Area Plan Apc / Bza - Regular Meeting

Commission to order to comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Decatur County requests that participants in this meeting complete a voluntary anonymous survey that is available on the table in the back of the room. A couple of things before I get started. We have the draft comprehensive plan for the Town of St. Paul And if you look at your agenda, it is at the end of the APC petitions. I'm actually going to move that down to the bottom so that we can get through the show cause hearing as well before that starts. So anyone that isn't in here yet, as we work through these petitions, there'll be room made. Everyone will be able to come in for that at the end. First item on our agenda is the approval of the June 3rd, 2026 minutes. All the board members receive those in their packet. Does anyone have any additions or corrections to those? Hearing none, I'll look for a motion to accept those.

I make a motion to accept June 3rd, 2026 minutes.

I'll second.

All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, nay. First petition on our agenda, APC petition 2026-12, Trevor Stapp is requesting to rezone 6.04 acres from an A1 zoning classification to an I1 zoning classification to operate a light industrial office and warehouse. This request falls under Decatur County Ordinance Section Number 1204. The property is owned by the petitioner and is located at 12040 South County Road 800 Westport in Jackson Township. Trevor, if you could come to the podium. And tell us about your project.

Yeah, so my name is Trevor Stapp. I'm with Stapp Holdings and IMH Systems. We're a material handling contractor based here in Decatur County. We specialize in conveyors and cranes, specifically on installations for other integrators. We also have a distributorship with Daifuku Web. So we will design systems and we'll install them and we outsource our product through Daifuku. We've done projects for the military, also automotive and other clients such as John Deere. Just this year, we've done installations at White Sands Missile Range. We've done installations down at Fort Tyndall Air Force Base, down in Panama City. We've done installations at... Fort Campbell down in Clarksville, Tennessee. We'd like to rezone to I1 just for any kind of like small modifications we have to do to some product that comes in for testing and for future expansion or growth.

So you're basically going to utilize the existing building?

Yes, sir.

Yep.

Mainly for storage. We have all of our own equipment for installations, so we have for upkeep, maintenance and all of that as well as office space. The employees.

Add some clarification. This is currently a. A1 because of the fact it was an ag business. Correct, Doug. Board members, any questions, thoughts?

It was A1 because it was ag, but it was used as a business use the way that it was. It was Pioneer Seed, yeah. Brad Evans, yeah.

And currently you have no plans yet for any modifications to the existing facilities?

Yes, sir. Not anytime soon.

And you are aware that any of those you've been through that would require the review with the county and meeting all the county guidelines? Yes, sir. Hearing nothing from the board members, does anyone in the public have any comments or questions? Okay, you need to come up to the podium and state your name, please.

I'm your neighbor.

I'm Emily. And we did have a couple questions since we got the letter. So far, we've been real impressed with everything that's been going on. It's the traffic flow that we've seen because that is a very important agriculture corner there. I've talked to a lot of farmers in the area, and my husband couldn't be here tonight because of the head replacement, so I'm the representative. But wanting to know how the traffic flow is going to continue is what we're seeing now with trucks and so forth, or do you expect a heavier traffic flow?

No, no heavier traffic flow. Right now we're moving stuff later and whatnot. Yeah.

I was impressed with some of the places you install. Another question I have is, I know when Roy Friedersdorf built the Seed House 10 years ago, 14 he put in quite a bit of lighting and so we were friends so i talked to him about how invasive it was to our bedroom and so forth do you plan on keeping the same kind of lighting or develop lighting that will shield like from shane johnson and from our homes to keep it away from our house and not be so intrusive lighting like security lighting

Oh, yeah, we don't have any.

It's perfect what it is.

Outside storage. I did some research on the ordinances for a light industrial, and they said that storage could sometimes be a problem. I don't even understand what that means, but I thought I would ask how you plan.

We plan on keeping our property clean, keeping up to date on it, being respectful of the neighbors, you know.

we'll keep up we appreciate that we're there for you but i guess one other thing that i just wanted to share uh the field across from you all in the field in back of you uh the field across from you has been in our family since 1837. yeah and uh so what's right and it is it's really cool and we love progress that's not the the concern the concern is changing it to light industrial if you were to sell it what that might mean to the agriculture community

in the future.

So that's really my biggest question, is that it's nothing against you, it just has to do with could that impose a lot of issues in the future. So that's my main question.

