Avon commission approves Walmart market with required roundabout study after residents raise safety concerns

The Avon Advisory Plan Commission voted to approve DPR 2518, a development plan for an approximately 50,000-square-foot grocery with a drive-through pharmacy on the northeast corner of Avon Avenue and County Road 150, subject to staff’s recommended conditions and an added traffic-analysis requirement.

Staff presented the revised site plan to the commission on March 23 and noted the petitioner had removed a proposed full-access driveway onto Avon Avenue after an earlier waiver was denied. Paul, the town planning staff member, told commissioners the revised plan shows a conceptual roundabout at Avon Avenue and Governor’s Row, widening of part of Governor’s Row and neighborhood traffic-calming measures as part of six conditions staff recommended for development-plan review.

Why it matters: residents and the fire department raised concerns that the proposed intersection changes and added traffic could impede emergency response during construction or create new safety hazards in nearby neighborhoods and at school dismissal times. The commission accepted the plan as revised but added a seventh condition requiring a revised traffic study that models the proposed roundabout and its effects during school peak periods and is satisfactory to the Department of Public Works before permits proceed.

Petitioner and technical response Misha Ben, the petitioner’s attorney, said the applicant revised the plan to respond to neighborhood concerns and agreed to the six staff conditions; he told the commission, “we intend to comply in all respects with the ordinance and with the conditions” presented by staff. Eric Trippy, the petitioner’s traffic engineer, said the team rechecked counts and used cameras and state INDOT stations to capture school-period traffic; he described a short, dense queuing window after school but said the team’s analysis captures peak activity and can be refined.

Public safety and neighborhood concerns Fire Chief Danny Brock told the commission the proposed roundabout and road-widening work could “directly impact our ability to respond to emergencies” during construction and said the project’s footprint may encroach on detention and landscaping installed for the new station. Neighbors from the Turner Trace subdivision said school-period queuing already creates delays and asked the commission for a more thorough study of the roundabout’s effects on upstream intersections, cut-through traffic, and truck routing. Chris Thornberry, Turner Trace homeowners association president, presented drone imagery and asked the commission to require additional analysis or deny the request.

Town engineering and scope of study Public Works Director Steve Moore said the roundabout shown in the packet is a conceptual template; DPW’s traffic consultant ran simulations using the petitioner’s counts and INDOT data and identified design elements—truck aprons and mountable splitter islands—to accommodate emergency apparatus. Moore and staff agreed that a finalized roundabout design will require further engineering, interagency coordination (including Hendricks County if right-of-way is affected) and DPW approval.

Conditions and vote The commission’s approval requires the six staff conditions described in the March 23 staff report (revised site plan compliance, public-street improvements designed to town standards, speed-hump installation on nearby streets, compliance with photometric/fencing standards, and other items) and adds a seventh condition: the petitioner must submit a revised traffic study that analyzes the impacts of the proposed roundabout at Avon Avenue and Governor’s Row, including school-peak-period performance, and the study must be satisfactory to the planning administrator and the director of the Department of Public Works. The commission voted to approve the development plan (final tally: 4 in favor, 2 opposed, 1 absent).

What happens next The petitioner must provide the revised traffic analysis and final engineering designs for DPW review; the condition requires DPW sign-off on the roundabout design and other public-street improvements before issuance of a certificate of occupancy. The commission also required that any revised site plan correct the fence placement around the front-yard detention pond to comply with the Unified Development Ordinance or seek a variance from the Board of Zoning Appeals. If right-of-way acquisition is needed to fit the roundabout, DPW said that process and intergovernmental coordination would be handled separately from this development-plan approval.

The commission adjourned after the vote.