22 November 2004 Dearborn County Plan Commission Notes

22 November 2004 Dearborn County Plan Commission Notes
Present: Rick Pope, Acting Chair, Mike Hall, Patrick deMaynadier, Tarry Feiss, Roger Woodfill, Dan Batta, and Nick Held.
Absent: Mark Mitter (on vacation) Also Present: Arnie McGill, Attorney, Travis Miller, Planning Director, and Mark McCormack, Enforcement Officer.

Old Business to be Re-opened:
122 lot Stonebrook subdivision on 132.882 acres on Residentially zoned land on US 50 in Washington Township. Owner Gabbard Estates/ Ralph Meierjohan of Ameritek. Jeff Talker, PE, presented for the owner.
Public speaking: Kathy Holscher Dobbs, Ron Seaver, Jeff Wachnach (sp?), Sharon Benham, Ralph Thompson, and Dan Lyons. Issues centered on sewer availability, problems with Aurora Sewers and IDEM, County district not being up an running yet, drainage and environmental issues, property value considerations, rural character of adjoining properties, Case # 2004-1410-W Stacy Tucker investigator for IDEM on Aurora Sewage violations, potential sewer ban, master plan issues, issue of who gets first dibs on the sewer lines- the NEW development or the properties that are already in trouble.
Plan commission board discussed the need for a 2nd entrance onto US50, sewer commitments, bonding the plans, emergency access as a 2nd entrance so that INDOT will agree. (At this point Roger Woodfill asked for Jeff Talker’s PE license #102-00256. He was disturbed with INDOT’s Mark Brunner’s response to the entrances along US 50.)
Roger Woodfill made a motion to deny the subdivision that failed for lack of a 2nd.
Patrick deMaynadier motioned to give primary approval explicitly stating that no construction begins without IDEM approval of Aurora or the DCSD. There are to be no package plants. There is to be an emergency access to US 50 through Lot 121, geotech analysis, reduce the lots to 25 on Morgan’s Run cul de sac, granted a variance for Brookside circle and Fawn Hill Court, relocate basin #4 to the south, provide access easements to all detention basins, provide a bufferyard A to all lots on US 50, and no lots along US 50 can have direct access to US 50- they have to access through the subdivision street. Dan Batta 2nded. All ayes, except Roger Woodfill Nay.

New Business:
1. Terrill Acres- 2-lot subdivision, Manchester Township on 4.005 acres zoned Ag. Jeff Stenger presented for owner Michael Terrill. Lot is to be for family- mother moving next to daughter.
Public speaking: Lawrence Schuh who thought they needed to acres for septic there and didn’t understand why they couldn’t access Collier Ridge rather than SR 48.
Dan Batta motioned to approve with access to Collier Ridge Rod across from the driveway for lot B and a variance for a small lot in Ag to be used for residential resale and the access to a collector road. Septic approval is required prior to final plat. Roger Woodfill 2nd. All ayes- Passed.

2. Farm View Acres – 4-lot subdivision on Texas Gas Road in Clay Township on 19.834 acres zoned Ag
Owner Randall Le Duc – Archie Crouch presenting.
No public spoke on this.
Plan commission was concerned with the configuration of the lots and the size being less than 5 acres on 2 lots in Ag district. Archie Crouch stated they would do a 50-foot strip access to the lots even though it will be a shared driveway and not an actual road.
Dan Batta motioned to grant approval combining lots 1 and 2, combining driveways, granting an access easement to Geyers, and granting a variance on the frontage of one of the created lots.
Roger Woodfill 2nd. All ayes- Passed.

