A Plain City development that council recently struck down may get a second chance after all.
During council’s work session Thursday, Council President Michael Terry told the group that he plans to bring a motion for renewal of consideration of an ordinance that would approve the rezoning and preliminary development plan for Madison Meadows Phase II.
Council rejected the ordinance with a 3-2 vote on Feb. 28. Terry was absent at that meeting.
At the time, concerns among the council members who voted against the measure – Jim Eudaily, John Rucker and James Sintz – included feeling the 60- and 70-foot lot sizes were too small and a desire to slow residential growth in the village.
Terry said Thursday he has a “new appreciation of what’s happening,” as the rejection will require the developers to resubmit an application to restart the process at the planning and zoning committee stage.
This will likely take an additional six months, Terry said. Zoning Inspector Taylor Brill previously confirmed that timeline.
Terry said he does not know that the reconsideration will result in a different outcome, but wants to ensure council is entirely certain they want to “close some doors.”
“We won’t be able to walk through it once it is shut,” he said.
Council member Frank Reed, who initially voted in favor of the rezoning and preliminary development plan, said he feels the ordinance was handled inappropriately.
“I’m distressed, actually – is a kind way to say it – about what we did with this development,” Reed said.
Although Plain City is currently undergoing a zoning code rewrite that will impact future development, Reed emphasized that the proposed plans had “no violation of any existing zoning code” regulations.
Likewise, the rezoning and preliminary development plan for Madison Meadows Phase II were recommended for approval by the planning and zoning commission.
“Council just all of a sudden blew it up,” Reed said.
Terry agreed that council “need(s) to be more clear up front” with developers.
He said he is leery of the fact that applications can end with “a wholesale denial” at the end of the process.
Council member Kerri Ferguson, who also voted in favor of the ordinance, echoed Terry’s comments.
She said she served on the planning and zoning commission during her previous tenure on council and feels the developers behind Madison Meadows Phase II meet the standards that should result in approval.
“This developer has done everything we asked, as far as I can tell,” Ferguson said.
She added, “I think we need to revisit it.”
Reactions were mixed among those who initially voted against the ordinance.
Sintz said he has had a number of “crucial” conversations, including with residents of the village, since voting against the rezoning and preliminary development plan.
“I was enlightened to things I was not aware of before,” Sintz said, though he did not elaborate.
Eudaily, on the other hand, appeared skeptical of reconsidering the measure.
“Have they changed anything?” he asked of the developers.
Rucker was not present at the work session Thursday, nor was Mayor Jody Carney, who could potentially cast a tie-breaking vote.
Regardless of the outcome, Terry said he feels strongly that another discussion should be had among council before moving forward.
“A revisit doesn’t mean anything has to change,” Terry said.
If approved, the ordinance would rezone 79.734 acres along the east side of Lafayette Plain City Road, approximately 0.5 miles south of the intersection of Perry Pike and Lafayette Plain City Road, from Darby Township Agricultural District to Planned Residential Development district.
The site is directly south of the original Madison Meadows development.