Greenwood Plan Commission gives favorable recommendation for Walker Farms rezone

A controversial rezoning proposal on Greenwood’s west side received a favorable recommendation from a city commission Monday night.

The Greenwood Advisory Plan Commission voted 6-2, with member Brian Walker absent, to give a favorable recommendation to a rezoning request for about 113.5 acres of land on both the north and south sides of Main Street next to Greenwood Christian Academy High School and the Community Church of Greenwood. Indianapolis-based Apollo Developers is requesting to rezone the agricultural land for single-family homes, paired villas and townhomes.

Commission members Josh King and Sheri Gardner voted against the favorable recommendation. The city council has the final say on the rezoning and could hear the project as soon as their next meeting on Feb. 5. An agenda for that meeting is not yet available.

Three separate parcels are being considered for rezoning for the project, dubbed Walker Commons. Nearby residents have been opposed to the project, with meetings both on Jan. 8 and Monday being standing-room only. The Jan. 8 meeting was continued at the request of a resident who wanted more time to present their opposition to the project.

Commission member Brian Walker, whose family owns the property, has been absent from the two hearings where the project came up. This is because of a conflict of interest, said John Shell, commission president.

New plans

Since the Jan. 8 meeting, the plans have changed slightly. Originally, the developer planned to have apartments in the southwest section, but following meetings with residents, the apartments were removed, said Eric Prime, an attorney representing Apollo Developers.

Additionally, the townhomes have been relocated, and the number of them has been reduced, Prime said.

The west and southern areas of the southwest section, located west of Greenwood Christian Academy High School, would be rezoned to residential attached for 84, ranch-style paired patio homes built by Fischer Homes. The remaining area of the section would be rezoned to residential attached as well, but for 70 townhomes built and designed by Drees Homes, according to Prime’s presentation.

For the southeast section, the northeastern area of the southeast section would be residential attached, consisting of 61 rear-load single-family homes built by David Weekley Homes. The rest of the southeast section would be residential large zoning with 46 large estate homes built by Drees Homes. The estate homes start in the $600,000 range, according to Prime’s presentation.

Only the north section remains unchanged from the original plan. It would be rezoned as residential attached, consisting of 94 single-family detached homes built by David Weekley Homes. The homes would not be rentals and would be expected to sell in the $400,000 range, Prime said.

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Documents indicate Apollo plans to provide amenities such as a dog park, playground, pickleball courts and a linear trail connecting the south parcels and surrounding neighborhoods to Westside Park. City planning staff gave a favorable recommendation for the project, though they asked for conditions to include a traffic study, which will also evaluate direct access from Smith Valley Road and prohibit the use of vinyl siding.

Other conditions from city staff include the collaboration with the city about connecting sidewalks and trails to existing sidewalks at nearby roundabouts and collaboration with GCA on making safe pedestrian paths to the school, city documents show.

The first homes would not be built until the winter of 2025, and the developer expects the first residents to move in in the summer of 2026. It won’t be fully built out until 2030 or 2031, Prime said.

Residents speak out

Several residents expressed concerns about drainage, traffic, infrastructure and fitness for the area during Monday’s public hearing. The plan commission had also received several written objections as well.

Patrick Olmstead, an attorney who lives in the Hunting Creek neighborhood, presented on behalf of concerned residents. Through a petition, survey and other efforts to reach nearby residents, they were able to solicit feedback from 22 neighborhoods about the project.

One of the top concerns was increased traffic, especially on Smith Valley Road and Main Street, Olmstead said. He had spoken with the city about the possibility of widening these roads and adding roundabouts, but there are no plans for it as of now, he said.

He also expressed concerns about the traffic study taking place after the rezoning.

“While I understand that is how the process normally works, it’s difficult here because there are specific solutions such as having a cut-through from Main Street through all the way up to Smith Valley, in the southeast lots that Eric showed you, that make a big difference on how the public perceives this,” Olmstead said.