3. Golf Green Manor- replat for a 6-lot subdivision on 19.834 acres an Ag zoned land in Miller Township on Fairway Drive. Owner: Ralph Weis.
Roger Woodfill abstained and left the room.
Weiss stated this was primarily for tax purposes to separate the buildings, though the easements and access were quite convoluted.
Neighbors speaking: Ralph Hoffman, John King, and Sammy Gutzwiller. Issues with garbage pick/up, rats, maintenance, and lack of buffering were discussed. Fears that a new driveway and another building were going in also were brought up.
Patrick de Maynadier motioned to approve with restrictions that no access road would be built on lots 94 or 99, that 95 is a non buildable lot, flag lot variance, and provide documentation of a permanent easement for 94 an 95 across 98 and 99 to Fairway drive.
Nick Held 2nd. 3 ayes and 2 nays. Motion failed. No other motion was made so the application is effectively DENIED.

FIVE-MINUTE BREAK TILL 10:25 PM

4. Blossom Hill 142-lot subdivision Phase 1 on 101.87 acres in R zoned land in Miller Township. Owner Don Brandt and Ed Pope, Landhill Development. Applicant Joe Farrugia- Classics Properties.
Rick Pope Abstained and went to the hall (his father is Ed Pope)
Dan Batta was acting chair for this application.
This application has 141 single-family lots and a 24.14-acre condo site for future development plus a daycare and pool. Daycare and condo are to go to BZA if this single-family plat is approved. All of this is on the 101.87 acres with one access to Stateline Road and on a 3,550 ft cul de sac!
Traffic study wasn’t in packets and applicant provided an ABBREVIATED STUDY for the meeting. There is to be a HOA and architectural standards to control home types in the $180-300,000 range.
Public speaking: Sheila and Dennis Merk via fax letter, Sammy Gutzwiller, Judith Niemeyer, Debbie McQueen, Linda Mitchell, Jim Maupin, and Kelly ?? (The sound system was troublesome for several in the audience)
Issues discussed: VRUC lawsuit with Greendale alleging that Greendale is in their applied for territory from Stephens Rd North. (Sugar Ridge development), (Sammy Gutzwiller also stated that as a realtor she was not against this development), others wanted a fence around the lake, larger lots, child care center issues that close to Stateline, transportation figures were deemed inaccurate and inadequate, Stateline Rd has LOS E and is failing, it is only 18 ft wide and should be 20 ft. wide, single access road is unsafe, bordered on several sides by working farms, ridge runoff and erosion problems for farm land below, liability exposure with kids and farms, perimeter should have security fence, approximately 75 petitions presented and reminded of the nearly 1000 signatures they had at the last presentation of Blossom Hill several years ago, when TWO commissioners (Vera Benning and John Kyle) overturned the recommendation of the plan commission and rezoned this to R. School issues and stats on crowding of classrooms and scores decreasing, sports programs and aides being eliminated. Mr. Farruggia’s 19 lawsuits in the past 15 years in Hamilton County were submitted as evidence of the kind of business he runs (former partner (Ryan) in 2002 suit stated things like breach of contract and fiduciary issues with payments. (Batta questioned whether pending lawsuits should be considered, but the board decided to allow it)
Fire and EMS services were also discussed. Expenses to the taxpayer seemed to be a big issue and lack of services as the community stretches its budget to cover more and more residents.
After MUCH discussion from the plan commission, Roger Woodfill motioned to deny the application because of the cul de sac length violation of Section 305N, the density being too great for the infrastructure, the drawing had several errors in it on adjoiners, and there was no firm commitment from anyone on sewage.
All Ayes. Application DENIED.

Administrative:
Working session set up for December 8th at 7 PM, Christmas dinner December 10 at 7 PM. Annual Report to be presented to them this month.
Travis Miller asked their opinion on his requested letter to Strand Engineering, Inc. on the SR1 SR48 Connector. Many board members were unaware of the meeting last week on this for comments. Batta stated they were backing into it without a US 50 Corridor study, Hall stated it goes nowhere and doesn’t solve the problems; Woodfill said it shouldn’t be unlimited access. Other issues were that INDOT had road dollars left on the table and Strand wanted to spend them rather than send them back to the state and feds. (Lawrenceburg signed off to release the money under their name) Board recommended that Travis word his letter even stronger in its criticism.

Meeting adjourned at 12:20 AM