I'm going to call this work session to order. And it is Thursday, February 12th. We have, well, let's
start with the letter regarding properties, and then we'll move on to Gentry East, and then we'll move
on to planning. OK. Yes.
The Capital Improvement Board sent the Monroe County Commissioners a letter indicating that they would
like to acquire, and I clarified the properties, but basically the remaining properties that we bought
with innkeepers tax on that block of college, third, second, on both sides of the beeline trail.
They had made a request asking what we were willing to give them a couple years ago, which included
the properties on the west side of that beeline trail, which is part of their request. And we indicated
at that time they didn't need to have any explanation. They're also asking for the properties further
south. And I believe the explanation is they want to utilize that in order to entice a hotelier to come
to the area, whether it's on that property or on different property in that area.
And just to be clear that this whole proposal is in an effort to move further along toward getting a
hotel developed to work with the Convention Center. But also that while this property is in our name
as Monroe County, it really belongs to Convention and Visitors Commission because it is
was purchased with innkeeper's tax. And the CBC and Tulish Copic and our management group had been managing
the rental properties, retail, and apartments. And folks in those apartments have been provided with
a similar comparable option from another local apartment
And I think that's in the works. I'm not sure they've been provided yet, but we're definitely in those
discussions. They're working toward that. Let's just say that. We're not kicking people out,
in other words. But that building also has some structural issues that we wouldn't not want to keep
people living there. So we're working on, well, Talisha Copic is working on getting something squared
away for those folks. So are we relocating everyone in the properties or just people in that building?
So these are all the buildings south of the city-owned buildings. I think we have residential leases.
I think I would say we're looking to help the residential leases at this point. I think the commercial
leases were not as active with that. Gotcha. And all the buildings have issues that we wouldn't want.
The residential for sure. Yes.
And my sister's closet is working on moving anyway. They're moving into that location on second. So
it's a good time to get this done. And it's not like this is a surprise to anyone either. But we will
need to pass a resolution here. I think what we need to do is the next step is to be
enter conversation with the county council see where their thoughts are because these properties are
worth over a thousand dollars so that we they would need to fix the terms and conditions of any transfer
so we would need to just see where they're at and and have those kind of conversations can this be added
to the executive sessions already scheduled for monday it would be the transfer properties okay great
let's make sure we we we talk about that but they would have to approve this too
I just want to make sure that that's clear to everyone. Yes. It's not something we're acting unilaterally.
Yes. Okay. Um, so potentially we could get this on the council's agenda by the end of March, maybe a
month from now when they're next. So that would be, that would be really useful. Okay. Great. Um, now
commissioner Jones, I don't know.
Commissioner Jones, do you have any questions? No, I don't. OK. What about you? Anything? No. And I
think we have that way we can get them information on the status of the residential portion of the buildings
and relocation. We'll have more information later. To be dealt with at that time. Yeah, for sure. OK.
OK. Sounds good. All in aid of getting this convention center project
moving along. Great. We don't want to displace anyone either, but those buildings are in such terrible
shape from what we've found so far. Yeah. All right. Let's see. We also have Ms. Ridge, did you want
to talk about the concerns that were expressed by Mr. Coyne? And then if you could talk through
response to that. I know you've got Jackie and Ben here. I think Jackie's put together a work with Ben
and myself and Justin in the legal department. So I don't want to speak for Jackie, but if she can present
our responses. I do just I want to say that Ben and Jackie have spent and ever since we had a meeting
with Penny Givens when she and the commissioners when Penny was a
commissioner. So three years, four years ago, we had a meeting with the Gentry East HOA, Rita, I believe
was in attendance in that meeting. And we have been working, I will say we but actually Ben and Jackie
mainly have been working nonstop with that HOA. We have they have spent hours on end preparing documents,
things that really we did not have to step up and do, but they have worked hand in hand with this HOA
to try and get these roads accepted. We've recently been meeting with their consultant that they've
hired, Kelly Abel, have had two or three meetings with him, assured him that if they do the things that
we've discussed, we will, and we have made some compromises, that we will accept those roads.
It just keeps coming back that the county will not keep their commitment. The county's going back on
their words. County's making them rip up the roads. That is not the case. So I want to thank Jackie
and her staff and Ben for all of the hours, extra hours that they have put in on this public subdivision
that a developer has chose to walk away many years ago. And they have stepped up.
to help make this work. Nobody else has stepped up to make this work and do their bids and work with
the contractor. So to say that the county hasn't really done their part, I find that as a huge statement
of error because they haven't been on our side. We could take anybody into our open gov software program
that details every conversation
every document is in there and how many years this has been going on and what the staff has committed
to bringing these roads into our county system. So I just wanted to put that out there before Jackie
and Ben can state kind of address the specific issues that's been addressed in Mr. Coyne's letter. Thank you.
