Following weeks of heated exchanges between residents and developers, Jerome Township Trustees approved a rezoning that will allow for The Farm at Indian Run development on McKitrick Road.
While he said interactions from the applicants “seemed kind of condescending to residents,” Trustee Chair Joe Craft said the rezoning “doesn’t seem like an unreasonable request.”
Trustee C.J. Lovejoy agreed, adding, “Overall, as a whole, I don’t think this is bad.”
The rezoning passed 2-1, with Trustee Megan Sloat dissenting.
“We have an opportunity to do a lot better,” she said.
However, Craft and Lovejoy said they felt as though the developer compromised with neighbors and made appropriate changes since the first portion of the public hearing, held on July 21.
During Tuesday’s continuation of the public hearing, Rebecca Mott, attorney for the applicant, shared a list of alterations to the proposed development which she said were made to appease neighbors.
Residents previously said they took particular issue with a relatively small buffer along the east side of the development.
Mott said the developers flipped a lot on the eastern side of the development to the opposite side of the road so it would be located “more interior.” She said any neighboring home would now be “well over 200 feet” away from the closest new lots.
The attorney said neighbors also requested a 65-foot setback on the eastern property line. She said meeting the request was not feasible, but developers compromised by increasing it from 25 feet to 40 feet.
Residents also expressed concern earlier surrounding the conservation of natural features on the property.
Zoning Inspector Eric Snowden specified during the July 21 hearing that the Jerome Township Comprehensive Plan calls for a residential conservation district in the area, which often takes the form of a Planned Development District.
According to the comprehensive plan, these uses “are characterized by clustering residential uses for the purpose of preserving large area of open space and/or significant natural features.”
Snowden said earlier that the development meets those standards by providing at least 45% open space and a density of 1.661 units per acre.
In response to concerns about the destruction of trees on the site, Mott said the developers added a 25-foot “tree preservation no-build zone” on the eastern side of the property.
Developers previously offered a similar easement, but Craft called it “confusing” and neighbors rejected the offer.
Mott said the new preservation zone is not an easement, but will be added to the regulation text for the development. This allows the township to enforce the no-build zone for any future site owners.
Mott said developers also asked Oakland Nursery to complete a study as to where evergreen trees could be added on the eastern property line.
She said Oakland Nursery indicated the canopy of current trees was too dense to add evergreen trees on the developer’s property.
Instead, she said the applicant offered to plant three trees on Bob Chapman’s property and up to 10 trees on John Deane’s property, two neighboring land owners who adamantly oppose the development.
Chapman said he was never informed of the offer to add trees to his land and wouldn’t want the developers on his property.
He also said he was concerned that the no-build, tree preservation zone didn’t include a responsibility to replace trees that were destroyed.
“I don’t see the real value in that – it (just) sounds good,” Chapman said.
Although Mott said the applicant made an effort to compromise with neighbors, Chapman said “we continue to be at odds with the development.”
Deane agreed and asked the board to “stand firm” and reject the rezoning application.
Resident Kevin Barney echoed his remarks and pleaded with trustees “not to be threatened or strong-armed” by developers.
Craft indicated that he received similar emails from multiple residents who could not attend the meeting in person.
Sloat said, like residents who were opposed, she considered: “What do we have to lose?”
She said she didn’t feel as though the land should remain untouched, but there should be “an additional give and take.”
Craft and Lovejoy, though, said they felt as though the development would be in the best interest of the township.
Snowden emphasized, because people hold different views of development, “reasonable minds can disagree.”
The rezoning will affect three parcels, or 24.74 acres, on McKitrick Road east of Mitchell-Dewitt Road that will shift from Rural Residential District to Planned Development District. It will allow for the development of 40 single-family dwellings.