The City of Shelbyville Plan Commission pumped the brakes on the number of proposed housing subdivisions Monday at its monthly meeting.

The planned unit development concept plan for Arbor Homes' proposed "Riverview" subdivision just north of Blue River Memorial Park was denied, 5-4, to conclude a two-hour meeting held at Breck Auditorium at Shelbyville High School.

Citing safety concerns along Old Rushville Road and the density of the proposed subdivision, 115 homes on 40 acres of land owned by First Christian Church, Plan Commission president Mike Evans accepted a motion to deny the concept plan, which was upheld with votes from Wade Lewis, Joe Lux, Gary Nolley, Ben Hall and Doug Cassidy.

Evans was one of four "No" votes to deny the motion.

"One of the hardest things to do to sit on this board is try to remove emotion from the petition at hand and to stay to what we are allowed to address," said Evans after the meeting. "With this one, because public safety was brought up over and over and over, that's one of the reasons it swayed a few board members to rethink their decision and it swung 5-4 in denial."

Arbor Homes now must wait one year before reapplying its petition. 

Caitlin Dopher, entitlement manager for Arbor Homes, addressed the sheer number of housing subdivisions currently in the pipeline for Shelbyville with market statistics about the current lack of housing in Shelby County.

Earlier in the meeting, Arbor Homes received a favorable recommendation, 7-2, for its planned unit development detail plan for "Isabelle Farms" -- a proposed 263-lot subdivision along State Road 9 south of the Interstate 74 exit.

Dopher appeared before the Shelbyville Parks and Recreation Department board Wednesday afternoon seeking approval to build a retention pond for Riverview in Blue River Memorial Park to assist with drainage from the subdivision.

Citing the eventual need to build a pond in the park for future projects, the parks board agreed to the request from Arbor Homes.

Jeff Brown photos

Arbor Homes' proposed "Riverview" subdivision, which would have been built north of Old Rushville Road (left) and Blue River Memorial Park in Shelbyville, was shot down by the Plan Commission Monday night. The 115-lot subdivision was presented to the Plan Commission (top photo) but concerns over drainage and public safety along a two-lane road swayed the denial vote.

Several residents that live near the proposed subdivision spoke passionately to the Plan Commission Monday about traffic and drainage issues in the area that they believe would be compounded by more than 100 homes on a 40-acre tract of land.

Evans addressed the crowd of approximately 75 in attendance about the city not having "right of way" along Old Rushville Road to make needed improvements to the two-lane road.

"We, as a city, need to actively pursue that so we can upgrade that road to make it safer for both pedestrians and vehicle traffic," said Evans.

A pair of subdivision roads were the concern of Rolling Ridge residents in regard to the proposed Isabelle Farms project. Crest Drive and Rolling Ridge Road are stub streets within the Rolling Ridge subdivision and will be connected to streets within Isabelle Farms, which will have main entrances off State Road 9 (also known as N. Riley Highway) and Michigan Road.

Drainage also is a concern in the area but there are several options available to alleviate the problems, according to city plan director Adam Rude.

Storm drainage improvements and street light installation also have been discussed for the Rolling Ridge subdivision which has been around for over 50 years.

"There is not a lot of street lighting in our addition," said plan commission member Joanne Bowen, who lives in Rolling Ridge. She also is a member of the Shelbyville Common Council.

Bowen and Lux voted against the Isabelle Farms detail plan.

"Twelve months will go by in a heartbeat and it will let Isabelle Farms get off the ground," said Evans. "The problem is the additions that are under development right now ... they can't build them fast enough. There are not enough houses on the market. If we can grow our population and still keep Shelbyville as our hometown that we all know, but with increased population growth, we get the retail that everybody wants."

In other Plan Commission business Monday, a site development plan was unanimously approved for an industrial warehouse to be built at 1689 N. Michigan Road.

The commission also unanimously approved rezoning a four-acre tract of land on Saraina Road just south of The Goodwill Store from Business Highway to Two Family Residential for a proposed development of duplex-style homes.

A zoning map amendment also was approved to unify zoning of a large portion of land near Tom Hession Drive.

The city has been working with county officials to control zoning around city limits.

"It's a first step to clean up zoning maps where we are seeing growth and development," said Rude to the commission. "It puts zoning under one office rather than having to go back and forth with the city and county."

No land was annexed, just rezoned to be more consistent with expected growth in the area.