City officials on Tuesday will begin considering a request for annexation of property that includes a number of parcels owned by those who are are opposed to the annexation.
The applicants indicated they are planning a residential development on just a portion of the land involved in the annexation. The matter had stalled for a few months, but is on the Columbus City Council agenda for this week.
The council will consider the first reading of an ordinance to annex about 261 acres located along State Road 46 and State Street, southeast of the city limits. Ordinances must be passed on two readings to be fully approved.
The council meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Columbus City Hall.
The request has three petitioners, JOLI Development LLC (Joseph W. Conner), Joshua Aciukewicz and Lentell Properties LLC (John Whittington), and includes not only three parcels owned by the petitioners, but also four additional parcels owned by two non-petitioners — Mark Rediker and Clifty Creek Farm, LLC.
If approved, new housing would be built on approximately 64 acres already owned by the applicants — the additional nearly 200 acres were included to satisfy Indiana law requirements for the contiguity of the annexation area with the existing city limits.
The Columbus Plan Commission on Feb. 14 voted to forward no recommendation to the city council by an 8-2 vote, which came after motions of favorable and unfavorable recommendations were deadlocked at 5-5.
The no recommendation was a result of the inclusion of the Rediker and Clifty Creek Farm parcels in the annexation request, city/county planning director Jeff Bergman wrote in a memo to council members.
At the February meeting, Rediker and Clifty Creek Farm’s Judy Pitman expressed their opposition to being annexed, the proposed development and the means by which the applicants went about seeking the annexation. The applicants said that were simply operating under state law.
Others from the public also voiced concern about the current traffic situation on State Street and the number of accidents they already see. Many believed the development would only exacerbate that.
JOLI Development Owner Joseph Conner said in February that the area is prime space to develop and that he decided to move forward seeking the annexation when the city council passed an amendment to an ordinance last year that would allow people who are being annexed to maintain their county status should they choose to.
There are three types of annexation — super-voluntary, voluntary and involuntary, Bergman said previously. Super-voluntary annexations require a petition to have signatures of 100% of the property owners in an area to be annexed. Voluntary annexations are when 51% of the property owners in an area agree to be annexed and involuntary annexation is done by the city and not the property owners.
In this case, it would be considered a voluntary annexation because the area includes five property owners: Conner, Aciukewicz, Lentell, Clifty Creek Farm, LLC and Rediker, with the first three owners agreeing to be annexed, giving them the necessary 51%.
Bergman said the planning department has been aware of the applicants’ interest in annexing and developing the land since 2016.
While property owners involved can’t automatically stop an annexation by indicating an objection to it, there is a formal remonstrance process when they would have an opportunity to take the matter to court to attempt to potentially block it, according to Bergman.