Well, being a young business owner, I plan on doing this for a good while.

I plan on staying at that location. I just want to grow into it. I guess most of our business is away. We just need a place.

So I guess that would be one question I would ask the board into is how can we assure that if Trevor would decide to sell? How do we manage the agriculture commitment that's been there for so long? So that would be my only concern. Thank you.

That's a good question.

Thank you.

Do we have anyone else? Doug, I'm assuming that they went to I... I mean, are they doing more than just storing equipment?

They're doing some assembly within the facilities. Okay. Putting the equipment together before they take it.

Before they take it to the factories to do the work. Yes, sir. Okay.

No, I understand we can't, but is that a recommendation we should do? I don't know. I'm asking the question. I just know a lot of times in scenarios like that of protecting what happens after he's there.

That's more of a messy question.

I asked the question if it would, you know, Ms. Emily's concern about what would happen if they sell it and we zone it to I. Well, if we zone it to I, anything can happen. Within the I, are we better of suggesting for them to go for a permanent variance that he can operate under an I? Then when he sells it, it'd still be an A. I don't know. I'm just asking the question. And Paul had mentioned.

Yeah, with the setbacks for an I and the small size of that parcel, they're really limited to what they can expand into.

You're not going to find a factory there, I can tell you that.

With the setbacks, it would be impossible. And as Missy mentioned, it probably shouldn't have been an A2 to start with because it was more of a commercial business, but it was ag-related. Right. Yeah, it kind of fell into that A zoning.

Any other thoughts? Certainly understand the concern, and it's a logical one. But just to reiterate there, you're fighting parcel lines as well as a state highway setback. I anticipate that the word industrial is the concern. but I think it is probably appropriate for the use. But I just don't think that there's a lot of expansion there to have a concern, you know, and as far as, like, debris or things like that, I mean, whether it's I or B or what it is, anything that crosses that property line, they would have to deal with no matter what the zoning is. You know, they can't come on your property with things or whatever that be. So very, very good question.

Thank you. It's the right time to do it.

Anything that he were to do in the future would have to have all the permitting and meet all the classifications of the I zone, which is relatively strict, especially with the setbacks. I mean, honestly, he's really constrained. You kind of got what you're gonna have. There's not much more you can do on that parcel.

Good question.

Yeah, we appreciate that. Anything else from the board? Anything else from the public? If not, I will entertain a motion.

make a motion that we vote on APC 26-12. I'll second that.

Petition 2026-12 as follows. Tom Hunter, yes. Cortland Robertson, yes. Sheila Kirkdorf, yes. Al Stone, yes. Brett Schuette, yes. Clay Hardy, yes. Brian Connelly, yes.

OK, Trevor, your petition passes. Thank you.

Thank you, board. Thank you for your time.

Next item on the agenda is APC petition 2026-13. Jacob and Kinsey Hempstead is requesting to rezone 2.96 acres from an A1 zoning classification to an A2 zoning classification to build a single family dwelling. This request falls under Decatur County Ordinance section number 915 and 920 sub 7. The parcels are owned by the petitioner and Randy Huff and are located behind 6842 South County Road 220 Southwest in Sand Creek Township. Jacob, tell us about your project.

So we originally built a house kind of there on the corner where the yellow line is. Built that in 2020. We later purchased the 40 acres behind it. We did not have a good route for getting a driveway across the ravine, and that's really been our holdup. It's been pretty expensive. We recently had our first child, so we are looking to build our forever home. So we're looking to try to put it back here in this field.

And that's the yellow line is going to be the new?

Yeah, it's maybe a little further back into that field. Probably just a little bit further back I'd like to go, but. The driveway is going to come in basically where that yellow is there, come across that ravine behind Randy's house, and then we'll set the house back in that probably mid to three-quarters of the way back to that field.

And you do own that entire parcel? Yes, sir.

So Randy and I have a contract for me to buy off 1.5 acres there. So the lines there are actually technically wrong, which I recently found out. He actually owns a perfect rectangle. So it's not such wedge-shaped. But, yeah, him and I came to an agreement and a price. We got a contract. So once we get through this and get it – I will own that whole parcel.

You'll own what's outlined in yellow? Yes.