I also want to mention that we do have homeowners and subdivisions in the unfortunate situation where
the developer has walked away. We have tried to update our county development ordinance to include an
annual inflation adjustment rather than just a paper renewal. In this particular subdivision, I was
surprised in working with Ben that the developer actually didn't communicate they were walking away
until 2019, but they stopped
The last recording of the subdivision was 2006. So it was clear that there was a long gap of time in
which they could have made improvements. They could have finished this up. But unfortunately, it's where
it is today. So I just put together some information with the help of Ben and Lisa and her team that
just kind of identifies some of the things that we've done to date in the Gentry East neighborhood.
We have put together three bid projects
two were completed. The middle project was sort of our, like, here's everything that we think needs
to be done. Here's how much we were able to get a bid back in the amount of $313,568. And that was just
a non-starter for the homeowners because they realized splitting it however many ways still was not
going to be a reasonable cost to get this work done, which is, I think, the point of Mr. Coyne's letter.
But the first and the third bids we did do, and the most recent one was done by EMB Paving. And that
focused on just the highest priority sidewalk issues. And that total was $56,634, which leaves us with
a bond amount from the original developer in the amount of $9,168. So doing the math here, we still
have a remainder of work of about
250,000, which is also identified in the letter.
Something I wanted to point out, this was a PUD, a plan unit development approved originally by the
city of Bloomington, and it was approved in 1986, constructed in phases and sections within phases.
I've been impressed with Ahoy that they've been able to mostly follow along and get a hold of documents
because there would be a cul-de-sac and then they would amend it two years later and do a through street.
And so the map of what is accepted and what is not accepted now makes a little bit more sense with that
general background. But mostly what we're talking about is sections five and six. There's a small portion
of three and a small portion of four that are not yet accepted. But one, two, most of three, portion of four,
have been accepted into the inventory. And I can share this information with Mr. Coyne, if appropriate,
too, if that's OK. But we can talk about that as well. Do you have a map that we're not seeing on screen,
maybe? I can share this information on screen, absolutely. OK, thank you. Because when you say sections
3, 4, 5, I don't understand that. It is a pretty large neighborhood. Oh, it is. It is.
much for doing that. And this was a map that was assisted recently by our GIS team. So thank you, John
Baten for this. But the black lines are here are the publicly maintained roadways. And then the brown
dotted lines are the phases and sections. And then the red lines are what we're talking about as still
being private today. So a portion of South Hill Court.
East Beardsley, South Barnes, portion of that, South Bridwell Court, and a portion of East Donington.
So these are the areas that are left that were not fully accepted into the inventory. The black lines
above have been accepted to date and are in the inventory according to this map. OK. And then so with
the 9,000 that's left on the original bond plus
Another what 250 or so it will take to bring the roads up to county standards.
The original bid that I mentioned that they didn't end up going through, I'm just taking like a 2022
bid, subtracting a 2024 EMB bid and assuming. But yes, give or take, if you subtract the 9,000
from the 250, you're looking at 240 something to finish all the improvements. Now, I will say later
on, there were some images and documents brought up about work that was
You know, not going to be accepted. You know, there was work that the county had completed that later
was found to be deficient in one of the earlier iterations in talking with Ben that was.
omitted in the latest iteration with their contractor. So we did determine that we would take that in
as is no change. So I think the amount is likely to change. But of course, inflation materials cost.
Right. And that's you're looking at a 2022 bid and a 2024 bid. Right. It's just a ballpark.
It is a ballpark, a general ballpark. That's right. OK. OK, great.
I can go through any of the map responses if you would like. If that would be helpful or image responses,
I should say, or however you would like to. Do you have any specifics? Commissioner Jones, is there
anything specifically you'd like to see? This is in response to Mr. Coyne's well articulated letter.
So, so to say that the county had a set of standards
And then we changed our standards, and as a result, things are no longer acceptable. That has been addressed.
So what I would like to address there, and Ben and Lisa can chime in here, is that the main thing that
we were trying to articulate is that ADA changes are not
We're not allowed to use older ADA standards. If we accept a road today, we have to use ADA standards
of today. Everything else, I think we've gone back to the original approved construction plans for each
section and each phase and honored those. So we are not trying to make them meet today's payment depth
sections. They would be able to do that. Some of the comments about wear and tear, I will say that
If the county accepts a road today that's had significant wear and tear has a lot of repairs needed.
Ben has some statistics on how many complaints we get from potholes in this area. You're talking about
day one having a large cost to the county and
to repair those that we wouldn't necessarily have the funds for because of the time of acceptance and
it's by year that you get those funds. So that's just a comment generally, if we would have in the best
case scenario, like the developer to have completed their obligations back when they got it recorded
soon after, and then we would have had that time of money built up and the wear and tear would have been
along the process, but we would have the money today that we don't have because we have never accepted
it so. Thank you. What would you like to add. I would agree with what Jackie said and you know at least
agrees. We're not making a meet today standards. We just don't want to take in a road that's already wore out.