Residents are also concerned about how the development would affect existing infrastructure and city services. They asked for storm sewers to be improved ahead of the development.

Olmstead said it could also impact schools by increasing class sizes. Prime said Apollo had already reached out to Center Grove Schools, which would take the students from Walker Commons, but Olmstead said a study was needed.

Prime later told the commission that they had a conversation with Interim Superintendent Bill Long and that the district had no objections. They have already purchased land near Honey Creek and Smokey Row roads for a future elementary school, he said.

Another top concern was road connections to existing neighborhoods, residents of which did not want to be connected to the new development, Olmstead said. One resident did research and found 18 dead-end streets in 66 city neighborhoods that didn’t have the types of connections proposed for Walker Commons, he said.

“Perhaps the reason people find Greenwood attractive is precisely because we don’t have connected neighborhoods, and you can safely let the kids play in certain streets without great fears as it is,” Olmstead said.

Other concerns included multifamily zoning and drainage. Nearby neighborhoods already have drainage problems, and residents were concerned that the development would worsen it, Holmstead said.

“Once we get rid of that farmland and replace it with concrete … sidewalks and roads, we’re worried that it’s going to be worse,” he said.

Developer responds

Prime told the commission that a majority of issues brought up by residents will be addressed during the platting and engineering process, which occurs later. The developer is willing to work with residents on these issues, which Prime described as important, but Monday’s hearing was only about the rezoning, he said.

Apollo has already made changes in response to resident feedback. A planned cul-de-sac in the southeast section near Smith Valley Road was changed into an entrance, Prime said.

In terms of drainage, Apollo is not permitted to have runoff rates that are more than what the land had pre-construction, Prime said. Planning Director Gabe Nelson confirmed this.

Usually, development of property ends up creating better drainage conditions than before, Prime said.

“If you can engineer it, and you can take that water and hold it in ponds and move it in a better manner, then you can certainly in a lot of cases, alleviate issues that are present now,” he said.

Prime also said the developer can’t prohibit homes from being rented, but could “put in guardrails” by putting a cap on the number of homes that could be rented at one time. They’d also require potential rentals to have a minimum lease term of one year, he said.

Residents still were concerned about the project and drainage. They asked the commission to give it an unfavorable recommendation.

Brian Biehn, who lives in Ashwood, which is located south of the development near Demaree Road, asked the commission to pay attention to what was going on in terms of drainage.

Auburn Branch, a nearby waterway, has been flooding ever since the city annexed the neighborhood and raised roads, Biehn alleged. He said that because of a “lack of planning” from the city, new developments have added increased water pressure that has caused issues in the neighborhood, which was annexed into the city several years ago.

The Ashwood Homeowners Association has spent $500,000 on its own on a seawall for a retention pond due to drainage issues, Biehn said.

“We would at least like you to look at the drainage issue and what this development will cause,” he said. “Pay attention to what’s going on in the community. That’s why this room is full.”

Commission comments

Once the public hearing concluded, plan commission member Charrie Stambaugh asked Prime whether the developer had spoken with other nearby schools, like Greenwood and GCA, about the project’s effects on the district. Prime said they had only spoken with Center Grove, but they were happy to speak with others.

Stambaugh later attempted to commit the developer to doing a school capacity study. However, following a discussion with commission member Dave Lekse, the commission ultimately asked Apollo to speak with Greenwood and GCA and present their findings at the city council hearing.

The traffic impact study was also discussed, with Nelson telling the plan commission a lot of the traffic questions would be dealt with later during the site development phase. City staff, along with an outside consultant, will review the project to make sure it is developed in line with city ordinance, he said.

City Engineer Mark St. John, who is also a member of the plan commission, said the traffic study would evaluate current conditions and conditions both with and without the development in future years. If any deficiencies or issues are found, Apollo would have to address them before the project could move forward, he said.

This includes building new infrastructure, such as a roundabout, if traffic at the entrances would not operate appropriately, St. John said.