Annual reports can contain lots of minutiae, but some information just jumps off the page, like the number 420.
That’s how many single-family home permits were issued in 2020, which is the most issued by the Town of McCordsville since 2004, when 241 were approved. Moreover, 30 more single-family home permits were issued in 2020 than in the previous two years combined (106 in 2018 and 105 in 2019). It is not slowing down.
“Our permit numbers are sky-high again,” said Ryan Crum, McCordsville’s director of Planning and Building. “We’ve approved already this year 85 new homes, which would put us on pace for around 340 for the year.”
Not surprisingly, town officials expect to see a record number of permits issued this year. Two new subdivisions – Oakcrest and Pine Vail Estates – were completed last year. Another is already approved for this year and is awaiting approval.
McCordsville’s has grown 688 percent since 2000. The town’s population grew by 8.5 percent between 2019 and 2020 and is expected to continue rising. Town officials estimate the population could surpass 19,000 by the end of the decade.
“I think McCordsville, because of our location, is seeing a lot of the (residential) growth,” Town Manager Tonya Galbraith said. “We are also seeing a lot of industrial interest as well. Everything seems to be coming together.”
Other highlights from the town’s 2020 annual report
- Average sales price of a new single-family home: $318,562
- Average size of a new single-family home: 3,288 square feet
- Total sales price value of all new homes: $76.4 million
- The Town Center: “We’ve been working on the Town Center for a decade or so,” Galbraith said. “It’s becoming much more of a reality. We’ve identified a stormwater retention area that would be an amenity as well as a utility.”
- Improvements to Wastewater Treatment Plant will double in volume from a half-million gallons to 1 million. “We’re about 50 percent done on the project,” Galbraith said.
- McCordsville’s town mask mandate: Although the state’s mask mandate expired on April 6, town officials are taking a wait-and-see approach with its local mandate. “That will be a (town) council decision,” Galbraith said. “I asked them their thoughts if we would be going back in person soon, and they said they wanted to wait at least until May to see some of the requirements on pieces of legislation (regarding) electronic meetings. We’re still requiring masks in Town Hall. There are still people coming and going that have not received their vaccinations yet, so, we will wait until May for town meetings, and that will be a council decision on whether we will require masks for the public and staff inside Town Hall.”
Vernon Township Fire Dept. enhancements
The Vernon Township Fire Dept.,which serves McCordsville and Fortville, had – until recently — been operating under 1970’s-level funding and with aging equipment, according to local officials.
But in 2020, the creation of a new fire territory allowed for increased funding that allowed the department to purchase two new fire engines and a new ambulance.
Manpower also will be increased.
“By the fall, we anticipate our first career firefighters,” VTFD Chief Chad Allen. “We’ll continue to be supplemented by our part-time staff.”
The combination of an improved fleet of engines and full-time firefighters is expected to dramatically improve response times.
“Response time certainly has dropped,” Allen said. “The prior system required volunteers to respond from home, so just by putting 24-hour coverage with five or six people on each day, if there is a call, then we are able to get on the road in around a minute and a half.”