An Edinburgh Town Council meeting turned tense Monday night after a representative from the Timbergate Subdivision expressed frustrations with the planning process.
Councilmembers voted unanimously to deny a request to reduce the minimum square footage for one-story homes in Section 4 of the Timbergate Golf Course subdivision and approved maintenance bonds after a back-and-forth between town officials and representatives from the subdivision.
The request to reduce the minimum square footage received pushback from community members and town officials at a plan commission meeting in November. Plan officials unanimously forwarded an unfavorable recommendation to the town council. The request would have decreased the square footage from 1,500 to 1,360 square feet in Sections 4 and 5 of Timbergate.
Timbergate is located on the east side of Edinburgh, west of Interstate 65 and south of State Road 252. The 91.87-acre neighborhood is a golf course community that was first approved in 1997 and received a 10-year extension in 2011 and another five-year extension in 2021, according to the planning and zoning staff report.
The neighborhood has gone through several transitions in builders and developers over the years. Gradison Land Development took over the project in 2021 and Ryan Homes is the current home builder.
Gradison is in the process of completing the infrastructure in Section 4 and recording the plat, but the infrastructure hasn’t been accepted because the developer hasn’t completed all the requirements, town officials say. This includes consistently maintaining erosion control measures and giving the full testing results for the piping of water and sanitary systems to the town utilities. A stop work order has been in place on the project since June 28.
John Myers, town manager, was hesitant to ask the council to approve the maintenance bonds for the subdivision, citing concerns about pressure test results and erosion problems that haven’t been addressed.
The stop work order has been in place, but work continues to be done, he said.
Adam Mears, land use and project facilitator at Gradison Land Development, addressed the council saying he has been working since October to get the section platted, but has been met with roadblocks and confusion.
One of the bonds is an erosion control bond, he said. The bond was submitted to the town in 2023, under a transition of town managers, but they were never accepted and there is no record of it, he said.
The bonds are meant to provide surety to the town that their concerns are resolved, Mears said. The forms for the bonds and approval to go ahead and order them came from town officials, he said.
“We can’t get the plat recorded until the bonds are accepted, can’t sell lots until the plat is recorded and we’ve been trying to get this done, again, since October,” Mears said.
Regarding the stop work order, Mears said he has “several conversations” with officials about a punch list that is preventing the stop work order from being lifted. The punch list is the development’s plans and not an actual list of items that need to be done, he said.
“We got a seven-page sheet that says, Go to Sheet 100 and make sure that you’re doing what it says on that sheet. That’s not a punch list item,” Mears said. “We do this all over the state and I’ve never had a punch list like this.”
Mears said he could not get answers from officials and the goal line for the project continues to move, which is having an impact on their ability to sell homes.
Myers then asked why the erosion control and rip rap complaints brought up in August haven’t been resolved yet. Mears said the unanswered questions and confusion about the punch list are to blame.
“We’ve had people out there, John,” Mears said. “We have people down here every day doing things. Again, that’s the purpose of the bond. It’s not all going to be perfect. If we’re waiting for everything to be perfect, you’ll never have one more building permit in this town.”
Development takes time and issues are going to happen, Mears said, which is why he has asked the town council to approve the bond to protect the town.
Myers then asked why the pressure test on the sewer lines and videos had not been received, which Mears says is inaccurate.
Edinburgh officials do have the video and should have the pressure tests, Mears said. Some of the videos the town is asking for were done by the town, he said, so he doesn’t understand why officials have not received them.
Mears said the company has provided everything the town has asked for. Additionally, when the testing is done, town employees are on-site, he said.
“So we hire somebody to come out. Your people are on site. When that stuff is done, they don’t give us those results,” Mears said. “That’s the whole purpose of having them out there with your people. None of these inspections are ever done without your people on site. Every single one.”
Town Council President Ryan Piercefield then asked the council to decide because the official who the complaints are about was not at the meeting to rebuttal, he said.
Mears apologized for his frustration and said he wants to work with the town, but it has been one of the toughest municipalities to get platted in.
The town council voted unanimously to approve the bonds subject to legal review.
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