GREENFIELD — An updated thoroughfare plan that includes a controversial street extension has moved a step closer to adoption.
The Greenfield Plan Commission voted 6-3 earlier this week to send the city council a positive recommendation for the plan, which lays out potential changes that could be made to local roads over the next several decades.
The plan was last updated in 2007. Its currently proposed update is the result of efforts from city officials, a steering committee and hired consultants. Studies, public input, goals, traffic and crash data and demographic trends were used to draft the plan.
Almost 170 potential projects fill the document, but one dominated the discussion at the plan commission’s nearly three-hour meeting on Monday, July 13: extending McClarnon Drive from State Street to Apple Street as a “minor collector.” The draft update defines minor collector as “primarily located within developments” that moves trips to nearby roads that handle heavier traffic.
Jill Palmer of Indianapolis-based Shrewsberry & Associates, a consulting firm that assisted the city with the plan update, said the McClarnon Drive extension would have a right-of-way width of 65 feet and a pavement width of 38 feet at the most.
The extension is one of eight recommended projects to add capacity to the city, alongside plans like widening New Road, McKenzie Road and Franklin Street.
Extending McClarnon Drive was also proposed during the last update more than a decade ago, but city council members ended up striking it after it drew significant opposition.
It drew plenty of opposition earlier this week as well. Only about a dozen members of the public could physically attend the plan commission meeting at city hall due to COVID-19 social distancing restrictions, but city planning director Joanie Fitzwater said about 30 waited outside to cycle in and give comments and that 24 attended via a web-conferencing platform.
More than 30 people spoke in opposition to extending McClarnon Drive, many of them from the Walnut Ridge, Walnut Woods and Sherwood Hills neighborhoods, which are near where the street would be extended. Steve Cooper, president of the plan commission, read written correspondence from seven people opposing the extension and three from those in support of the thoroughfare plan update.
Opponents said extending McClarnon Drive would decrease property values; increase noise in a quiet neighborhood; have a negative impact on wildlife; and questioned how it would affect Brandywine Creek, which the extension would have to cross. They also felt there should have been more notification of the project and that a decision shouldn’t be made until pandemic restrictions can be lifted to ensure more people can attend and comment. Opponents voiced disappointment over the city possibly having to rely on eminent domain to acquire land needed for the street extension as well.
Benny Eaton has lived in Walnut Ridge for 32 years.
“If they build this road, this is seriously going to degrade our neighborhood,” he said. “It’s going to increase traffic, crime, truck traffic, serious invasion of privacy and do a lot to destroy our neighborhood.”
David Murphy, a Greenfield-based attorney, represents residents who oppose the extension.
“The people who live in these areas are absolutely prepared to go forward and present the evidence they need to show you that it would be a disastrous effect on the property values,” he told plan commission members.
The extension ranks 84th in priority among the proposed thoroughfare plan’s 167 projects.
Palmer noted the update’s top 20 projects in her presentation to the plan commission and indicated if the McClarnon Drive extension does happen, it wouldn’t occur for years.
“Even those 20 projects I think are more than you can achieve in the next 10 years financially,” she said. “There’s over $150 million worth of projects in that span, which is far more than your usual transportation budget.”
Mike Terry, a plan commission member who served on the thoroughfare plan update’s steering committee, said just because a project is in the plan, it doesn’t necessarily mean it will happen.
“The perception is that it’s an immediate thing,” he said. “No; we’re taking a big step and trying to visualize 30, 40, 50 years in the future. We don’t know what the city’s going to look like then. But, some of the ground rules we are establishing will give them a road map to that.”
Jason Koch, a plan commission member and city engineer, said eminent domain would be a last resort and would only be needed on five parcels for the potential McClarnon Drive extension.
“A thoroughfare plan is a line on a map,” Koch said. “We’re not even talking about that. We’re so far away from that.”
Voting in favor of sending a positive recommendation for the thoroughfare plan update were Koch; Jeff McClarnon; Gary McDaniel, who also serves on city council; Paulette Richardson; David Spencer; and Mike Terry.
Spencer and Richardson said they voted in favor not necessarily because they agree with the plan, but because they feel that the city council should make the decision.
Voting against sending the positive recommendation were Kristi Baker, Steve Cooper and Becky Riley.
“I like the plan as a whole, but I worry about this particular piece,” Baker said of the McClarnon Drive extension when her name was called for the vote. “So I’m going to vote no.”
Palmer said the most important proposal in the thoroughfare plan update is a new interchange on Interstate 70 west of the existing State Road 9 interchange.
“Our traffic models showed that even if we improve other roads throughout Greenfield, we’re always going to have some congestion on that segment leading to I-70 because so much traffic is going to and from all parts of the city to I-70,” she said.
She added improvements to the city’s west-side corridor would connect that part of town with the interchange and connect to State Road 9 south of the city as well.
“Our hope is that by designing that, that it would draw some of the heavy truck traffic from downtown,” she said, adding that was a common concern submitted via public feedback throughout the update’s preparation.
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You can look over the 151-page draft thoroughfare plan by clicking on this link: 20200605 city of greenfield thoroughfare plan draft for plan commission
The plan also is available on the city of Greenfield’s website. Go to www.greenfieldin.org, navigate to the Documents page, and then search for “20200605 City of Greenfield Thoroughfare Plan Draft for Plan Commission.”
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