PENDLETON — Pendleton approved bids for road and sewer projects, tweaked a town master plan to state denser land uses can be considered in an area next to I-69, and heard department reports that included a new hire, changes to a couple of boards and more. The council gave town manager Scott Reske the go ahead to sign a contract with United Construction Services (UCS) LLC for the Elm Street Drain Reconstruction project.
The project includes the installation of a 36-inch diameter perforated pipe, at a depth of 11 feet, along a former railway bed that runs between Pendleton Avenue and Main Street, from Elm Street south for a distance of about 1,100 feet, connecting to the Pendleton legal drain on the west side of Main Street at Madison Avenue.
“The project cost estimate for that before going into the bids was about $538,000,” Town Assistant Planning Director Denise McKee said. “The lowest bid [of four total], which did meet all the specs, came in from UCS as $457,000. So it did come in a little bit, good amount less, so overall it will save the town about $81,000. That project will be funded by stormwater fees, so that will be 100% savings to the town.”
The town originally planned to reconstruct Elm Street in conjunction with the drain project, but that project will occur later, Reske said.
The council also accepted the lower of four bids — $597,850 — from Midwest Paving LLC for various roadway resurfacing and repair work — including mill and overlay, and chip and seal (see a list of roadwork areas at end of story).
“What was projected going into this project was $917,000 overall cost for those 11 roadway improvements,” McKee said. “The bids came in significantly less, and I think one of the reasons why is because asphalt costs have settled. We put in, our engineers put in a high contingency in on their estimates. But it did come in at just under $600,000. So it was over $300,000 less than what was projected.”
The project is being funded using Indiana’s Community Crossings program, which requires projects include 25% local funds. So, of the savings, the town’s share will be about $70,000, McKee said.
The town also approved the addition of wording in two spots in the I-69 Interchange Master Plan — Southwest Quadrant. The changes had received favorable recommendations from the planning commission the night before, Town Council President Marissa Skaggs said.
The first change was the addition of a paragraph that states an expanded list of housing types for an area of about 279 acres.
“That yellow area [on the map, above] was originally written into the plan to only really allow one kind of residential style, and that being large-lot executive-style homes,” Planning Director Hannahrose Urbanski said.
“Now planning commission has had a lot of discussion about the reality of those types of homes exclusively in this area,” she said.
The added paragraph states, “The SW Quadrant is viable for a mix of townhomes, condos, multi-family and single-family homes that would be denser near the interstate and less dense as you approached the Foster Branch neighborhoods.”
Urbanski said the paragraph expresses what members of the Redevelopment Commission, “which built the plan,” intended for it to say, but somehow it didn’t end up in the document. “They were under the assumption that that language was already in there.”
The addition “really just kind of opens it up so that if they have someone approach them about rezoning it, they have the justification in the plan language to allow something like townhomes, multifamily or even smaller single-family, not just large-lot million-dollar homes.”
The council approved another amendment regarding a portion of that same acreage, the stretch running immediately next to the interstate, where Urbanski said the planning commission and planning staff thought denser development could go.
While denser-style housing could go on that stretch, Urbanski said, “typically uses along a highway are things like offices. They tend to be a little heavier, they’re not usually geared toward residential, so they wanted to add the ability, again, if somebody comes in for a rezone, and they have some offices … something like that, again, they would have some justification to allow it. Because as it sits right now, the only thing that would be allowed to come in would be like an SF-1 (single-family) zoning, and that’s just not anything a developer is going to be interested in at that particular area.”
The added text for what would be a new mixed use development area (red on map at left): “The SW Quadrant also has the opportunity to allow for some denser, non-
residential use along the I-69 curve. While these uses, such as offices, hotels, flex space, retirement living or medical services could be located throughout the residential areas so long as they fit the character of the housing style, as denser uses, they are more typical along highway frontage.”