So yeah, thank you. And thank you again, all of you for working on this. I mean, it's a handful,
it's really, it's a handful of residents, but it is their, it is their life. You know, and again, you
all respect that and I can see that you all are doing everything you can to bring this into county inventory
as soon as possible. Is there anything else you wanted to add Ms. Ridge or?
So if Ben would want to address, I think he had worked out with Kelly. I think there was questions on
what we were allowing, what we were not allowing for grinding, and what we had compromised, again, with
the homeowners and articulated this with Kelly. So like I said, we worked with Kelly Abel once he got
brought on board. So originally, when we look at something, we note that
this needs to be replaced, remove replace it. But that gives them an option to give us some ideas to
consider for a fix. So looking at the curb and gutter and Paul was in one of the meetings with us where
we said, okay, it's satisfactory. You can saw cut this and ground it. You don't need to cut it out unless
there's, you know, a deviation.
Then you know we want that address, but for a lot of it is just saw cut right grout. That's going to
save a ton of money. But that part of it was never bid out, so I don't know what a cost of that would
be, but I imagine it being significant. So. For the areas in red. That's there's we only have that ballpark.
Right now, but.
but is that something that the entirety of the homeowners Association would be responsible for. Oh yeah,
there is in red is what we're working with with them. The everything else is already accepted into our
inventory. Okay. So there's still quite a bit that needs to be done and the question is do do all of
the residents in Monroe County pick up pick up.
what a developer didn't do, even though he promised to do it. And again, this was a city development,
so things were a little different. And it's much older than most people realize in terms of when this
was platted and developed. Not that the houses are old, because some of them are quite new. It's an
interesting area, a beautiful area. But I really appreciate.
the way that you all have really respected the residents who live there. And the concern we have as
County Commissioners, I would say, and correct me if I'm wrong, my colleagues, is that does the entire,
do all the residents of Monroe County now have to pay for what a developer didn't do?
You know, for the record, I will note that this is why we have inflation-based bonds now. This is why
we ask developers to do X, Y, and Z. This is why we have the system we have is because not all developers
do what they're supposed to do. And we want to protect the homeowners who buy into these developments,
but at some point,
I don't know how much the county can absorb in terms of the cost. And that's a huge question. And I
guess that's a council question, maybe. But that's a lot of money, right? That's a lot of money. And
so I don't know if that's the next, where are we at in terms of next steps? What do we think is going
to happen or what should happen?
I understand. I'll let Jackie speak on it more. But my understanding is the remaining funds was going
to be given to the HOA, and then they were going to get their funds, however, and make it happen. OK.
Yeah, so we've been working with the legal department and stated, you know, this is the second bid that
we've done. It's just we don't have enough, really. No one's going to submit a bid for $9,000,
to be honest. So we talked to the legal department about creating an MOU with the HOA to say this is
what these funds have to be used for, have them sign the appropriate documents, take on a bit of the
ownership of finishing it up and getting it done so we don't, you know, we can't have them spend that
money on like
So we're hoping that they can pull the funds that they've already hopefully been collecting over the years.
and then split that and be able to do the minimum work necessary that the Highway Department has asked
of. So even as Ben and Lisa mentioned that 250 number, we've been trying to work with them on the ground
each section. I know they have questions and it's an extremely difficult job too. I will say that Ben
has gone out more than once because you have to stripe and then of course if you paint it rains and
then fades and you can't see it anymore. So it's an extremely difficult thing to do to look at the approved
construction
and identify the omissions. And I get that people originally may say, like, well, you're holding us
to today's standards. It's like, well, this is clearly a problem. You know, the sidewalk differences,
someone's going to trip. So we have to address it. But I also understand that this may have been correct
the day it was constructed. But they're going to look at us the day it was accepted, not the day it
was constructed. Yeah, especially. OK.
Got it. OK. So the homeowners association has to figure out a way to potentially maybe borrow funds
in order to finish these streets out. And they need to organize themselves. We can't do that for them.
And it's my understanding dealing with Rita. Rita is very familiar with this. And it's been very transparent
and good communication with Rita that is the treasurer for the HOA. I think that's why they've committed
to hiring Kelly to help them through this process and the bid process. And they have assistance now
too. So I think they're doing their part. They're on their way. Yeah. We don't need to worry the council.
We don't need to get involved. OK, good. OK, good.
Thank you. Thank you. All right. Thank you all again. Um. As rich Mr Heirs is natural and thank you
all for putting the time into this, and it started long before the letter of last week. But it's important.
