HANCOCK COUNTY — Officials approved plans for a controversial residential subdivision after a nearby homeowners association and the developer came to an accord.
But opposition remains among residents, particularly over streets that will connect their neighborhood to the new one and the rise in traffic they feel it will bring.
The Hancock County Area Plan Commission earlier this week unanimously approved a primary plat for Fields at Sugar Creek. D.R. Horton is planning the 111-lot subdivision on almost 60 acres near the southeast corner of U.S. 52 and South County Road 800W in Sugar Creek Township.
Schildmeier Village spans to the south and east of the planned neighborhood, and residents there have expressed concerns and opposition at public meetings and in emails to the county over the past several months.
The Schildmeier Village Homeowners Association withdrew its remonstrance against the plat, however, after D.R. Horton agreed to install a 2- to 4-foot earthen mound and landscaping along much of the southern and eastern borders of Fields at Sugar Creek.
Both neighborhoods will still connect via Schildmeier Village’s Woodfield Drive and Village Row — streets that currently dead-end into the agricultural land making up the future subdivision site. It’s been a point of contention since the project was first announced. Schildmeier Village does not have sidewalks or street lights. Residents there often walk in the street and have expressed concerns that Fields at Sugar Creek will bring more traffic to their streets, putting pedestrians in danger.
D.R. Horton has offered not to connect to the streets, but that would go against the county highway department’s wishes and current county norms.
“There are policy statements and code standards within our comprehensive plan, subdivision control ordinance and zoning ordinance that encourage connectivity between developed properties and undeveloped properties,” said Mike Dale, executive director of the plan commission, at the commission’s recent meeting.
He told commission members he could support not connecting the two neighborhoods.
“However, I think that there is a lot of precedent in supporting connectivity, and the fact that there are stub roads that have been there since the neighborhood was developed, with the full intent of being connected to the vacant property,” he continued.
The lack of a connection would also leave just one way in and out of Fields at Sugar Creek off of 800W, leaving officials concerned about access in public safety situations. A second access off 800W is not possible due to a culvert in the area.
Tony Bratcher, public information officer for the Sugar Creek Township Fire Department, told the Daily Reporter that multiple access points to a subdivision are an asset, but not a sticking point for the department.
“As far as one way in, one way out, we don’t have a stance one way or another,” he said. “We’ll adapt and overcome.”
Fire officials are far more concerned with ensuring new subdivisions have enough hydrants, Bratcher added.
Tim Davis, who recently moved to Schildmeier Village and is getting ready to start a family, is one of the residents worried about extra traffic and the hazards it could pose.
“We moved into the neighborhood for the child,” he said. “So it can have the friends, so it can ride the bicycle down the street, so it can run across the street on accident and chase a basketball. That’s why we moved there.”
He thinks if the county wants more than one access, D.R. Horton should create it and not connect to existing ones.
“I ask that you guys make them redraw the plan that has two entrances where they come from,” he told commission members.
Cindy Story, a Schildmeier Village resident who’s helping raise her grandchildren, expressed similar concerns.
“My question to you is how many existing neighborhoods without sidewalks are being connected to ones with sidewalks?” she asked the commission. “And is it worth the risk of residents to do this?”
Bill Spalding, a plan commission member and county commissioner, said the software the county uses to track crashes reports there haven’t been any vehicle-versus-pedestrian crashes in any of the county’s subdivisions since the county started using the software in 2000.
Brian Tuohy, a lawyer representing D.R. Horton, said he thinks some Fields at Sugar Creek residents and visitors will drive through Schildmeier Village. But, he continued, the layout is far more conducive for them to bypass the older neighborhood and use 800W.
“It’s not like that’s going to be a convenient access to (U.S.) 52 for the people in Fields at Sugar Creek,” he said of traversing Schildmeier Village. “They’re just going to run right out here to 800, go to the light, and turn right if they’re going to New Pal, or turn left if they’re going to Indianapolis.”
Tom Nigh, president of the plan commission, told the Daily Reporter that he voted in favor of the plat because it meets all of the county’s standards.
“It’s zoned for a subdivision,” he said of the site.
The vote was originally slated to occur last month, but the commission granted opponents’ request for a delay to give them more time to work with D.R. Horton.
“I am pleased that they did meet and worked out the mounds, which I think will help,” Nigh said.
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”At a glance” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Fields at Sugar Creek
- 111 lots
- 59.4 acres
- Southeast corner of U.S. 52 and County Road 800W
- D.R. Horton
[sc:pullout-text-end]
