Arbor Homes is continuing plans for further residential development near Abbey Place.
The Columbus Plan Commission has issued a favorable recommendation to the Columbus City Council regarding an annexation request from Arbor Homes. The developer is seeking to annex 30.85 acres of property located at 2455 Lowell Road in Columbus Township into the city of Columbus. The city council makes all final decisions on annexation applications.
The commission previously considered the request at its Oct. 12 meeting but voted to continue the matter to give more time for the Columbus Fire Department and Columbus City Utilities to review Eastern Bartholomew Water Corp.’s capacity to provide adequate water service and water pressure to the site.
“Since the Oct. 12th plan commission meeting, the Columbus Fire Department and Columbus City Utilities reviewed the hydraulic study provided by Eastern Bartholomew Water Corp., and followed up by conducting a water test of their own,” planning staff wrote in an updated report. “Their conclusion was that the subject property has adequate water service.”
The annexation is sought to facilitate the eventual development of a single family residential subdivision.
“Arbor Homes’ intent is to expand the Abbey Place subdivision to this property with approximately 42 single-family detached homes on individual lots,” the developer wrote in its application. The proposed annexation site is north of the Abbey Place subdivision, which is still the process of being developed.
The Columbus Board of Works voted Tuesday to approve an amended subdivision improvement agreement, a right-of-way dedication and a final plat for Section 5 of Abbey Place.
According to a memo from senior planner Ashley Beckort, Arbor Homes — doing business as LXC Investments, LLC — requested to switch their subdivision improvement agreement for the section from “Building & Dedicate” to “Performance Guarantee.” Under the new agreement, the developer has provided performance bonds for items that are not complete and maintenance bonds for the items that are complete.
The change allows Arbor Homes to have their plat approved and recorded so that they can begin selling lots and building houses.
“This is the last 92 lots of the 313 that were approved in Abbey Place,” said city/county planning director Jeff Bergman. “And if you’ve not been up there lately … go check it out and see the progress they’ve made. In particular, they’ve got all the improvements finished on that stretch of, that must be, County Road 200 West. So bike lanes, new People Trail on one side of the road, all those things are finished.”