Um and I know that this is something that came up, especially. Um with the, you know, snow
This is part of that. This is why your road is still a private room. And this is what the responsibility
of the HOA is. So excellent work all around. So we're almost there. We're going to get there. They're
going to get there. And your guidance to them has been incredible. Yeah. So this map is something we
looked at in our ordinance review committee meeting this week, two weeks ago. No, last month. No, it
was the admin meeting anyway.
I digress. It was one of those meetings we're planning. Anyway, Dr. Baten, our GIS person, has put together
this great map. And I don't know if it's available yet to the public. We're working on that this week.
OK, good. So it'll be available to the public this week. Press release announcement. But what it does
is it clearly identifies private roads versus county
roads versus city or town roads. And I asked if they would add state roads in there because people don't
really know that bypass isn't city, it's state, or 45, 46. So this is just a little guidance map for
folks. And if you're buying property or if you're curious about where you are as to who does your snow
plowing and road maintenance,
this will provide an answer regarding who to call. And there are some interesting bits in here because
we do have agreements with the town and the city regarding plowing because at some point it's like,
why am I lifting the blade over here when you're going to have to lift your blade over there? And they
strike these great agreements that benefit everybody for plowing, for example. And somehow we're going to try to
incorporate that into this, which is the tough part. But it's OK. It's not that much. It's not a lot
of terrain, but it's enough that it may be useful to have that on here. So excellent work all around.
Can I ask a couple of questions? I just have a concern, too, that this does not happen again. And I
had a couple of questions about if we do certain things to hold developers accountable, like the developer
that walked out. I had no idea that he walked out in 2019. Wow. Do we sunset approvals for developers
that don't finish within a certain period of time or that don't
substantially complete developments within a certain period of time? So the state legislature has required
all jurisdictions in Indiana to accept a bond in return for incomplete improvements. Once we accept
that bond, we allow them to create those lots within that phase. So we can't retaliate by holding, I
mean we can
We have tried before to say we won't be able to issue you a permit for this individual lot until you
come up to certain standards. We've been individually challenged on that multiple times because they'll
say, well, we do have a bond. And so the 10% inflation really helps us to be able to say, hey, get an
engineer to certify that your estimate is still accurate or 10% per year.
It's made a huge difference so far, and people are now coming to the table and saying, I don't want
to pay this 10%. How can I get done as soon as possible? And that's what we need. Yeah. That's an incentive.
And that's been the process of going back. And we're still seeing a lot of this in Plan Commission meetings
of getting some of these things updated and adjusted and whatnot. So it's a long process, but it's so
important.
going forward, it'll be much easier. Yes, yes, absolutely. Can we re-inspect or do we re-inspect every
three to five years or every X number of years as the developments age to sort of update the standards
so it doesn't become like a cataclysmic avalanche of information?
That's a great question. So what we're doing right now is we're taking the list that we have of active
subdivisions and trying to do that. I would say that though there are many subdivisions, especially
like bordering the city county where we had a jurisdictional agreement where we're still finding the
city never gave us a bond. And so it kind of falls off our radar and then it's been private all along,
but a new person buys in. So I would say that one of the key things that we're trying to work on, I
know Ben is trying to do,
is close out driveway permits. So you would look at as the lot is complete, they get their certificate
of occupancy, they sell the home, developers out, builders out, but yet we might have a problem. We're
trying to get them to more timely ask for that final inspection, but again, disincentivize. Sometimes
if you have a developer that
doesn't believe that their work will pass the code. So it's just, it's a matter of trying to communicate
as much as we can. Um, we have the staff that we have. We, this could be a full time job for somebody
to enforce on developers or builders to say, Hey,
You know you're supposed to put in a street tree here in a sidewalk here let's just do that now before
you pass it to the homeowner because once you get the homeowner involved. Now they're like I don't want
a tree right there I don't want to say walk actually that's part of the development so you get another
person in another opinion and it just.
It makes it challenging. So I can definitely appreciate that. And my final question is, is there a way
or do we require a developer to put money in escrow so that if they don't finish the work within x number
of years, they lose that money? So for example, is it possible to say, hey, if this goes beyond 20-some
years, you have to put this large sum of money in escrow to update the neighborhood?
If you finish the neighborhood within 20 years, you get that money back. But if not, then you lose that
$250,000. Sorry, that $250,000 goes towards putting in all of these enhancements to now update the neighborhood.
What we're trying to do is like a cashier's check or a letter of credit and the amount it would take
to finish the improvements. I would say we haven't talked about like an additional escrow that could
be like kind of a recharge of their HOA fees had they finished earlier, because I do think, you know,
there's a subdivision that I can think of right offhand where the developer said, well, we don't need
to collect HOA funds because I'm maintaining them right now and I will get them up to speed.
if when they get it accepted and then three trees die on the first year in the common areas, there's
no money in that HOA because they haven't yet had that time to start pulling those funds. So I do think
about that a lot in HOAs. Ben and I were talking about how much responsibility it is to run an HOA,
how technically savvy you have to be. I know our stormwater program is putting together educational
materials.
