a property listed on the Columbus Register of Historic Properties, then the Affordable Housing Unit requirements shall not apply and no agreement under Section 4565.06 shall be required.
d) The Project Sponsor may make a one-time payment to the City's Department of Development, in lieu of providing Affordable Housing Units; the one-time fee-in-lieu payment shall be computed starting with a base amount of $5,000 per required Affordable Housing Unit multiplied by the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), as calculated every August 1 with the first multiplier being the change in the CPI from August 1, 2022 to August 1, 2023, increased further by five percentage points. This calculation will constitute the new base amount for the succeeding year and will be adjusted annually based on the CPI plus five percentage points thereafter. Project Sponsors may opt to include some amount of Affordable Housing Units in a Development Project and buy-out the remaining number of required Affordable Housing Units. If a Project Sponsor opts to provide a fee-in-lieu for all of the required Affordable Housing Units in a Development Project, the Project Sponsor is required to make a fee-in-lieu payment equal to 20% of the total number of Housing Units in the Development Project and an incentive agreement is not required.
(C) Development Projects providing the Affordable Housing Units required under division (A) of this section, or those receiving credits or paying a fee-in-lieu of providing Affordable Housing Units required under division (A) of this section, shall be eligible for a real property tax abatement of one hundred percent (100%), of the assessed value of the structure(s) constructed, for a period of fifteen (15) years from the first year the Development Project would be first taxable as described in ORC Section 3735.67(D) and 3735.67(F).
(D) Default on Affordable Housing Unit Requirement.
1. If the number of Affordable Housing Units rented by persons whose Household Income is at or below sixty percent (60%) AMI, eighty percent (80%) AMI, or one hundred percent (100%) AMI, as applicable, which falls below the proportions prescribed by division (A) for a period of ninety (90) days or more but less than 180 days, the owner must provide written notice of the shortfall to the Housing Officer within ten (10) business days.
2. If the number of Affordable Housing Units rented by persons whose Household Income is at or below sixty percent (60%) AMI, eighty percent (80%) AMI, or one hundred percent (100%) AMI, as applicable, which remains below that prescribed in division (A) of this Section for one hundred eighty (180) or more days but less than two years, the Project Sponsor shall be responsible for making payment to the City, in an amount determined by the following table:
Affordable Housing Shortfall (by % below required number of Affordable Housing Units) | Required Payment (by % of annual real property tax abated)
Up to 25% | 20%
>25% up to 50% | 40%
>50% up to 75% | 65%
>75% | 90%
If the payment required by this subsection is less than the what the fee-in-lieu would be under division 4565.09(B)(d) of this section for the Affordable Housing Unit shortfall, the Project Sponsor shall pay the fee-in-lieu amount to the City rather than the amount provided by this subsection.
3. If the number of Affordable Housing Units rented by persons whose Household Income is at or below sixty percent (60%) AMI, eighty percent (80%) AMI, or one hundred percent (100%) AMI, as applicable, which remains below fifty percent (50%) of that prescribed in division (A) of this Section for two years or more, the Housing Officer shall have cause to take such action as necessary to cause the Incentive to terminate and return the property to full taxable status. In the alternative, the Project Sponsor and the City may execute an addendum to the agreement by which the Project Sponsor agrees to pay a fee-in-lieu for the Affordable Housing Unit shortfall for the remaining duration of the Incentive. The fee-in-lieu amount shall be as described in Section 4565.09(B)(d) for each Housing Unit that is required to be an Affordable Housing Unit, divided by 15, multiplied by the number of years remaining in the Incentive period.
4. The remedies provided for default herein are not intended, and shall not be so construed, to limit the City's ability to avail itself of other remedies at law or in equity for breach of the agreement.
(Ord. No. 3447-2023, § 1, 12-11-2023; Ord. No. 1907-2025, § 1, 7-28-2025; Ord. No. 3328-2025, § 1, 12-15-2025)
Source: City of Columbus, City Codes and City Charter (Municode Library, library.municode.com)URL: https://library.municode.com/oh/columbus/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=TIT45HOCO_CH4565AFHOCOREARINPO_4565.09RETEINAGREOPARFetched: 10/27/2026