The Ellettsville, Indiana, Plan Commission
met in regular session on
Roll Call:
Frank Buczolich, Don Calvert, Sandra Hash and William Evans were
present. Ed Bitner, Lisa Creech and
Terry Baker were absent. The PZA
position is vacant.
Approval of the minutes for September 2,
2004
William Evans made
a motion to approve the minutes of the
Old Business
None
New Business
Rezoning and vacation of alleyway for
Robert and Darlyne Sowder at
Bob Sowder said prior to
purchasing their property in 1978 they were told by Town Officials they were
zoned the same as Robinson Block which is Commercial, Light Industrial. He said whenever questions have arose in the
past about zoning in their area they have asked and always been told they were
zoned the same as Robinson. Until June
of this year when they received a letter about their zoning being C-2 from
Jeffery York, former Planning and Zoning Administrator they have continued to
believe their property was zoned the same as Robinson. He
then spoke to Mr. York explaining to him they have repeatedly been told they
were zoned the same as Robinson. Mr.
York sent them a letter in July that stated they were actually zoned C-2
Tourist Commercial which was taken from the 1966 zoning map. Bob said he thinks the current zoning map
reads the same but asked if it was a possibility that there was another zoning
map in between that the Town Officials were using which showed the Sowder’s
property zoned the same as Robinson for twenty-six years. According to the land usage listed in the
Town Code their type of business is categorized only under industrial–Town Code
section 152.080 (warehousing and distribution are acceptable in the I-1
district). Sowder Distributing Company
is a warehouse distributor of truck, van and auto accessories and has been for
the twenty-six years they have owned the property at
Comments:
Don Calvert asked Mr. Sowder if
he had any other plans for this property or was this to just continue with the
same business.
Bob Sowder said he no they
didn’t have any other plans they just want to run the business the same as they
always have.
William Evans asked Mr. Sowder
if he wasn’t questioned back in the late 1980’s about the trailers they have on
their property.
Bob Sowder yes there were
questions at one time. We’re renting one
trailer and people knew that we were using it for temporary storage and we told
them we wanted to get rid of it because it was costing us money. Then in the 80’s we were asked to move the
trailers and we asked if we were in any violation of any codes and they said
no, they just didn’t like the looks for the trailers sitting there. I would to like get rid of the trailers but
it’s not convenient to do so at this time, so we haven’t gotten the trailers
moved.
William Evans said if he
recalls correctly when this issue was discussed earlier this year in a Council
Meeting Mr. Sowder said if the trailers were moved now it would hurt his
business but after the Christmas season was over he would have less inventory
and it would be easier to remove the trailers.
Bob Sowder confirmed yes
stating he said at that meeting he would try to get them out of there as soon
as he could after Christmas. At that
time we said we would try to get them out of there by February or March of 2005
at the latest.
Frank Buczolich said the second
part of the Sowder’s petition is to vacate the alley.
Bob Sowder said the driveway
between 114 and 108 W. Temperance has not been an alley for at least twenty-six
years. The prior owners say it was never
an alley. Sometime in the 80’s we were
asked to tear down a storage building that set in the alley so the Street
Department could upgrade the alley and we thought that would be a good idea to
give access to the back of our buildings for the customers. We hired a contractor to tear down the
building then the Street Department came back to us and said they could not upgrade
it because it isn’t an alley. After that
Nancy Acuff, the owner of the property at that time, built a wooden fence
across the drive to prevent drive thorough traffic and said her Attorney Fred
Gregory said it was not an alley but a private drive. Since INDOT has completed fixing their
property the Town thinks again the drive is an alley. He would like to clear up this issue and
Attorney Mike Spencer suggested they request the alley be vacated.
Frank Buczolich said here are two separate issues and asked for a
motion on each.
William Evans made
a motion to recommend to the Town Council the denial of the rezoning petition
from C-2 to I-1. Sandra Hash
seconded. A roll call vote was
taken: Don Calvert - yes; William Evans
- yes; Frank Buczolich - yes and Sandra Hash – yes. Motion carried.
William Evans made
a motion to recommend to the Town Council the approval of the vacation petition
for the alley between parcel #’s listed
Rick Coppock
pointed out the Town needs to retain a utility easement and William Evans agreed.