It's not a perfect system, and it's just something that is going to keep coming up. Yeah. It's almost
like you need that leg every, not only once the entire development is complete, but as you finish phases,
you need that one or two year post-phase leg, as trees die, as things happen, so that they go back and
fix the stuff that is wrong as the phases close out, as the trees die, et cetera.
Yeah, much less when the name print closes. And HOAs have been really motivated. A lot of them do contact
us, and they're on top of things. So they won't get to things quicker than a developer would. So I'm
not saying the transition is the problem. It's just keeping up with everything and having the money
to do the work that needs to get done. And we don't really regulate HOAs, and that's something that's
been raised in various ways in the legislature, mostly having to do with roadways and speed limits.
But it's a real concern because it impacts every driver who happens to be on that private road, if it's
intended to be private. It impacts everybody, and especially regarding retention ponds. Because if that
drainage isn't maintained, I mean, we, the stormwater board, had to pay for a new dam and field stone
because it protects
the people who live around Fieldstone and in Fieldstone. So what happens in these private developments
really impacts everyone in the community in some way. And people don't really see that. They go, well,
we can build this a lot cheaper if we don't go to county standards and if we don't have, you know, and
we'll just do an HOA and we'll take care of all this ourselves. We'll take care of the garbage. We'll
take care of the streets. We'll do all of this on our own, which sounds great. And then they say, well,
great, we can pass that on to the residents. And it doesn't always get passed on the residents the savings,
but that makes housing less affordable to have a high HOA fee. And,
And it needs to be part of that discussion about quote unquote, affordable housing. Because if you can
find a house for $200,000, new built, you might have an HOA fee that's $200, $300 a month. That adds
up. That's an expense a lot of people don't account for when they're buying a home.
I have real concerns about all of that. But yeah. And Mr. Coyne, did you want to say anything to all
this or ask any additional questions? This is a long response to one letter, isn't it? But really, it
ties into everything we do. Yeah. It's awesome that you responded. We're going to have a parade for
you next week. So we'll work on it. I do have some responses. First of all, to address Ms. Rich, at
no time in my letter did I question Ben, Jackie, you, or anyone else, and the time and effort you put in.
I think you've done it all. You've done a great job. You work with the HOA. I did not challenge that.
To the contrary, I said, I believe, I am confident that county staff have been doing their best to manage
priorities, protect limited resources, and find other funding sources. So I didn't challenge that. So
I don't know where you got that, but that was not the intent of my letter. Secondly, if I understand
Ben what you said today,
We can grind sidewalks. No, so grinding is just. Can you go to the mic? Sorry. So so dry grinding of
sidewalks is just a temporary fix. So the city and the county both do this to mitigate a hazard immediately.
You know, because the funding is not there, but then it's, you know, recorded that hey,
we need to get some funding saved here to get this replaced. So it's just a temporary thing. When you
grind away from the concrete off of the sidewalk, it actually weakens that because you're losing the
thickness. And you're already dealing with like a four inch thickness and then you're taking a half
inch to an inch off, you're just losing it more. So it's more of just like a quick fix for immediate
safety hazard. But we do note that
we need to get back there to replace that. Like sooner rather than later once the funds are there. But
you did work with Kelly on another option? That was on curb and gutter. Okay. Yeah. What do you have?
It's your world. I'm living in it.
Yeah. Yeah, so then and I and I explained that earlier is is we we talked with Kelly. We actually before
Kelly got involved Paul and I met with Rita and I there's so many people involved over the years. There
was 2 other people and we we said that we would allow saw cutting of the joint, you know where it's cracked.
and grout that back in. But if there was like a deviation where the curb was raised up a little higher,
then that section would have to be replaced. And that hasn't been re-bid? No, we've not done any. So
from the original bid back in 22, 23, the only bid we did was for the sidewalks in phase 6 that were
completed by ENB.
That's the last bid we did. And like I said, we concentrated on the extreme worst of it to get that
liability taken away from you guys. Okay. So did we bid using that new repair or repair go
down significantly? Yes, I believe it would. Yeah, significantly. And if we were to grind the sidewalks
as a temporary measure, it would also go down?
Well, I mean, you're still going to be spending that to replace the sidewalk. So, yeah, I mean.
Thank you. You're doing great. The point there is, I think what you need to understand when you say
to an HOA raise $250,000, that is not an easy thing. That comes through special assessment.
That requires a long process. It's difficult. It's very hard. They can't borrow money. That's not how
that works. So anything that reduces the cost is really important. For example, if we were allowed to
grind and then budget several years out like the county would, like they did in one through four,
you know, you ground those down. Okay. Somewhere you're going to come back and do something else, presumably.
