Land for 78 condos would need to be rezoned

A plan to build 78 condominiums south of Richmond’s Walmart requires the land be rezoned.

The ordinance containing Christ United Church of Richmond’s rezoning request appeared before Richmond Common Council on first hearing May 4. Council President Justin Burkhardt referred it to the Richmond Advisory Plan Commission for a public hearing May 27.

The church at 3430 Backmeyer Road owns 24 acres, including land that buffers it from the Walmart, northwest of the Backmeyer intersection with South 37th Street. It plans to sell 19.25 acres for the development that will connect with the Arbors, an existing multi-family subdivision.

Shannon Hayes, the city’s planning director, said the preliminary site plan includes nine four-condo units and 21 duplex units. The requested M1 zoning is the least dense among the city’s multifamily residential zoning categories.

The Smith Hill planned unit development townhomes would be southeast of the Backmeyer and South 37th intersection.

Mayor for a day

Mayor Ron Oler introduced Arianna Stevenson to council. Stevenson attended while serving as mayor for a day, among her prizes for winning the Wayne County Area Chamber of Commerce’s countywide civics bee.

Stevenson, who attends Centerville schools, toured city facilities, including the airport. 

“It’s been really great,” Stevenson said. “I’ve been learning about Richmond’s history and how the local government works. I’ve learned about the different districts and about how the mayor does his job. 

“It’s been really interesting, and I’m really thankful I have this opportunity.”

As part of the civics bee, students write a paper. Stevenson’s was about Richmond’s blight.

“The paper I wrote was about the blight[ed] and abandoned homes that are scattered throughout Richmond and how they can be a danger to our community, and I wrote about how we can solve this issue with teamwork and hopefully make our community a safer place,” Stevenson said.

During her day, she visited the city’s code enforcement department and discussed the unsafe building process, “which I learned is very strenuous in helping demolish these homes,” Stevenson said.

Oler noted that Stevenson could take the information to make her paper more robust ahead of June’s state civics bee.

Road funds

Oler also announced that the Indiana Department of Transportation released additional funding for Community Crossings road and bridge projects.

Richmond did not receive funding during the original award; however, INDOT is providing the city $332,941 to mill and pave eight roads, including North West E Street.