NEWS

Ellington defends delays of Shawnee Bluffs vote Councilman says plan commission not to blame By Kurt Van der Dussen, Herald-Times Staff Writer October 7, 2004 Jeff Ellington is fed up with criticism of the Monroe County Plan Commission he heads for postponing a final hearing and vote on the Shawnee Bluffs project on Lake Monroe. That's the proposal by a Franklin developer to rezone the old Indiana University Alumni Association camp into about 30 high-priced estates, about half on a bluff overlooking the lake. When the developer proposed treating sewage in a small, on-site plant that would discharge into the lake, environmentalists blasted the idea because the lake is the drinking water source for much of the county. A month ago, it came out that the petition was being postponed until after the November election. County plan director Bob Cowell said that among other things, the developer didn't want his project to become an election issue. Instead, the delay has caused just that, with Democratic county commissioner candidate Michael Englert and county council-at-large candidates Warren Henegar, Sophia Travis and Michael Woods all blasting the project and the delay on voting on it. They've accused the GOP-controlled plan commission of delaying it for political reasons. Since the charge was raised, both Englert's GOP opponent, county commissioner Joyce Poling, and Democratic commissioner Iris Kiesling have said they oppose the project. Poling said she'd love to be able to vote on it before the election, saying she opposes it for a number of reasons, including the proposal to cluster the homes. That alone would kill the rezoning request, because the three county commissioners have the final vote. Even if the third commissioner, Herb Kilmer, voted for it, it would lose 2-1. Add his vote against it, too, declared Ellington, the plan commission president and veteran county council member who is running against Kiesling for her commissioner seat. "You've got Joyce against it, and you've got Iris against it, and you've got me against it, and I'm a potential commissioner," he said Wednesday. Asked what the rezoning petition's chances were even to pass the plan commission, he said that while it would be improper for him to say what will happen if the petition is revised, "I don't think it's good." Ellington said he's tired of the plan commission getting blamed for the delays to the petition. He said the first continuance — for two months — was requested by the developer to come up with responses to public comments at the initial plan commission hearing on the project in midsummer. Cowell said later Wednesday that's true. Since then, one change to the project was made public by the county planning office: The discharge from the treatment plant would be filtered through a shoreline wetland the developer would create before the effluent enters the lake. Ellington said the second delay was due to the plan commission's own dissatisfaction with the proposal. He said it wanted major changes plus a report from project engineers about the track record of the sort of sewage system being proposed, including failure rates elsewhere. Cowell said he'd let Ellington speak for himself on the reason for the second delay. Ellington said the commission also took part in a seminar conducted by experts from Purdue University on septic mound systems and alternative wastewater solutions to educate itself on the issue. Cowell confirmed that. "We want to protect surface water, but we want to protect groundwater, too, because of the people in this county who still have wells," Ellington said. He also noted that under the site's current forest reserve zoning, the developer could build a 26-lot subdivision with septic fields without zoning approval, instead of asking for a planned unit development for a rezoning to allow what he said now appears likely to be 31 lots. "The question is: Would you rather have 26 lots on septic or 31 lots on sewers" along the lake, he asked. Cowell concurred that "there's no question that some type of residential subdivision is allowable" on the land, given the existing zoning. But he said that given the terrain, there might not be 26 usable 5-acre lots unless a few minor zoning variances were granted. Reporter Kurt Van der Dussen can be reached at 331-4372 or by e-mail at kvd@heraldt.com.