Well, why can't we do that?
Why can't we spend less money now, work on a long range budget without a special assessment of a thousand
or whatever it might be for a better, there are 200 families in this subdivision. Okay, there's a lot
of, not just the people in five and six, it impacts everybody. So that's one of the points I have. Okay,
there's that. Thank you, Ben. So,
Again, I want to point out what Miss Reed said. I don't question Ben and Jackie. They've been
very professional. Lisa has. My comments were more based of your statements. It was before the letter
of stating that in public record that we just were changing everything. We changed our specs and we're
making you change everything or the HOA. That's not what that was not what we were doing. And I don't
think that Jackie and Ben were getting the
Maybe even the praise that they deserve on the hours that they have spent on something private, something
completely private. And it's a developer that's walked away. Why doesn't anyone hold that person accountable?
Okay. First of all, I acknowledge the time. I actually, I praised them for that. I don't have a problem
with that. That isn't my issue.
If you read the letter, you know, I was talking about before the letter when you stood up here at the
podium, what was said. So my comments today were addressing what you said a week or two ago that the
county highway was changing everything and making us go to new specs and, and the roads and we have
new road specs. What we're making you to be compliant with is ADA and we don't have a choice in that.
Well, let me point out one of the main points of my letter, if I may.
You have a subdivision ordinance. Why do you have it? You have it to protect me. That subdivision ordinance
has a very unusual stringent provision in it that it provides for bond. So at the time I buy my lot,
you have inspected whatever you've inspected. The engineers were very good engineers. I presume they
gave you all the specs that you required and you set a bond.
Okay, what did you set it for? What was the point if it wasn't to protect me? So now you come back and
you say, well, here are all these things, the ADA, as Ms. Jelen said. So now you have new ADA requirements.
Okay, fine. But where's the bond? Where was the county here? What were you doing? Not you specifically,
but the county government. And I can answer that. And it's a good question. We didn't used to collect that
inflationary fee on the bond. And this project has been going on a very long time, originated in the
city. There are a lot of things that have happened that have made that closing the gap difficult or
impossible for the county. And what we've done in its stead is dedicate staff hours and sweat equity
into trying to help
bring everything together as best as possible. So yes, that's something that we recognize is a failure
of the past. That is a failure. But we no longer operate that way because of instances like this. And
so when we get developers in here complaining because we have the inflation adjustment on a bond,
This is one of the examples we can point to as to why we do this. Thank you for that. And I do appreciate
that. I think that's it is what it is. It certainly will help. We were not built for this. Yeah. But
all I'm trying to say is we were put in this position because of that failure. OK, that's what I'm saying.
The county needs to own up to some of that. I think one start is to compromise on the repairs like Ben's
talking about.
We don't know what that means. It could be significantly less than the 250 you're looking at now. Yeah.
Well, and that's a technical discussion that you all need to have. But I would say that the biggest
failure comes out of the developer. That is who really failed everyone. They failed to plan. They failed
to follow through. They made their money and they ran. And that can happen.
But the fact is now we are better equipped going forward to protect home buyers in these developments
in a way that we weren't at that time. And so we're playing catch up with a number of developments across
the county where this has happened. I accept and agree that I appreciate that. But what I'm trying to
get you to understand what I'm saying in my letter is that was your responsibility.
Okay. It was the developer's responsibility to fulfill their promises. And that's what the bond was
for. Okay. You didn't have an adequate bond. Let's get right down to it. And that's the bottom line
problem. There's no money out there. So what you're doing is you're saying, County didn't have an adequate
bond, homeowners, you pay up.
We had that ordinance to avoid that very problem. That's what I'm saying. I get it. I get it. I hear
what you're saying because now you are as one resident of this homeowners association having to fix
what that developer didn't fix. But my question then is, should it happen that way or should the entirety
of Monroe County, all of the residents pay?
to bring this up to speed, because ADA is something we can't mess with. I mean, it is what it is. We
don't set it. It's set. So I think we're down to those as our only two choices here, either the entirety
of the county pay for it, and you can ask the council. I think if you want to ask the council that question,
please do, because that's the only other
I don't know if there's a group who can pay for this. Well, I have two responses to that. One, I paid
my taxes. We all do. I did. All right? All these years, 20 years, I paid them. Okay? As we learned on
the 29th, you could take general funds and pay for road to street maintenance. You are not restricted.
You could do that. Over the last 20 years, you could have been doing that.
part of this is a county responsibility, is what I'm trying to say. Yes, you should take county tax
funds and help these people out. There's nothing wrong with that. That's what we pay our taxes for.
