by Olivia P. Tucker
Times Reporter
The Scottsburg City Council put a halt on rezoning a real estate parcel in Vienna at their regular meeting on May 22. The decision was contrary to the positive recommendation from the Scottsburg Advisory Plan Commission the previous week.
The council meeting was held at Mid-America Science Park to accommodate the larger than usual crowd.
Twenty-four single-family and 18 patio homes were planned to be built on a 30-acre property at 2693 South Vienna Road with the Legacy Village project. The property is at the corner of Vienna Road and Highway 356.
The discussion started with a letter from Scott County School District 2 Superintendent Marc Slaton read by Mayor Terry Amick. The letter stated that the school would be happy to accept more students and see community growth in the district, but he said he was not sure of the timeline of the development of the new homes versus the new students that could come into Vienna-Finley Elementary School.
The school is able to add four additional classrooms to accommodate more students and considering options such as moving 5th grade to Scottsburg Middle School or redistricting the area for enrollment, Slaton wrote in the letter.
Project Engineer Jonathan McCoy with Civil and Environmental Solutions from New Albany told the council that he and the developers Jeff and Jerry Mills have had productive meetings with the APC and the residents of Vienna.
“Where we are at with Legacy Village is very reasonable as far as density and access and safety,” said McCoy, “all of those things you look at when you develop a residential community like this.”
McCoy also told the council that the goal of this project was to encourage residential growth and accommodate diverse housing types in Vienna.
Council member Chuck Rose asked if the homes were rental or will be owner-occupied, to which Jeff responded that the single-family homes would be owner-occupied while the patio homes would be rental properties.
Council member Christian Evans said he had an issue talking about the zoning change because of the original intention of the 2-mile fringe area outside of city limits was to expand the city. However, Vienna will never be in the city of Scottsburg, he said.
“None of the Vienna residents in this room can vote for city council members, that is just the reality of it,” said Evans. “We have a 2-mile fringe, that the council put forth, so it is our fault that none of you can vote for us. However, this was not the intended purpose of the 2-mile fringe, that is kinda just the side effect of it.”
Council President Ric Manns said that he had the same issue as Evans about the project and that he has struggled with the project because of it being in Vienna. If it was in or close to the boarder of the city limits, Manns said it would be a no-brainer to support development for the city.
Vienna resident BJ Brandenburg said that the project doesn’t reflect the little community that is Vienna.
“We told you why the residents of Vienna feel we don’t want Legacy Village, we brought up those situations,” said Brandenburg “I have one question: what does it do for Vienna?”
Vienna Resident Robin Smith said, “These new residents may want to be moving to the country, but are they really ready for the country?” She added that her two story barn is really close to the property and a lot of the single-family homes would walk into their backyard to see farm animals that might not be something that a potential homeowner wouldn’t like to see daily.
The council voted unanimously to oppose the rezoning of the property resulting in an applause from all of
the Vienna residents in attendance.
Evans told the developers that if the project was closer to Scottsburg City limits that with the plans being well thought out that he would have supported the change in the zoning.