New Albany City Plan Commission Regular Meeting - April 21, 2026
New Albany City Plan Commission Regular Meeting - April 21, 2026
The New Albany City Plan Commission met in regular session on Tuesday, April 21, 2026. Seven members were present and one seat was vacant; a minimum of six votes was needed to carry motions. The commission held public hearings on a proposed one-year moratorium extension and a townhome development, reviewed a proposed animal shelter special exception, approved prior meeting minutes, and adjourned.
Public Hearing: Docket A-01-26 - One-Year Extension of Moratorium G 2402
The commission considered a proposed ordinance, initiated on its own motion, to extend for one year the temporary moratorium (Ordinance G 2402) on construction of non-owner-occupied multifamily housing and on issuance of permits for short-term rentals in New Albany and the two-mile unincorporated fringe area under commission jurisdiction.
Staff reported that the moratorium was originally adopted in 2024, extended in 2025, and that staff are updating the zoning ordinance to align with the New Albany 2045 Comprehensive Plan, which the City Council adopted in December 2025. Of the ordinance's ten chapters, the main work involves the definitions, zoning districts, permitted use table, and development standards chapters. Definitions are substantially complete and in legal review; district consolidation and standards work continue. Staff hope to hold the first public meetings in August and reach adoption around Thanksgiving, and requested a full year to avoid repeated short extension requests.
Zachary White, 1937 East Spring Street, opposed the extension. He said multifamily projects already face a de facto moratorium because planning takes about 22 months before groundbreaking; he cited a nearby project announced in 2023 that did not break ground until 2025 and has a 16-18-month construction schedule. He argued that moratoriums reduce rental availability, raise prices, and push young professionals to other cities, and he cited Austin, San Antonio, and Seattle as places where building more rentals brought prices down. He also said staff previously indicated the draft was nearly finished and asked the commission to reject the extension.
Staff responded that New Albany cannot compete with GE, Ford, or River Ridge on industrial development, so the city is focusing on housing, homeownership, and thoughtful multifamily in central locations, and on making it easier for longtime property owners in historic neighborhoods to build additions without variances. Staff expressed confidence that the completed zoning ordinance will be 'top flight.'
The commission approved Docket A-01-26 by a vote of 6 to 1. The ordinance will go to the City Council, where it will require three readings; council has final authority on the moratorium.
Public Hearing: Docket F-2-26 - Townhome Special Exception and Variances, 3406 Camber Miller Road
John McCoy of JLM Engineering presented for Michael DeSilva, seeking a special exception, development standards variances, and plat approval to build eight two-unit townhomes (16 total dwelling units) at 3406 Camber Miller Road. The property is just under three acres; the rear portion is in the Bald Knob Creek floodplain, and finished floors for the rear homes would be at least two feet above the floodplain elevation. The units would be owner-occupied, two-story, roughly 1,800 square feet, accessed by a single road with a cul-de-sac.
Commissioners raised concerns about traffic, noting that 16 units would add at least 30 cars and that the nearby Kamer Miller Road/St. Joseph Road/Charlestown Road intersection is already congested. The applicant acknowledged traffic but pointed to access via Charlestown Crossing Way and said the city is working to fix the intersection issues left by NDOT after the 265 project. A commissioner also asked about the approval path for a restaurant, which would be allowed by right in the highway-commercial district if development standards were met, whereas the residential proposal requires variances and a special exception.
Lilith Legends, 4303 Emerald Way, opposed the project. She said the area is 'horrible,' the lots are small and narrow, and 16 units or 32 cars would make existing backups at the Kamer Miller/St. Joseph/Charlestown Road intersection worse, especially with Dunkin' Donuts traffic. She said she thought 18 units would add to the problem, although the proposal is for 16 units. Another audience member said Chick-fil-A has also drastically increased traffic in the area.
Staff reported that the application involves a use variance, a development standards variance, and a special exception—possibly the first case in 37 years to hit all three. The site is zoned highway commercial under the 2019 plan, which does not allow residential, but staff said commercial use would be out of character for the surrounding residential area and residential use was more appropriate. Staff recommended a favorable recommendation to the Board of Zoning Appeals and suggested tightening the cul-de-sac radius; the floodplain portion would remain virtually undisturbed.
The commission voted to forward a favorable recommendation to the Board of Zoning Appeals. The BZA hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, May 6, at 5:30 p.m., moved from the usual Tuesday because of the primary election.
Public Meeting: Docket B-13-26 - Animal Shelter Special Exception, 5211 Grant Line Road
Shane Gibson, city corporate counsel, presented the request by the New Albany Redevelopment Commission for a special exception to permit a municipal animal shelter in the industrial steep slope district.