So I would ask you to take that request to the county council. And I think you should, because I think
it's a bigger philosophical question. And I think my concern would be, we talked about that in terms of
the snowpocalypse and the using emergency management money that's sitting in rainy day. This isn't an
emergency. This is a lack of planning, a lack of follow through by a developer that has impacted you
negatively. And we're better now because of what we've learned from these kinds of experiences. But
the question is, how do we go back and fix that? And my concern would be, and I'm just going to throw
this out there just so you
because you are such a thoughtful person, and I so appreciate you, that it would disincentivize developers
from finishing any development in the future if we continue to step in. And I'm not sure how county
residents would feel. Do we set a cap at how much we pay per year for this? But I think this is a great
question for the county council
who would have to allocate money specifically to finish what developers have stopped doing. And again,
we're better prepared for the future, but we need to get things fixed now from the past. Precisely.
And what I'm saying is, had the bond been in effect and enforced, we would not be here. I believe the
county bears responsibility for that.
Moving forward, the solution I proposed is a compromise. I agree. You can't go do everything. I'm not
asking you to do that. I'm saying acknowledge the county's role in this. Okay, that's all I'm asking.
And let's compromise it. You could take sections five and six into the inventory tomorrow. I put this
in my letter. It would cost you nothing. You could grind, you could patch.
I see where we go with the $56,000. What's your problem, Ms. Purdy? Oh, nothing. You're shaking your
head. If you have a problem, you could just tell me. I'm not actually paying attention to you. I'm looking
at my computer. Sorry. OK. So I apologize. I hear that. I am not going to say that the county did anything
wrong here because. I get that. And it's just, it's not a matter of pride, sir. It's a matter of.
We did what we did based on the tools we had at that time. And having spent that bond, because it took
so bloody long for this thing to get built, that bond lost its value. We did what we were supposed to
do. The developer did not do what they were supposed to do in a timely manner. And you all are suffering
as a result. And I acknowledge that. You have been harmed. We didn't harm you. Your developer did.
And we're trying to help and we have gone above and beyond to help. And as we do for residents all across
this county, this is just, we're not doing this because we appreciate Mr. Coyne and we do appreciate
Mr. Coyne. This is the kind of thing our staff does everywhere all the time. They take on these individual
instances and try to find the best way to fix it. And they do their best. And I so appreciate you. And
I would ask that you please,
You might want to start with a note to a council member and just say, hey, here's what's going on. And
I'm sure that Ms. Ridge, Mr. Ayers, Ms. Nestor-Gellin can help you present this to the council, this
information to the council, not at a council meeting, but I mean, real letter or an email. So if you
need their assistance with understanding what's left, what has to be done, what the costs are,
It sounds like they're on the pathway to getting this fixed and addressed hopefully before the next
snowpocalypse. And I appreciate you. Yeah, thanks for your time. I appreciate you working through this.
Thank you. We'll just have to agree to disagree on some of the fundamentals here. That's okay. If we
could get the cost down and allow us to behave the way the county would behave.
That would go a long way to getting this done. It is not an easy thing for these people to do. Okay.
Help us out on that end. You're doing a great job on the other part. And again, Ms. Reggie, I don't
question that. If you find I was, that's not what I was trying to convey. I appreciate what they're
doing and yours, your efforts. Thank you. Let's get going. Thank you. Thank you, sir. I appreciate that.
All right.
That was a really good discussion. And I think people may question why we spent so much time on one
particular set of streets, but this is representative of the work the county does and the detail that's
involved in making sure. And again, big thanks to our highway and planning staff for getting this together.
And anything else that you all wanted to add? Mr. Ayers, Ms. Nestergellen.
I'll just add that I'll reach out to Kelly today and see if he's got an update. I know he's working
with some contractors, so he'll probably have kind of an estimate of what the curb and gutter will be.
Perfect. Great. Thank you. And just for folks who don't know, when they talk about sidewalk grinding,
it's when you have a heaved sidewalk, they will actually grind down the part that's heaved. But the
problem is then you've got the next piece is going to heave.
very soon after because now you've got a thin sidewalk and it won't last. It's a good temporary fix
if you're facing a trip hazard, but it's never a permanent fix. So did I say that right? Okay. All right.
Did you want to add anything else, Ms. Ridge? All right, good. Anything else from anyone? I think we
have 30 to 40 neighborhoods that are currently in some stage of transition. So is that right?
or some number like that, that came out during snowpocalypse? Yes, we have about 40 that have the bonds
on file that we're trying to get updated. Yeah, and I would imagine some are more egregious than others.
Some have a longer time from when they recorded to when they posted, and the inflation is more.
the housing bill. Yes and you know, to your point about the housing bill that's currently in the legislature.
I do have, you know opposition to that bill because I'm very worried that these costs are not going
to get passed along to those buying homes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Very good. Thank you. Commissioner Jones.
Did you want to add anything?
