Scott Rhodes, a local resident and Nationwide insurance agent, currently owns and operates the house along Cumberland at 13862 Cumberland Road as a rental property and is requesting to rezone the property as Commercial so he can run his insurance company out of there. Our stance as the neighbors of the property is that this should not be allowed due to the future possibilities on the plot under a commercial zoning.
This was rushed through the city processes going from public notice signs going up around July 26th (may be off by a day) to being on the agenda for a Fishers City Council 2nd & 3rd Reading and final approval on Monday, August 15th, including a Planning Commission meeting on the 9th of August. 21 days.
At the Fishers Zoning Meeting on Tuesday, August 9th, the board voted to continue instead of approve the rezoning request due to some of the concerns that were raised. The commission's second vote to have Mr. Rhodes talk to the neighbors was ignored and the City and Petitioner used some legal loopholes to make the first vote at the commission that failed to pass still go ahead and force the issue to the City Council with "no recommendation" from the planning commission.
Instead of talking to the neighbors about this, all that we received was a notice on Thursday afternoon that it was going for final vote before the city on Monday. They amended the proposal to only allow a 25 foot building to be built on the property with 10 parking spaces if the house was demolished. According to the city this would limit the property to a 3000 square foot building.
At the city council meeting, many, many people showed up in opposition of this. By Friday of that week (less than 3 days from the planning commission meeting) we were able to turn in 75 signatures. Over a rain-soaked weekend and not having much time, we had about 150 signatures of nearby residents opposing the rezone. Many people also emailed the City Council members and due to that they kept the issue alive by taking the 3rd reading off the agenda before the meeting so it couldn't be voted up or down and instead have moved the final vote out a month hoping that the neighbors and petitioner can reach an agreement and also hoping that opposition to the proposal won't be as vocal or show up next time.
Eleven years ago, Mr. Rhodes request for the same thing was denied at this exact property. Mr Rhodes has just now sold his property in downtown Fishers on Lantern Road where his business currently operates for what is assumed to be a fairly large profit and is trying to rush this through the City so he can move in by September. According to Mr. Rhodes and the city, the reason this was rushed through was that it would be highly detrimental to his business if this took so long. Now, it appears that they want to make it take as long as necessary to work something out given the opposition we were able to show at the council meeting.
Our biggest concern is that once the property is zoned commercial, getting the extra restrictions that are put in place to satisfy the neighbors can easily be changed in the future. We watched it happen with a couple of other proposals at the Planning Commission meeting for other projects that aren't even finished or a year old so it is our stance that the restrictions being put in place are not sufficient or permanent enough. The house is within the public right of way, grandfathered in. Cumberland Road is on the Fishers 2030 plan to be expanded to 2 lanes each direction plus a turn lane, which means the house will most likely have to be torn down in the near future and be rebuilt.
This spot zoning proposal serves the benefit of one and only one person, Mr. Rhodes, the owner of the property. It does not in any way serve the interest of the surrounding area in any way.
Please sign the petition to oppose the rezoning here.
Follow us on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/groups/StopRhodesPUD
This was rushed through the city processes going from public notice signs going up around July 26th (may be off by a day) to being on the agenda for a Fishers City Council 2nd & 3rd Reading and final approval on Monday, August 15th, including a Planning Commission meeting on the 9th of August. 21 days.
At the Fishers Zoning Meeting on Tuesday, August 9th, the board voted to continue instead of approve the rezoning request due to some of the concerns that were raised. The commission's second vote to have Mr. Rhodes talk to the neighbors was ignored and the City and Petitioner used some legal loopholes to make the first vote at the commission that failed to pass still go ahead and force the issue to the City Council with "no recommendation" from the planning commission.
Instead of talking to the neighbors about this, all that we received was a notice on Thursday afternoon that it was going for final vote before the city on Monday. They amended the proposal to only allow a 25 foot building to be built on the property with 10 parking spaces if the house was demolished. According to the city this would limit the property to a 3000 square foot building.
At the city council meeting, many, many people showed up in opposition of this. By Friday of that week (less than 3 days from the planning commission meeting) we were able to turn in 75 signatures. Over a rain-soaked weekend and not having much time, we had about 150 signatures of nearby residents opposing the rezone. Many people also emailed the City Council members and due to that they kept the issue alive by taking the 3rd reading off the agenda before the meeting so it couldn't be voted up or down and instead have moved the final vote out a month hoping that the neighbors and petitioner can reach an agreement and also hoping that opposition to the proposal won't be as vocal or show up next time.
Eleven years ago, Mr. Rhodes request for the same thing was denied at this exact property. Mr Rhodes has just now sold his property in downtown Fishers on Lantern Road where his business currently operates for what is assumed to be a fairly large profit and is trying to rush this through the City so he can move in by September. According to Mr. Rhodes and the city, the reason this was rushed through was that it would be highly detrimental to his business if this took so long. Now, it appears that they want to make it take as long as necessary to work something out given the opposition we were able to show at the council meeting.
Our biggest concern is that once the property is zoned commercial, getting the extra restrictions that are put in place to satisfy the neighbors can easily be changed in the future. We watched it happen with a couple of other proposals at the Planning Commission meeting for other projects that aren't even finished or a year old so it is our stance that the restrictions being put in place are not sufficient or permanent enough. The house is within the public right of way, grandfathered in. Cumberland Road is on the Fishers 2030 plan to be expanded to 2 lanes each direction plus a turn lane, which means the house will most likely have to be torn down in the near future and be rebuilt.
This spot zoning proposal serves the benefit of one and only one person, Mr. Rhodes, the owner of the property. It does not in any way serve the interest of the surrounding area in any way.
Please sign the petition to oppose the rezoning here.
Follow us on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/groups/StopRhodesPUD