Developer Charlie Gillman’s application for 13-lot Hunters Grove Subdivision on 31.5 acres located northwest of the Coonhunters Road and County Road 1400 North intersection gained initial approval from the Batesville Advisory Plan Commission and Batesville Board of Zoning Appeals Feb. 4.

The lots, which range in size from 1.5 to 4.2 acres, would be accessed by three lanes, two off of Coonhunters Road and one off of C.R. 1400. None of the lanes connect.

Building Commissioner Tim Macyauski asked if the neighborhood would be developed in three or four phases. Gillman responded, “In this current economy, that's tough to say. It strictly goes by demand.”

Surveyor Rob Seig of Seig & Associates, Sunman, explained the development is not located within city limits, but could be in the future, so it was presented to the Batesville Technical Review Committee. “As far as we can tell, we've covered everything the engineer and city departments are looking for.”

BAPC President David Raver said, “Hannum, Wagle & Cline, Indianapolis, engineers had a long laundry list of things they were concerned with,” but are now satisfied with modifications.

Ripley County has zoned the land for Unit Development, Seig believed. The surveyor said it would have “all the characteristics of a single-family housing subdivision,” so, if accepted by the city, it would be zoned Residential-1 within the UD designation.

BAPC member Ham Struewing said the development would eventually be annexed into the city, but the streets would not be accepted.

Raver reported the lanes are designed at 20 feet wide instead of the 26 feet required by city standards. Each would have a turnaround at the end for emergency vehicles in lieu of cul-de-sacs. Curbs and gutters are not required because the lanes would be on high ground and water would run away from them.

Ground would be seeded with grass, providing greater absorption of rainwater. Because runoff would be reduced, Gillman would not have to construct a detention basin, Raver said.

Because the roads would not be dedicated, most would be gravel at first, the president added. Property owners would be required to blacktop them within 10 years. Gillman agreed that within one year of a lot being sold on a particular street, he would pave it.

Houses won’t appear overnight. First the city council must annex the acres into the city, then approve the zoning. Seig said county highway workers need to remove silt from ditches, which are “completely plugged,” so runoff can flow to a culvert.

The second meeting issue was how much control the city should have over residential developments. Darrell Hoyer, 25 Benz Court, proposed that homes within a subdivision be very close to each other in value. He bought a 2,300-square-footer two years ago for $250,000 and was dismayed to learn a spec house would be constructed next door and priced around $182,000, which he said would devalue his property.

The minimum square footage in that section of East Heights Subdivision, just east of Hoosier Heights, is 1,750, according to him.

Hoyer said, “My goal tonight is to ask that in the future would all stake parties – the city, Realtors, builders, developers and lenders – take time to protect the buyers who choose to live in your community.”

“Here's the dilemma,” Raver answered, giving an example. If the first person to buy a lot in a neighborhood built an $800,000 home and if a city guideline stated prices could only vary 10 percent, every later owner would have to spend at least $720,000, “which would make it difficult for the developer to sell future lots.” He said typically subdivision covenants specify a minimum square footage to make homes similar.

He told Hoyer, “I appreciate your frustration,” but added it’s difficult to find “practical middle ground.”

Raver acknowledged some developers also mandate certain building materials or other rules, such as no fences or clothes lines. Some neighborhoods may have architectural review committees to insure more uniformity.

BBZA member Mary K. Cambron asked, “Do you have a homeowners' association or could you establish one?” Hoyer said he did not get a copy of East Heights covenants before purchasing.

Hoyer said he thought BAPC should be more involved in neighborhood guidelines. The president said, “Now you're asking the city to insert itself between a business and a buyer.”

His voice rising, Hoyer contended it was "not fair" to have such a difference in home values on the same street.

BAPC member Chris Fairchild said some subdivisions have more specific covenants than others. BAPC member Tony Gutzwiller observed, “We can't say, ‘You can't come into this community if you can't afford a certain price range on a house.’”