Bob Sowder said
he didn’t have any problem with that, in fact, he said he had brought that up
before saying he would gladly give them a sewer easement.
Don Calvert
seconded. A roll call vote was
taken: Don Calvert - yes; William Evans
- yes; Frank Buczolich - yes and Sandra Hash – yes. Motion carried.
Introduction of annexation request for
Arthur and Mary Ann Staggs at approximately
Rick Coppock representing Arthur and
Mary Ann Staggs explained this is a voluntary annexation and they are
requesting an R-1 zoning for 17.98 acres.
It is proposed to be a continuation of Union Valley Farms and the
existing residents on the property will remain there with a cut out area for
them around two or so acres. The lots
will be slightly bigger than the ones in Union Valley Farms.
Comments:
Jennifer Freemen asked what R-1
encompasses and asked how many homes were planned and how will these homes be
accessed. She said is an adjacent
property owner and she and her husband Jason are against changing the zoning
code. They have two sons and bought the
property about a year ago to escape the hustle and bustle of city life and plan
on raising hunting dogs and 4-H pigs. One
reason they bought the property was because it wasn’t zoned as such. A second point she wanted to mention is that
this development will add possibly sixty more homes behind them and Union
Valley is already a “deadly road” so they are concerned about adding that many
more daily users to that road. She’s
spoken with most of the other adjacent property owners and no one is in favor
of changing this to an R-1 zoning.
William Evans made
a motion to recommend to the Town Council to accept the zoning annexation of
17.98 acres to the R-1 classification to provide for Single Family Residential
at the address of 5500 N. Union Valley, that is an approximate address. Don Calvert seconded. A roll call vote was taken: Don Calvert - yes; William Evans - yes; Frank
Buczolich - yes and Sandra Hash – yes.
Motion carried.
Introduction of annexation request for
Chris Sims, Timothy Sims and Michael Sims at
Tim Sims said wants to get this other piece
of property annexed with our adjoining property that’s already zoned C-3. One of
the pieces of property was half in the Town and half in the County when the
bought it, so they wanted it to all be together. There’s 2.38 total acres. This is across from Rick’s Body Shop and
William Evans made
a motion to recommend to the Town Council to zone and annex 1.41 acres to the C-3
classification to provide for commercial development at the address of 5638
Preliminary and Final Plat request for
Meadowlands, section six subdivision (six lots, zoned R-2) – Rick Coppock
Rick Coppock representing Charlie
Wright said this is for six one acre lots.
They have a sixty foot front lot set back from the road; the rear yard
is forty feet set back. The road is
already built. The public improvements
are already complete so Rick presented both the preliminary and final plat at
the same time. The sidewalks are set
away from street. There will probably be
no additional street trees added due to the lots being wooded lots
already.
Don Calvert and
Sandra Hash both questioned if adding these homes will add water and drainage
problems to the area.
Rick Coppock
said any water run off will go to the creek.
There won’t be a water problem with these lots and they won’t create
another water problem.
William Evans made
a motion to recommend to the Town Council to accept a Preliminary and Final
Plat request for The Meadowlands, section six subdivision (six lots, zoned
R-2). Don Calvert seconded. A roll call vote was taken: Don Calvert - yes; William Evans - yes; Frank
Buczolich - yes and Sandra Hash – yes.
Motion carried.
Review of grading plan for
Rick Coppock explained the grading plan
and drainage for the property. Water
will drain to the nature low point. The
pond will retain the water in a big storm.
Bryan Cox,
Rick and Bryan
discussed the drainage issue and how this development will affect his property
and Rick explained the water should run off.
Further discussion.
Brian Cox said
as long as it works he’ll be glad.
William Evans
made a motion approve the grading plan for
Bryan Cox said
he wanted to mention the issue of lighting.
Frank Buczolich
said that would have to be resubmitted again to the Plan Commission.
Don Calvert seconded. A roll call vote was taken: Don Calvert - yes; William Evans - yes; Frank Buczolich - yes and Sandra Hash – yes. Motion carried.
Don Calvert
mentioned the lighting at Phillips 66 and doesn’t believe those lights have
ever been reduced. Further discussion resulted
into this needs to be checked into again.
Privilege of the Floor - None
Adjournment
William Evans made a motion to
adjourn. Don Calvert seconded. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned at