The Columbus Plan Commission voted 9-0 to give site development plan approval to change the use of the former North Christian Church to a branch campus of the Bartholomew County Public Library.

Commissioner Laura Garrett recused herself due to her work with the Landmark Columbus Foundation.

Library board members voted to accept the gift of the 14.88-acre property at 850 Tipton Lane in April of this year.

The Eero Saarinen-designed church had seen its attendance dwindle to a handful of people before being disbanded in July 2022.

The change of use would allow for an increased use of the outdoor portions of the site as a public space for outdoor programming, changing the relationship of the site to adjacent properties, which is why it came before the plan commission.

The church is one of 43 structures in Indiana that have received the National Historic Landmark designation, according to the National Park Service. The six-side church with a sloping roof and a 192-foot spire with a gold-leaf cross was the last building designed by Saarinen.

BCPL has indicated the site will function as a full branch of the library, similar to the Cleo Rogers Memorial Library downtown.

Potential outdoor programming would include children’s story time, yoga, book clubs, crafts, gardening and musical groups, according to a report by planning staff.

Library Director Jason Hatton said the library has already used the site for their Summer Reading Kickoff at the beginning of the month.

“It was wonderful, we could actually sit in the shade, it was really great to be able to have that,” Hatton said.

The site is expected to cater to the approximately 4,000 students in neighboring schools including St. Bartholomew, Northside Middle School, Schmitt Elementary and Columbus North High School and will likely be busy on weekdays from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

“We hope that that would become a destination for many of those kiddos to be able to come over and be able to participate in programs, participate in activities, and not just one’s the library puts on, but also other community entities and other community organizations as well,” Hatton told the commission.

With the change of use, “car traffic will most likely be increased from when the property served as a church,” BCPL officials wrote in a memo to planning staff.

The plan would be to add sidewalks on the property, important considering the amount of children that will travel over to the site, library representatives said. However, because of the National Historical Landmark designation of the site caution will need to be taken during the design process.

Any future library use of North Christian might not be ready for the public full-time until renovations are completed — that may not happen until 2028 and 2029, although consistent use of the church’s grounds for programming would happen much sooner, Hatton said.

Special events inside the church “may occur once or twice a quarter for the next few years until renovations are completed,” according to the planning staff report.

Hatton told the commission they have an extensive conservation management plan provided by the Landmark Columbus Foundation that “goes through very much in depth about what really can and can’t be changed with the property.”

The entire first floor of the church will have to “pretty much stay exactly as is,” Hatton said, and the lower level would serve as the main library floor.

Because the church was built nearly three decades before the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law, addressing accessibility will be one of the main challenges.

Another point of discussion during the meeting related to parking availability. The site currently has a parking lot and would need 143 parking spots total, but solutions will ultimately be landed on through the city engineer’s office and the Board of Public Works and Safety, according to city/county Planning Director Jeff Bergman.

During public comment, neighbors of the church expressed support for the change of use but had concerns about parking and the increased traffic that would potentially occur.

Neighbors noted how narrow Tipton Lane is and said when there’s traffic overflow it becomes impassable — drivers have to wait for cars to clear from one direction before cars on the opposite direction can get by.

Others had worries about the amount of garbage that would potentially be left after events and suggested there be consideration for clean-up after and that the iconic landscape be preserved as best as possible.

Another suggested that ingress and egress from the parking lot be made off U.S. 31, instead of Tipton Lane. Hatton said the idea was interesting but may be difficult to implement because of the National Historic Landmark status.

With the approval, commission members included conditions that trees along access drives be trimmed to meet Columbus Fire Department requirements and that the appropriate amount of ADA parking spots be provided at the site.

The ADA parking condition is dependent on whether the provision of the spaces does not conflict with the National Historic Landmark status of the property.
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