Residential growth

Lately the town seems to be approving residential land development with minimal resistance and driving away commercial ventures. At a recent meeting in Fortville, local legislators were invited to speak to the public about topics including property taxes. Sen Beverly Gard, herself , stated that in western Hancock County, a home needs to have an assessed value of 165,000 to generate the tax revenue to cover the burden that the home and occupants put on the local government and schools.
The town has been approving subdivisions with maximum home values below this level. This means that you and I will be making up the difference in our tax levies. Property taxes are set to rise another 14 1/2 % this year as well as school tax increases form the latest 75mil expansion.
Please do not get me wrong. the schools need help but with homes coming in to fill the schools this fast and the owners not paying their share, the burden falls on us.
The town will say that Hancock County as a home market can not support upper level housing. To this I say look at the development on 200w north of 100n. The homes there start at 375,000 and go up and they are filling up so fast that the developers are looking to open the next phase soon. Many economists and assessors have also said that 1 home worth 400,000 on 1 acre will bring in more tax revenue than four 100,000 homes on the same acre due to homestead credits and such.
The town needs to work with zoning, building codes and fines, impact fees, etc. to help promote responsible growth. They need to be willing to work with home owner associations to help them enforce the covenants for the neighborhood. The town usually has less restrictive rules and codes than HOA's. There needs to be communication with the schools as to how the impact of more students will effect them.
I propose doing this easily, with out putting extra work on the town officials by requiring home owners who want to build or add on to get approval, in writing, from their HOA before permits are approved. Also, we should require developers to get a statement, in writing, from the school board as to the impact more students will have and if they can support it. Then the schools are not growing at a rate faster than they can respond and home owners associations, have support locally. I believe these can and should be done.