Franklin College’s Innovation Park project is proposing to rezone to PUD 249 acres along Park Avenue/Greensburg Road and West Umbarger Lane.
Provided plans
Franklin College’s proposed tech park was again tabled during the city plan commission meeting on Tuesday.
At the Franklin Plan Commission’s March meeting, the Franklin College Innovation Park project, which is proposed on 249 acres along Park Avenue/Greensburg Road and West Umbarger Lane, was formally introduced to the public. The commission heard feedback from neighbors and asked for revisions to the project proposal that ultimately ended in a continuance to the April meeting.
Tim Ochs, an Ice Miller attorney representing Franklin College, asked the commission to again table the development Tuesday. Engineers were still working to update the site plan and planned unit development ahead of the meeting and Ochs said Franklin College didn’t feel right about asking the commission to hear the proposal until both the commission and the public had adequate time to view the changes.
Since the last meeting, the plan had been updated according to the requests of the plan commission and project stakeholders met with city planning staff the previous Friday. Following that meeting, engineers went to work on more changes, which had not been finalized and ready for everyone to view ahead of the meeting, Ochs said.
The commission voted unanimously to continue the development again and take up the matter at their May 21 meeting.
Ochs said it is the college’s goal to have the updated plans ready within a few days of the meeting and potentially give the public and the commission a month to look over them.
The college is requesting to rezone the land as a planned unit development, or PUD, including single-family homes, apartments, mixed-use spaces, office and innovation spaces and an area reserved for future college buildings. The area is currently zoned Residential-Suburban 1 and Residential-Tradition 1 but it is currently being used as farmland.
The original concept plan submitted to the commission includes 24 acres of mixed-use space, 64 acres of innovation and office space, 35 acres of single-family residential, 11 acres of attached residential housing, 14 acres of multi-family housing, 30 acres of future space for Franklin College. The plan also includes a park space and preserves wetlands along Park Avenue and a wooded area on Umbarger Lane.
Commission members expressed optimism about the innovation park’s potential during their March meeting, but asked the college to consider a few revisions including larger lots in the single-family residential area and a lower limit on how many units could be attached in the attached residential area. Currently, there would be a limit of eight units.