So basically where that red line is, that red line is going to be our new property line. So that leaves him with 1.5 acres and I take 1.5 acres. The only reason for that was to get the driveway through at the end of the day, If in order for me to go up and around, if I followed my property line on this, this edge here and came across here, it was going to be way out of my price range. So the valley, the valley in this area is not as deep. And for me to get my water and electric back there, it's more of a straight shot and more budget friendly all the way across the board.

Any other questions from board members? Everything else appears in order in the packet. Hearing none, I'll ask for any public comments or questions. Hearing nothing from the public. Board, your last chance. I will entertain a motion.

Make a motion to vote on 2026-13.

This will go on to the commissioners now for the final approval and then get in touch with the office and you'll be ready to go. Thanks for your time. Thank you.

Next petition, APC Petition 2026-14. Tracy Volz is requesting to rezone 2.99 acres out of 4.5218 acres from an A1 zoning classification to an A2 zoning classification to build a single-family dwelling. This request falls under Decatur County Ordinance Section Number 915 and 920-7. The property is owned by the petitioner and is located just west of 9610 West County Road, 100 South Greensburg and Clay Township. Tracy tell us about your project Everything in the packet looks to be in order. Board members have any questions? Comments or concerns? Hearing nothing, I will look for public questions or comments. I make a motion that APC 2026-14 approval for vote. I'll second.

For petition 2026-14 are as follows. Sheila Kirkhoff, yes. Gordon Robertson, yes. Tom Hunter, yes. Brad Shuby, yes. Paul Stone, yes. Blake Hartley, yes.

Brian Connelly, yes.

Okay, Tracy.

The petition passes. It'll go through the next, I think the next commissioner's meeting, Doug. Is that correct?

It depends on when, if we get this, it has to get the legal description back from the surveyor. Okay. So we have a description of the 2.99. The area where you're building the actual area not the whole parcels changing zoning I

Next petition, APC petition 2026-15. Blake Haley, Madeline Bryan is requesting to rezone 2.99 acres out of 5.136 acres from an A1 zoning classification to an A2 zoning classification to build a single family dwelling. This request falls under Decatur County ordinance section number 915 and 920 sub 7. The property is owned by John and Cynthia Garzon and is located just west of 4992 South County Road 60 East Greensburg and Marion Township.

Hi, I'm Madeline Haley. I'm here with my husband Blake tonight and one of our realtors. We're here to propose our property to be rezoned from A1 to A2. Our goal with this property is to build our dream home and eventually raise a family here.

Board members have any questions?

I assume the red area up top is where you'll be building?

Yes.

What is the driveway lead to? Is that just an old gravel pad or something?

Yeah, right now it's just a gravel pad. So the people that owned it before used it as a photography space, so we think that's where they just parked in their little parking area.

It's all grass there right now, correct?

Yep.

So is that where your driveway is going to come off?

So our driveway, the entrance will be the same, but it will go to the right of the pond.

Any other questions from the board? Hearing none, I will look for any questions or comments from the public. Nothing there. Board, anything? I will entertain a motion.

I'll make a motion to take a vote on item 2026-15. I'll second.

Thank you in touch with the office follow the process

Next petition, APC petition 2026-16, Robert Andrews is requesting to rezone 1.5 acres out of 4.81 acres from an A1 zoning classification to an A2 zoning classification to build a single family dwelling. This request falls under Decatur County ordinance section number 915 and 920 sub 7. Property is owned by Tamara Clokey and is located next to 7855 West County Road 350 North Greensburg and Adams Township. Hello, Robert. Tell us about your project.

The project is to build an ocean frame single-family dwelling right about here.

and the red line is gonna be your new property line?

Yes. The current landowner is going to still be the landowner, but because we're going to have our own septic, we had to get rezoned.

So the driveway, you'll share that short section, but you don't own any of the property?

I still come here to the penthouse. The previous owners had a barn right here. So the driveway does actually go up to it. It's just overgrown right now.

So your driveway is going to be their driveway all the way in. So that little pencil there isn't where you're going to put a driveway.

No, the highway department wanted that. And in the case one of us ever sells their stuff.

Right. Yeah, that is a good idea.

Yeah.

I think you have to have a refrigerator.

Any other questions from the board? Hearing none, I'll... We'll entertain a motion if no one has any other questions or comments.

Make a motion we vote on 26, I'm sorry, APC 2026-16. I second.

Stay in touch with the office as you work through all the details.

