Subdivision Development in Delaware County, Ohio

A fast-growing county, concentrated in a handful of townships

Delaware County's overall growth rate has been reported differently depending on the measurement window -- one ranking puts growth at nearly 15% since 2020, another places the most recent annualized rate at roughly 2.43%, trailing only Union County statewide -- but the underlying pattern is consistent: most of that growth is concentrated in a small number of townships closest to Columbus, particularly Genoa, Berlin, and Orange, each of which administers its own zoning independently of the county (see our Delaware County hub for the full county-versus-township zoning breakdown). Those are also the townships absorbing most of the new subdivision construction described here.

Berlin Farm West: from a scaled-back plan to a multi-year, multi-phase build

Berlin Farm West, on the north side of Berlin Station Road in Berlin Township, is a useful window into how large residential development actually proceeds here. The project first came before the Delaware County Regional Planning Commission (DCRPC) as a revised, reduced version of an earlier, larger proposal known as Longhill Farms, which had originally called for 482 lots; DCRPC approved the scaled-back Berlin Farm West plan in an initial form in March 2021. The built-out project has been described at roughly 434 single-family lots across approximately 279 acres, developed by M/I Homes of Central Ohio and falling within the Olentangy Local School District.

The project didn't move through approvals all at once: reporting and DCRPC's own posted meeting materials show continued phase-by-phase review well past the initial 2021 approval, including final development plan approval sought for phases 3-6, 8, 10, and 12 -- roughly 136 acres of the total -- and a separate final plat approval for a 43-lot, 17.3-acre section, both moving through DCRPC review into 2025. Public comment on the project has also included at least one specific site-condition concern, with a resident noting that part of the land "was always a swamp," a reminder that even a well-along, actively-building subdivision can carry site-specific drainage or wetland history worth asking about directly rather than assuming is fully resolved just because the project has cleared multiple rounds of approval.

What this means if you're buying near active subdivision development

If you're evaluating raw land or an existing parcel anywhere near Berlin, Genoa, or Orange Township, treat active subdivision projects like Berlin Farm West as a signal that road, utility, and school-district capacity in the immediate area may be under real, ongoing pressure -- not a one-time event that already happened and is now finished. Because a project can move through several years of phased DCRPC and township review even after its headline approval, check DCRPC's current agendas and the specific township's zoning commission for any pending phases, extensions, or adjacent rezoning requests near a parcel you're considering, rather than relying on a snapshot of what was approved when the project was first announced.

For land adjacent to or near an active subdivision, also ask directly about any drainage, wetland, or floodplain history on the specific parcel -- as the Berlin Farm West public-comment record shows, a subdivision moving forward through approvals doesn't necessarily mean every site-specific concern raised during the process has been fully resolved to every neighbor's satisfaction, and a due-diligence buyer should verify current conditions rather than assume the matter is settled.