SUNBURY — Village Council unanimously approved the utilities for the Rolling Hills subdivision earlier this summer.
The ordinance consisted of street lighting, water, storm and sanitary sewer improvements for the development, located along Golf Course Road.
Sunbury normally has a three-reading process on legislation, but the rules were suspended so it could be passed by emergency on the first reading.
“The developer has addressed all of the outstanding issues,” Engineering Consultant Dave Parkinson said in the minutes of the June 2 council meeting. “The urgency in passage allows the selling of homes to pay for the debt for the sewer installation.”
Gregg Elliott, the village’s newest councilman, asked for a clarification of the suspension and emergency language.
Mayor Joe St. John “explained that suspension of the rules simply declares that three readings is not necessary; and emergency passage declares that the ordinance/resolution goes into effect/law immediately,” the minutes said.
Solicitor David Brehm “added that this is approval of engineering plans, the final step in a very long process and it is very common for a developer to ask for emergency language.”
The utility work includes “the construction of a 36” sanitary sewer trunk extending from the Sunbury Meadows Sewage Lift Station north to the northern edge of the Price Farm property, near the intersection of Cheshire and Golf Course roads,” the Engineering Report said.
The sewer construction was originally a private development project and dates back to 2016, but it has since been taken over by the village as a public improvement.
“The project is needed to provide service to Rolling Hills (the former Sunbury Golf Course Development) and Price Ponds (the development proposed for the Price Farms). It will also serve as our major receiving sewer for new development to the west and northwest,” the report said.
Rolling Hills is a 150-unit Planned Residential Development (PRD) that was unanimously approved by Sunbury’s Planning & Zoning Commission in 2020.
The nearby Price Farms is a 336-unit zoned PRD proposed for 184 acres east of Golf Course Road, immediately south of Big Walnut Middle School (BWMS) and the proposed Magnolia Park subdivision, and northeast of Rolling Hills. The preliminary plat for Price Farms was approved by the Planning & Zoning Commission in May.
Magnolia Park is a single-family subdivision of 39 lots on nearly 26 acres east of BWMS and south of Cheshire Road. Construction would be in phases, with six homes built in the first phase, along with an entrance drive from Cheshire to the school’s north entrance. Phase two would extend the entrance road.
