Plan Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening. I'd like to call to order the City of Franklin Planning Commission May 19th, 2026 at 6 p.m. Roll call, please.

Norm Gabehart.

Here.

Regina Haltham. Bill Carson. Michael Spongberg.

Here.

Suzanne Finley. Here.

John Kemski.

Here.

Irene Nally. Here. Michelle Stringer. Here. Matt McElroy.

Here. We definitely have a quorum. Will you join us in the Pledge of Allegiance, please?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States

I asked Joanna to put this on the agenda, election of officer president. I'm going to stand down from this position. I have other issues going on right now. So I'd like to open it up for nominations. And that being said, I'd like to make a nomination myself for Bill Carson.

I would second that.

We got three seconds. We got six affirmation on that one.

Okay. So it would be an honor. Thank you, Bill. Um, we'll go to vote. And then after that, you're currently serving as secretary, correct? Correct. And we'll, go directly into nominations for secretary and then I'll turn the gavel over to you if that's okay? Okay.

Sir, we might need to ask, are there any other nominations? I'm sorry, yes.

Any other nominations? We have a motion to close the nominations.

Yes, I'll make a motion.

Motion by Nally.

Second.

We have a motion to second. All those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye. Aye.

Now we have a motion and a second on Bill Carson's appointment. All those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Those opposed, same sign. Okay, now do we have a motion for Secretary of Bill's current position? It's pretty painless.

I would make a motion to put Michael forth for the Secretary.

I would second that. Do you accept Michael? Yes. I have a motion by Irene Nally and a second by Bill Carson. All those in favor? Oh, excuse me. Do we have any other nominations? Do I have a motion to close nominations?

Yes. Make a motion to close it.

Second.

Second. Second.

All those in favor of closing nominations, signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed, same sign. All those in favor of Michael Spongberg as our new secretary, signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed, same sign. Thank you both very much.

We would be remiss without saying thank you, Norm. You're staying with us. You're just changing your seat. So thank you for your leadership. Appreciate it.

Thanks, Bill.

Bill, there is no increase in pay, a pension, holiday time, anything like that. There's no changes. Just more responsibility. And more complaints. You'll know, Fred.

Thank you again, Norm. Next item up for tonight will be approval of minutes. Do we have any changes or additions to minutes from March the 17th, 2026?

Short and sweet and couldn't be beat, so good job.

Okay. All in favor of approving minutes from March 17th, 2026 as is, say aye.

Aye.

All opposed? Motion carries. At this point, we need to do some swearing in. Anybody who will be presenting or speaking either for or against the petition tonight, please stand and be sworn in.

Roger and Fred, do you solemnly swear or affirm any testimony to give tonight be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so be that. Thank you. Thank you.

Next up is the report of officers and committees. Joanna, do we have a committee report tonight?

Um, yes, since our last meeting, we did have technical review committee meeting on April 23rd. There were three items on the agenda. Uh, the first item that was heard at that meeting is the Eagles landing primary plot, which will be heard this evening. Also heard at that meeting is PC 26 dash four for the Franklin United Methodist home phase six, um, owned by Otterbein senior life. They are looking at adding some additional single family homes. on the north portion of their property, which is also consistent with their existing PUD. The other item is PC26-5, which was the primary plot for Cambree Hills. That applicant is Silverthorne Homes. Property is located at 130 acres at the northeast corner of Umbarger Lane and County Road 75 south. They are working on some additional revisions and modifications. That's why it's not going to be heard this evening. But I do anticipate it being on the June agenda. And that is all.

Okay. Thank you. Do we have any old business tonight?

No old business.

Okay. Moving on to new business then. We have PCE 26-3 for Eagle's Landing. Would you like to introduce us to this proposal?

Before you is the primary plot for Eagle's Landing. You have seen this same subject property a couple of times. Most recently it came through for recommendation of rezoning of the majority of the property to RS1 with the remaining commercial areas to remain as the PUD. That has went through. Planning Commission and City Council and those rezoning have taken effect. The request before you is for the 51 acres to be divided into 16 residential lots and two commercial lots. It is surrounded by the Legends Golf Course to the north, east, and south. There are some intersection improvements that are proposed, which would be the A cell, D cell lane. And as mentioned earlier, this was heard at the April 23rd Technical Review Committee meeting. And it is ready for the board's consideration and action.

Okay. Thank you. Who speaks for PC26-3? If you would join us at the podium, tell us your name, and we're ready for your proposal.

