A local developer is seeking approval to rezone property at 1341 W. Second St., Seymour, to build 10 duplex buildings with 20 units total.
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At one point, Cornwell Construction LLC planned to build a 52-unit apartment complex in the 1300 block of West Second Street on Seymour’s west side.
Now, though, the Seymour company wants to build 10 duplex buildings with 20 units total.
To do so, the first step was to request to rezone the 4.56-acre property at 1341 W. Second St. from R-2 (multifamily residential) to R-3 (multiple-family residential).
That was accomplished during a recent meeting when the Seymour Plan Commission voted 9-0 to pass the proposal on to the Seymour City Council with a favorable recommendation. Commission President Jeri Wells and member Gary Colglazier were absent.
No one attended the meeting to speak in favor of or against the rezone request. The city council will consider it during a meeting at 7 p.m. Feb. 27 at city hall.
Clarence Cornwell told the commission the property currently is zoned for multi-unit apartments since that was the initial plan.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, he said he and his wife, Shannon, decided to change their plans and purchased the property to make way for duplexes.
“They all have garages,” Cornwell said of the plans for the duplexes. “They are very similar to the ones that you all approved when I rezoned Fifth Street, so it’s a townhouse-style building.”
He’s referring to 2020 when the city gave him approval to rezone the property at 605 E. Fifth St., tear down a single-family home and build a duplex.
When city Building Commissioner Jeremy Gray asked for questions from the commission on the duplexes proposed on West Second Street, Don Bruce asked if it meets fire department requirements with a cul-de-sac, and Cornwell said yes and noted Jonathan Isaacs is the engineer.
Commission member Susie Bowman asked if this would create a bottleneck since it’s between the busy intersection of Community Drive and Second Street near Seymour High School and Lexmoor Apartments.
“It will be less of a bottleneck with that than it would be with the apartments (he originally proposed) because there’s a lot less traffic with this than there will be with 52 units,” Cornwell said. “Fifty-two units, you may have 100-plus cars. That’s 20 units, so you may have 40.”
Commission member Dan Robison asked fellow member and city Engineer Bernie Hauersperger if this would be an issue with the construction project planned on West Second Street.
Plans call for full-depth pavement reconstruction from Lasher Drive east to Pine Street and resurfacing from Pine Street east to Indianapolis Avenue for a total of 1.25 miles. Bids are set to be let in September with construction scheduled to start in the spring of 2024 and end that fall.
Hauersperger said he will need to meet with Cornwell to coordinate the new development if the project is approved. That would include getting the property owner’s name corrected on the paperwork and asking for a right of way to put a sidewalk on the south side of West Second Street in front of the duplex subdivision.
“When this goes to development, they actually give some right of way back to the city,” Hauersperger said, noting the project would need to match what’s being done on West Second Street.
“As long as the city is willing to sit down and talk to us, there shouldn’t be an issue,” Cornwell said.
Commission member Dave Eggers then made a motion to pass the rezone request on with a favorable recommendation, Bruce seconded and it was approved.
Cornwell said he would set up a meeting with Hauersperger.