The McCordsville Town Council has begun the process of annexation of a parcel of property at County Roads 700 West and 500 North, holding a public hearing on annexation at its Oct. 8 meeting.
Town Council President Greg Brewer said during the hearing that he felt this annexation was important to the community for defining its borders and controlling development in the area.
The parcel, which encompasses approximately 120 acres of land, is planned to be developed into a neighborhood by Arbor Homes, which is seeking a concurrent PUD approval from the town for up to 330 single-family homes. That PUD will appear before the McCordsville Plan Commission for a recommendation at the commission’s Oct. 15 meeting before returning to the Town Council for final approval alongside the annexation in November.
A group of residents who live on CR 500 N appeared at the public hearing to speak against the annexation and the planned development, concerned especially with the potential increased density that would be brought in by the development. John Sweezy, speaking on behalf of the remonstrating residents, said that the current infrastructure would not be able to handle the additional traffic that development would bring, saying that there were already traffic issues in the area. Brewer responded, saying that the only way for McCordsville to improve that infrastructure was to annex the area into the town’s jurisdiction. Sweezy went on to say that the residents weren’t opposed to development altogether, just development denser than the surrounding preexisting neighborhoods.
McCordsville Director of Planning and Building Ryan Crum joined Brewer in suggesting that Sweezy and the other residents at the meeting supporting him go to next Tuesday’s plan commission meeting to speak against the PUD itself rather than the annexation, as their concerns were more related to specific elements of the PUD than the town being in control of the area.
Brewer also said that he was supportive of this specific annexation proposal because it would come alongside residential development. He said that he’d rather see residential or light commercial development on what he foresees as the town’s eventual southern border rather than additional warehouses. He concluded by saying that the town is only able to have conversations about issues like those Sweezy has if it controls the area.
“If this isn’t annexed into the town, then we can’t have those meetings,” Brewer said to Sweezy. “That happens under a different [jurisdiction], so I would rather have this property under our jurisdiction so that residents like you, our staff and the petitioner can have those kinds of meetings to work out any of those differences before they go in front of plan commission, before they come back to town council.”
Following the Plan Commission meeting, at which the PUD proposal from Arbor Homes will receive a favorable or unfavorable recommendation or no recommendation, the PUD will come to the council alongside the second reading of the annexation ordinance for final approval. That meeting will take place on November 12.
