PENDLETON — Pendleton Town Council denied a request to rezone about 54 acres of land north of town, stopping — at least for now — the construction of a proposed 145-unit residential development.
“Your discussion here doesn’t convince me that’s the best thing for this property at this time. For me it’s not,” council President Chet Babb said after about an hour-long presentation of the plan by M/I Homes representative Jonathan Isaacs.
The land is located between Falls Park and State Road 67, northeast of Pendleton Sports Complex. It is owned by Prairie Creek LLC and South Madison Community Foundation and zoned agricultural.
M/I Homes of Indiana applied to rezone the land residential in August and received a 5-2 favorable recommendation from Pendleton Plan Commission in November.
The town council tabled the issue at its November meeting before denying it last week.
The concept plan for the development — dubbed Prairie Creek Overlook — includes 65 single-family homes and 80 villas, which are two-family homes, according to a presentation delivered by Isaacs.
The single family homes included one- and two-story models with square-foot minimums of 1,600 and 1,800, respectively, with the largest model topping out at 2,850 square feet. The villas range from 1,400 to 1,700 square feet, with a loft option that could add 500 to 700 square feet of space.
According to the plan, average prices for the homes were expected to be $267,000 for the single-family homes and $249,000 for the villas, adding $37 million of assessed valuation to the tax rolls.
About 21 acres, or 40%, of the development would remain open space.
There would be homeowners associations involved with maintenance of the whole development and the villas.
Babb brought up several issues he had with the M/I plan, including an objection to vinyl siding being used on the villas, a dislike of the villas backing onto State Road 67 and the possibility that the land could be better used as a commercial development.
Isaacs, land acquisition manager for M/I Homes, said the property was far more suited for residential — an assessment he said he believed was shared by the majority on the plan commission — based on its topography and level of street access off State Road 67.
Bob Jones, the eventual lone dissenter in the 4-1 vote to deny the rezone, said he’d rather see residential than commercial development at the site.
Considering the plan commission vote — and, among other things, the company’s switch from vinyl to fiber cement siding on the single-family homes, with a plan to ensure the vinyl on the villas is maintained through a homeowners association — Jones said he could support the development.
“With proximity to the park, proximity to the town, the growth of the town … I think I see the merits of the project,” Jones said.
After that, Babb turned the discussion from possible commercial development to another possible use for the land: An expansion of Falls Park.
“It hooks right into our park, so to me, that could be part of the park. That’s just me,” Babb said.
Town Planning Director Rachel Christenson asked Park Director Aaron Burris to speak about discussions that took place involving the park board and South Madison Community Foundation, which owns 13 acres of the property, obtained via a donation.
“Ideally, I think, the board would like to see this land in the park, since we are somewhat landlocked as we sit now,” Burris said. “It’s just a matter of funding, for us, whether we can afford to buy the property and then do something with it within a reasonable amount of time.
“But, I think, if it couldn’t be our property, then we’d rather see residential than commercial to provide access from those homes to the park. But, I think the ultimate goal for us would be to have that piece of property.”
Council Vice President Shane Davis asked Burris whether he thought the land would be suitable for recreational uses, such as for ball parks or fields.
“I think you could make it work,” Burris said. “It’d obviously cost some money … (but) you could make it work.”
After Babb proposed to deny the rezoning, town attorney Jeff Graham told the council it had a lot of leeway in deciding whether to approve or deny the request, and that a denial would mean the rezoning request can’t be resubmitted for at least a year.
On Tuesday, Isaacs said he was unable to say if the company will be back before the town regarding Prairie Creek Overlook.
“We have to determine what the next steps are,” he said.
He said the company will continue looking for other areas to build in the South Madison Community School Corp. district, which he described as “highly regarded,” and therefore ripe for new homes.
That would be the case even if the Prairie Creek Overlook property had been rezoned and moved forward, he said, given the “growing demand in Madison County.”
In other news from the Dec. 10 council meeting:
Pendleton Fire Chief Jeff Moore informed the council that the department recently elected officers for 2021. Chris Nodine will be chief, with three assistant fire chiefs: Donnie Meyer, Jimmy Stewart and Jake Gardner. Pendleton Emergency Ambulance officers include Donnie Meyer for Basic Life Support and Cory Moore for Advanced Life Support.
“In my last four years, I would just like to thank the current council and the council before for all of the support they’ve had for both the ambulance service and the fire department. It’s greatly appreciated.” Moore has been on the department for 41 years, the last four as chief.
Babb thanked Moore for his service and dedication, and the council gave him a round of applause. Moore later said he will remain at the department “as a regular firefighter.”
Police Chief Marc Farrer said the department’s new training facility, located in the former storage unit area behind the police station on North Pendleton Avenue, will soon have electricity. A lack of power hasn’t stopped it from serving its purpose, though: “The training facility was used the other day by Madison County SWAT team, and word back was how awesome it was — it was a great asset for the community,” Farrer said.
Town manager Scott Reske said the town will clear snow from sidewalks and apply sidewalk salt as needed on the main streets in downtown Pendleton this winter. This is a new policy and will apply to sidewalks along Pendleton Avenue between High and Water streets and State Street between Main and Broadway streets. “When we’re plowing the streets … we’re going to also do the sidewalks,” Reske later explained. “We’re going to salt them when it looks like there’s going to be ice.”
The council voted to keep the 2020 salary ordinance in place for town employees for the time being. “We are going to schedule a special council meeting before the end of the year to clean up, fix — whatever you want to call it — redo the 2021 ordinance,” Babb said.
The council also approved its budget ordinance for 2021 during a prior special meeting.
The approved 2021 budget totals $5,005,797, with $2,328,538 of that generated through a property tax levy.
Other sources of revenue beyond the levy include local option income tax, planning fees, electric and water utilities, auto excise tax and casino revenue.
The 2021 budget includes a property tax rate of 0.7564, which for homeowners translates into $756 of tax for every $100,000 in assessed valuation.
The 2020 budget totaled $4,833,186, with a tax levy of $2,266,226. The 2020 tax rate is 0.7542, or $754 of tax for every $100,000 in assessed valuation.
The budget is subject to approval by Indiana Department of Local Government Finance.