We have one more item, and that is ordinance 2026-02, a six acre rezone in Van Buren Township. Mr. Myers
has been very patiently waiting for us. Thank you. Thank you. I thought I was the only one on the agenda.
No. See? This is what happens. All right. Well, this one should be pretty quick.
This is a rezone request going from limited business to agricultural residential. Let me share my screen
so you can see the report packet. This is located at 7353 West Eller Road. It's in Van Buren Township,
Section 22. The comprehensive plan designates it as Monroe County urbanizing area, rural transition,
and it is also unplatted.
All right, so I will start off with saying that the planning commission heard this in December and they
voted eight to zero to forward this with a positive recommendation and no conditions of approval. So
the request is to rezone six acres located in Van Buren Township section 2022 from limited business
to agricultural residential 2.5. The goal of the rezone is to establish the zoning compatibility with
the adjacent parcel to the west, which is also owned by the petitioner. Deed records indicate that both
parcels are one lot of record, totaling 20 acres, and both parcels appear separate due to a township
section line that bisects the two. The western parcel contains 14 acres in section 21, while the eastern
parcel contains six acres in section 22. So moving from the limited business zone to the agricultural
residential zone will allow the commercial structures that are currently on the property in the eastern
parcel to be converted to an agricultural use.
The petitioner has stated an interest in establishing new dwelling on the six acre parcel, which will
be required to meet the CDO's requirements for a detached accessory dwelling unit and, or possibly a
subdivision if they want to pursue that. So I have the definitions for the limited business zone, the
agricultural residential 2.5 zone here. Then here we have the location map. The business that was on
the property was Reese, Sam Reese Trucking Incorporated.
They have since ceased business operations and have dissolved the business entity. That is why they
are seeking to bring this property into the agricultural residential district so that they can match
with the rest of their property that's adjacent to them to the West and continue on with doing some
agricultural activities on the property as well as ultimately residential. Here's the zoning here.
Parcel is outlined in red. The other pink parcel here that you see is actually railroad. So that's not
part of this rezoned petition. Here we have the site conditions map. You can see there's really no slopes
greater than 25% on the property. And there's a lot of land that is still currently used as agricultural
purposes. The commercial buildings that will be converted to agricultural use buildings are located
in the north
east section of the property. And there's no DNR floodplain, and there are no known CARS features on
the property either. All right, so Highway Department didn't have any comments regarding the rezone
petition, and Stormwater didn't have any comments regarding the rezone either, but stated that future
permits may be necessary depending on the development. I included some details about the comprehensive
plans designation for the district here.
in the packet for your review. There's also the findings and facts section that staff prepares for the
rezone. We have here the petitioner's letter stating their request, gave a little bit of background
of what their business operated as, what kind of services that they provided. They actually provided
a service for the U.S. Postal Service by hauling mail with their trucking services.
So you can review that. Come back to it if you have any questions. Here's some site photos. These are
the existing structures on the property coming right off of Eller Road here. They're built right up
to the road, as you can see. And I think that concludes about everything. This picture here shows the
existing residents on the property up to the west on that larger tract of land in Section 21 that I
mentioned earlier.
and then just some pictures here of just the property itself. Get an idea of what it looks like now.
And then here is the proof of business closure from the State of Indiana Office of the Secretary of
State certifying its dissolution. And then finally, in the last couple of exhibits, I give a rundown
of what was permitted in the LB zone, or what is permitted in the LB zone, excuse me, and then what
is permitted in the agricultural residential zone as well, just for reference.
That concludes my presentation. All right. Questions? This is an excellent presentation. It's all very
straightforward. Thank you. Commissioner Jones, do you have any questions for Mr. Myers? Not at this
time. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. So if they do want to build, as you mentioned at the outset, if they
do want to build a second residence on this property, it would have to either
they can comply with a detached accessory dwelling unit. 1000 square feet or they can go in for a division
of the property and divide the property to do that. Okay. Excellent. Now, it's it's it's very clean.
It makes a lot of sense. It makes more sense as ag than it does as limited business actually. So, it's
All right. Good. When do we want to hear this? Do we want to hear this on the 26th? That works for me.
Does that work for you? OK. Commissioner Jones, does that work? Yep. Great. Let's do this February 26,
which is our next meeting. Thank you, sir, for waiting. Your patience is always appreciated and honored.
Thank you. Of course. Thank you.
Thank you. Thanks. All right. Anything else for good of the order for our work session? If we. Oh, again,
just we have the best staff. I know we do. Everybody explains very complicated concepts and answers.
You know, what I feel sometimes are maybe duplicative or silly questions on my part because I this is,
you know, I haven't been here that long yet. So thank you so very much for your patience and just dedication.
Appreciate appreciate everybody.
Thank you. So anything else, staff? Anything else? Angie, Jeff, anything else? Good. All right.
With that, we are adjourned.