Staff described the 2.28-acre vacant, tree-covered site and the proposed 12,310-square-foot ground-floor shelter. The special exception is required for any governmental use in that district. Staff found the proposal consistent with the 2045 Comprehensive Plan's quality-of-life theme and land use sub-goal 4 on community facilities. Traffic would be directed mainly to a southern access point, using an existing culvert to avoid the intermittent stream and keeping traffic within the industrial district rather than along the residential buffer. Parking and circulation were designed to be adequate. The building and outdoor facilities avoid the steep slope and stream areas, and buffers include a six-foot landscape buffer fence on the north perimeter plus double enclosure of outdoor areas with six-foot and eight-foot fences.
No public testimony was offered. The commission voted to forward a favorable recommendation to the Board of Zoning Appeals.
Minutes and Adjournment
The commission approved the minutes of the March 17, 2026 meeting as written. A motion to adjourn was then made and seconded, and the meeting adjourned.
Key Outcomes
- Docket A-01-26 approved 6-1: one-year extension of Moratorium G 2402 recommended to City Council.
- Docket F-2-26: favorable recommendation to the Board of Zoning Appeals for the 16-unit townhome development at 3406 Camber Miller Road; BZA hearing set for May 6, 2026 at 5:30 p.m.
- Docket B-13-26: favorable recommendation to the Board of Zoning Appeals for the animal shelter at 5211 Grant Line Road.
- Minutes of March 17, 2026 approved.
Meeting Transcript
Some predictability structure. That's a remote caller. We'll call the regular meeting in the New Albany City Plan Commission for Tuesday, April the 21st to order, and we'll start with public allegiance, please. To the flag of the United States of America. And to replicate one under this law with liberty and justice. Bob Norwood. Haley James. David Aberso. Matt Dazell, Jeff Cummins, Sam Sharbanong. Greg Henders. Yeah. Eric Merton. Greg Phipps. Here. Larry Summers. We have one vacant position. We have seven members present. It will take a minimum of six to carry any motion. All right. Thank you. All right. We'll start this evening with the public hearing items. First item is Docket A0126. The New Albany City Plan Commission on its own motion proposes an ordinance to extend a current temporary moratorium, ordinance G 2402 on the construction of non-owner occupied multi-fam multi multi-family housing structures and the issuance of permits for short-term rentals in the city of New Albany and unincorporated two mile fringe area, in which the city uh the New Albany City Plan Commission has jurisdiction. A copy of the proposed ordinance is available for review from the office of the New Albany City Plan Commission. Do you want to start with that? Yes, I'll uh give a brief summary. Uh the moratorium uh for non-owner occupied multifamily and short-term rentals was originally adopted in 2024, it was extended in 2025, and we're requesting one year extension. City Council adopted the comprehensive plan the year 2045 in December of last year. Staff have been working to amend the zoning ordinance to complement the comprehensive plan and to address uh various shortfalls with the existing zoning ordinance. The zoning ordinance encompasses ten total chapters. Four chapters are principally um uh uh uh uh central to what we're trying to update. Those are namely the definition chapter, the zoning districts chapter, the chapter regarding permitted use table and development standards. Um briefly uh using illustrated book of zoning definitions to tighten our current definitions, verify uses in the permitted use table are well defined. We're substantially complete with that. It is in current legal review, uh, and we will be uh sharing that with our team shortly. The second chapter, uh the zoning districts, we're tightening those up by deleting several districts and merging other districts. Uh we still have some testing of district development standards to ensure we're not creating a uh a variance loop where uh somebody would you know you'd have a year's worth of folks coming in needing a side yard variance because we were too strict or or something along those lines. We want to make sure we don't uh do that. We are uh looking carefully at the existing land uses and land uses we believe will be coming down the road uh in New Albany. Uh we will be um I think proposing a more accurate and reflective table of land uses and assigning them to appropriate zoning uh districts. We made significant progress in both of the zoning districts and the uh permitted use table. Uh the last chapter that we're seeing a lot of work in is aligning the standards with current local practices. We've got it drafted, we've had initial staff reviews, um, but we've still got uh a pretty fair way to go with that. The other six chapters are gonna see some uh minor edits and and uh trimming at the edges, but overall they're gonna pretty much stay the same. And uh our goal with this is to get the first public meetings in August, and we're shooting for adoption in around Thanksgiving uh this year. So while we're asking for a year, uh we're doing so because we don't want to have to keep coming back asking the planning commission for another month or two and the city council for another month or two. Our goal is to get everything out in front of people in August and hopefully get to adoption uh around Thanksgiving. Are there any questions? No.
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