Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading.
We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription.
Your current subscription does not provide access to this content. Please use the button below to manage your account.
Get access to ALL of our site and our brand new electronic edition!
Verify your print or online subscription account here. Full week print subscribers are entitled to FREE unlimited online and eEdition access through the Shelbyville News All-Access.
Please log in, or sign up for a new account to continue reading.
Thank you for reading! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content.
Welcome! We hope that you enjoy our free content.
Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in or create an account to continue reading.
Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribe purchase a subscription to continue reading.
Thank you for signing in! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content.
Sunshine and clouds mixed. High 81F. Winds light and variable..
A clear sky. Low 54F. Winds light and variable.
The Shelbyville Plan Commission approved a preliminary plat for the Isabelle Farms housing development during Monday’s monthly meeting.
The issue in question was the recent addition of a 30 foot buffer around the site.
The addition of the buffer came after residents expressed concerns last month about the project, located directly north of Shelbyville off North Riley Highway.
Several residents in that area again attended the June meeting to continue to express their concerns, particularly about drainage issues.
Arbor Homes representative Lantz McElroy said they were going through the engineering procedures when asked about those concerns. He also said the design is still in the preliminary stage.
A pipe will have to be installed under State Road 9 to accommodate the needs of the area, he said.
One resident, Duane Schuler, thanked the commission for listening to the community’s concerns.
But Schuler added that he will continue to keep an eye on the development.
He suggested that the 30-foot buffer was intentionally not included at first and that at the time, the plans showed a 15-20 ft. drainage and utility line that he believed misled residents.
“I believe that was a little misguidance on their part,” he said.
He went onto say that the most recent notification for the project did not come from Arbor Homes, again confusing residents.
“Again, I think that was another slight of hand,” Schuler said.
Later, McElroy addressed Schuler’s complaints.
McElroy said Arbor Homes found some layouts from 2019 that had the buffer removed and it was not required. He said there, internally, the company did not communicate well.
“There was no deceit or slight of hand that tried to occur,” he said.
He then explained that the engineering firm being used is Projects Plus, and it was the company that sent the notices.
“Once again, no deceit intended there,” he said. “That’s our engineering firm.”
Schuler also addressed the Plan Commission and City Council in his remarks.
“I don’t think they’ve done what they should to gain the public trust in this project,” he said. “Lantz, if you would let your folks know that’s the feeling as well and that being right next to this project, I will be watching them. And they better do everything that they promised and everything that this commission said that they should do. And if they don’t, I’m going to call them out on it."
McElroy said in response that the project will have a field construction manager on site to oversee the construction and to address any issues that come up.
As a result of the buffer, which includes the addition of 150 evergreen trees, the number of properties was reduced by five, from 254 to 249.
McElroy said Arbor Homes hopes to start construction in the Spring of 2023. He anticipated the various approval processes to continue through the remainder of this year.
In other business, the Plan Commission alleviated some concerns regarding a proposed industrial development project that would affect residents living in a mobile home community.
The commission sent an unfavorable recommendation to the City Council after hearing numerous residents of the Woodland Trailer Park express their opposition.
Genesis Property Development requested an annexation of 32 acres off State Road 44 that would affect residents at that trailer park.
Ron Kelsay, who represented Genesis, said he could not provide specifics on specific projects for the site because they were still being ironed out. But he said the overall objective was to create an industrial park.
Genesis is working with an investment partner and made the request in order to be able to hook up to the sanitary sewer, Kelsay said.
The annexation would affect residents of the trailer park, potentially forcing them to move. Of the 32 acres, the trailer park is about seven acres.
Several spoke out against the annexation.
Darrell Dagley said he was the longest tenant in the park, having lived there for 50 years.
“Most of the people out there, including my wife, we do not want to pack up and move,” he said. “It’s our home. I don’t think anybody in here would want to pack up and move and leave your home if you’ve lived there for 50 years. That’s quite awhile to be there. It’s had us all upset. The whole park’s upset. It’s just not fair in our eyes.”
Following public comments, Plan Commission member Gary Nolley asked Kelsay to address the residents’ concerns.
Kelsay said Genesis has heard the comments and that there have been “significant discussion” regarding the mobile home park.
He said the conversations have examined how to handle the situation and what to do if its residents are displaced.
“We are keenly aware of the sensitivity and understand that these are people’s homes,” he said.
But he was unable to provide a specific plan, which drew the ire of Nolley.
“You’re not making me feel any better,” Nolley said.
He went onto make a motion to send an unfavorable recommendation to the City Council.
That recommendation will be made at the next City Council meeting, at 7 p.m. July 6.
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Conservatives are, by and large, thrilled by the Supreme Court’s recent decisions. It has expanded its conception of gun rights that states have to respect, and ruled that states have to include religious schools in voucher programs. It has also allowed states to ban abortion. All of this be…
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Few issues within America’s dysfunctional health care system are more pressing than the astronomical price of insulin – access to which is, for millions of Americans, literally a matter of life or death. Congress is finally moving toward approving legislation that would partially address the…
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
It always interests me to hear people say, “I believe in the basic goodness of human beings.” In their view, people are born “good,” but become corrupted by the evil influences in the world. But this idea is both naïve and unbiblical. What evidence is there that people are “born good?” There…