Also at the meeting:
Council President Marissa Skaggs nominated Kate Edwards to an open spot on the town’s Historic Preservation Commission. The appointment was approved unanimously by council. The commission establishes historic districts and reviews certificates of appropriateness for development and alterations within the downtown business district. The commission has six members appointed to three-year terms, five by the town council president and one (non-voting) by Historic Fall Creek, Pendleton Settlement. The commission meets at 6 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month at Town Hall.
The council approved an amendment of an ordinance that would add up to two non-voting members to the five-voting-member Urban Forestry Committee. Assistant Planning Director Denise McKee said the number of board members was reduced by two a couple of years ago to help ensure there were enough members (quorum) at meetings to vote on issues; the addition of two non-voting members would give the committee the flexibility to add additional members who can help with projects in a variety of ways. The Urban Forestry Committee administers a written plan for the care of trees and shrubs along streets and in other public areas. Meetings take place at 6 p.m. the third Thursday of each month at Town Hall. Department reports
“Abandoned vehicles — this has become an issue,” Pendleton Police Chief Marc Farrer said during his department report. “We got a complaint the other day, we’ve been looking into it. We also have a couple of other people in town that decided they like to collect cars.”
Per town ordinance, he said, if a vehicle is visible from a public roadway it must be operable.
Farrer said as the weather gets warmer, officers will issue more notices to people who have vehicles that don’t run that are visible from the street. People will then have 20 days to fix the situation.
“A lot of people think that if I just plate it, it makes it legal, and that is not the case,” Farrer said.
“We have one, we think is going to become an issue, because the owner thinks he has it for sale, even though the sign is hidden behind his Mini Cooper and you can’t see it from the roadway, and he’s priced the vehicle at a price that’s way over what anybody would ever buy it for.”
Farrer said it’s priced four times the value and has been for sale a couple of years.
“So here in a couple of days when that’s on a tow truck, you may get a complaint.”
In later discussion, Farrer said covering a vehicle with a tarp doesn’t stop an inoperable vehicle visible from the road from violating the ordinance.
Farrer also shared details of a traffic stop made for speeding. The male driver had his daughter with him, and she had a protective order against him. The man was arrested and, as it turns out, “he decided to put his illegal drugs in his daughter’s book bag and send her into the school.
“So, we’re actually going to charge him with a criminal reckless count for every juvenile that was in that classroom when those drugs went in. The prosecutor said he liked it, so we’ll see how that flies. But, 30-some counts. So, do not put your drugs in your kid’s backpack and send them into school.”
Also in his report, Farrer also reported that eight of the 12 new police vehicles have been outfitted for police use and are on the road. “So far, we’ve gotten good feedback from the people in the town — they like the stickers and the look and all that.”
Farrer also reported that for January, there were 1,170 total dispatch- recorded incidents; 20 crash investigations; two ordinance warnings; 33 Indiana Code warnings; 27 Indiana Code citations; 37 adult criminal arrests/charges; and three juvenile criminal arrests.
Falls Park Director Aaron Burris reported the department has hired a new full-time administrative assistant, Sheree Belt. “She comes from Spring Mill State Park, brings a wealth of knowledge. She’s going to be really good for our team.”
Town manager Scott Reske acknowledged the “extreme efforts during very low temperatures” of several town workers to restore power after outages: Dusty Jones, T.J. Fout, Kyle Dishman and Josh Blake. “Just hats off” to them, Reske said. “They just did a wonderful job.”
SOON TO BE REPAVED
Roadway treatments that are part of the recently approved Midwest Paving bid:
Mill and overlay:
• Falls Park Drive from east side of bridge to Market Street/town boundary
• North Pendleton Avenue from State Street to bridge before Fall Creek Parkway
• Madison Avenue from Pendleton Avenue to railroad right-of-way
• Water Tower Drive from north end (just east of East Street) to Madison Avenue
• Main Street from Old State Road 132 to bridge (I-69 overpass)
Chip and seal:
• 625W from State Road 38 to Old State Road 132
• 675W from State Road 38 to 700S and 650W to I-69
• Old State Road 132 from I-69 overpass to 625W
• 800W from 700S to 775S (at the curve)
• 775S from 800W (at curve) to end of the road
• 750W from 700S to dead end