Thank you. Let's better sign in, shouldn't we? Thank you. I'm Fred Paris. Roger's here also. Basically, you've had this already pretty much in front of you. What I find most interesting is I missed the last couple of meetings, and I was out of town playing around and goofing off on a vacation, and then I get back and I find out everybody says, you know what? You just need to stay out of the way and let Roger take care of things. So the secret is out. Even when I was mayor... There were always those people around you that were really good at their job and kept you out of trouble. Lynn might have been one of them. But anyhow, so now the secret's out that really all I am is kind of the idea guy and the demo guy. And Roger's the brains behind this outfit that keeps the paperwork going the right direction. And believe me, in a project like this, the paperwork is ridiculous. but it's part of it, and we know that. We're just open to answer any questions you have about it. I think it's been presented to you before. I don't believe anything's changed since our original presentation, but I'll let Roger also jump up here and say whatever he wants, and we'll be more than happy to answer any questions you got about the project. We'd be more than happy to answer questions. All right.

I'll sign in. First, I should thank Fred for his kind comments, but he's actually the boss, always has been, always will be. We're really happy to present this to you. I think I would just briefly present some testimony, which I understand we do have a burden to show that this should be granted. Just a couple of points I would make. The staff recommendation was approval with the following conditions. and we're in complete agreement with those. The first one is the Johnson County Drainage Board approval is required and we have already filed for that. We'll be submitting our notices. We'll have a technical review committee hearing on that before we go before the Johnson County Drainage Board and so that is a condition we are working on and will satisfy. We have already drafted the off-site easement and it's been circulated to the Koopmans and we are staking where it is because we had made some representations to them that it would not affect their existing landscape which it doesn't and so that will be taken care of. The last condition was that our commercial lot number one have a utility easement and Project Plus is getting that taken care of. So with those conditions in place, I would respectfully submit that we do We're fully consistent with the requirements of the subdivision control ordinance. We didn't ask for any waivers. And so we comply with that and it's been a pleasure working with the planning department and Joanna on that and so we're good to go there. And then we also are consistent with the zoning ordinance, which has already been approved. So I believe the factual basis for this approval is in place. And so as Fred said, we're happy to answer any questions, but we would respectfully request approval.

Okay. Do we have any questions from the board?

Does Irene's husband have any questions about anything? What's for dinner or anything like that?

Okay.

All right.

All right. Good. Glad to hear it.

Okay. You don't put that in the minutes. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay. We have a staff recommendation then please.

Yes. Staff recommends approval of the primary plot with three conditions. First one being Johnson County drainage board approval is required and copies shall be provided to staff prior to issuance of a land disturbance permit for work associated with an approved set of construction plans. Number two offsite easement shall be recorded and copies provided to staff prior to issuance of a land disturbance permit for work associated with an approved set of construction plans. And three commercial lot one shall include a utility easement along the west property line.

Okay. And once again, for the record, you guys are completely in agreement with those conditions.

Yes, sir.

Thank you. With that, then, uh, we would open it up to a motion.

I make a motion to approve it 20 or PC 26 dash three Eagles landing.

Subject to the conditions as presented.

Subject to the conditions as presented with the three criteria.

Okay. We have a motion by Nellie. Second, that second. And shall we do a roll call vote?

Hi.

All right.

Aye.

John Kimski?

Aye.

Irene Nally?

Aye.

Michelle Stringer?

Aye.

Matt McElroy?

Aye.

And Bill Carson?

Aye. Motion carries unanimous. Thank you very much, gentlemen. Congratulations.

Just curious, I mean, obviously there's a lot more to go. When's your target to be turning some dirt and things, guys?

We had originally thought the idea that might happen that we'd be busy in July and August, but with trying to get the drainage approval completely finished, plans done, some final agreements with Ted, which we don't, you know, we can do what we want, but we'd like him to be, we'd like him to like what we do.

Yeah.

So we're still working on that. And then, um, to be honest, I think we might delay a little bit because of get into fall. It'll be easier to work, but these little prices might make our bids come in really high right now.

Yeah.

So we may hold off putting it out for bid until we're completely ready and pray that prices come back down a little bit.

Looking forward to it. Thank you. Yeah.

Okay. Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you. Joanna, do we have any other business this evening?

Just an update on the comprehensive plan. Staff has been provided a draft of the comprehensive plan, and we have reviewed it and submitted revisions back to HWC Engineering. They are in the process of getting that updated. We do expect that fully updated this week, and then at that point it will be made public. Um, and I'll make sure that all the board members get a copy there following, um, that it will come to plan commission and plan commission will make a recommendation. Um, for that.

Okay. I look forward to seeing it.

You think of July or I would suspect probably July, maybe August. Yeah. I mean, potentially June, but I'm thinking probably more July.

Okay. Thank you. Uh, no other business.

No other business.

Okay. We'll open the floor to a motion to adjourn then.

I'll make a motion to move it.

Second. You don't get six seconds for that. Come on.

We have a motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. All opposed, stay.

Yeah, it was. That was.