Okay now we will move down on the agenda to the Decatur County revitalization project show cause hearing. As I mentioned before all of our show cause hearings our function this evening is essentially to grant an extension to the process that Doug has already started. We are not here to basically change anything for the process that's already started other than granting an extension for these individuals to meet the requirements of the ordinance. Doug, I believe you said that R2026-19. And R2026-19. Okay, so the first one that we will see is R2026-20, Robert Sebastian. We have a representative here for that. So Robert, we can basically...

yeah i've been working on it the only thing we're waiting on is titles every day and the vehicles we have someone titles to come in so you can't rush government obviously

you're talking to the board so the board is i've been i've been i've been discussing with you to this point and then now you're in the show cause hearing so now you're right now they yeah so essentially we will grant you an extension so you say you've started the cleanup

so essentially we would grant you a 30-day extension that way that gives him time to get out get it inspected and let you get that gives you time to get all your titles i came in here and asked for a

extension from him and was told as long as you're working on it you don't need an extension but you took them the day before i came up there and talked to you it was the day after it was the day after Well, let's talk to you on Wednesday, the following Wednesday.

Yeah, because regardless, what you need now is the extension. Yeah, regardless. And that's all that we can do for you.

Can we have an extension, please? Yes. And a scheduled appointment with someone with a camera?

Well, after 30 days, if it's not done, you'll be in front of a judge. The only thing that's there is cars. All the tires, everything else has been cleaned up. Great. You'll be in good shape then.

Yep. Yes, he did.

So if it's not that way, then the extension could be conditioned upon that.

What I don't want to do is to get us another 30 days down the road and it still looks like this and then waiting for another meeting.

Well, we wouldn't.

This is the only meeting.

This is the only meeting. In other words, once we grant them the 30-day extension,

If they don't comply, then it goes to court.

So yeah, we would be, if we grant you 30 days, you'll have that taken care of, then Doug can.

So the tires and all the rest of that, that's all going? Yeah.

Okay. Great.

You're making an effort.

No, this was initiated by a complaint. Doug doesn't go out looking for these. This is a public complaint that someone files. And once that happens, then Doug has to inspect the property.

So it's public information, I assume. Right. The complaint?

No. It can be anonymous. I mean, as far as I know.

Yeah.

But once that complaint is issued, so Doug doesn't go around looking for these. There may be one next to a complaint that is worse than the one that the complaint was made on, but Doug can't act on that unless the complaint has been filed.

And you're welcome to file a complaint anywhere you would like also. Yes.

I have one concern. When he has wood outside the furnace, there's wood equipment that he cuts wood with. Pretty much uses that year round wood.

If it's in use, that's okay.

If it's dilapidated or just not in general good shape is the issue.

And if the cars have valid license plates on them and insurance, they can be there too.

Sounds like you're working on it. Basically, what this is, is it sounds like you're having title searches done, so you're coming to us and saying, we're having this done. I think that the board is satisfied at that point. We say, yep, 30 more days, see what you can make happen. Doug will contact you or you contact him when you're ready for that inspection to happen, and we move on.

What was your name, ma'am?

Can I interrupt you briefly? What was your name?

Melissa Shaw.

Just curious.

Thank you.

Okay, board, do I have a motion?

I have a motion to grant a 30-day extension on R2026-20. Second.

All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, nay.

Thank you. Next.

Show cause is 2026-21, William and Doris Reynolds.

We have a representative here.

I own that property.

I'm working on it every day I can. Between the rain and the heat, I'm not as far along as I thought I'd be. I'm working on it.

What have you got done?

You can see the garage now, but you couldn't before then.

Are the vehicles still there?

Yeah, I've got one that I've got to cut more trees down to get it out, so I'll get them out.

Think you'll be able to have it all wrapped up in 30 days?

Probably, yeah. If it don't rain, 20 days.

Can't help you with that.

And just to be clear, that 30 days after that, if Doug doesn't see anything happening, then it goes to a judge.

There's been a lot happen. You didn't go where I've been working. That's not a very good representation of what I've been doing.

I think the emphasis would be the road frontage and everything visible from the road. Yes. So just concentrate on that.

Yeah, I think it's important to reiterate what Brad was saying. These complaints are stemmed from someone, a passerby or something like that. So it sounds like you're working on areas that may not be visible, which are great, but I don't think you're probably gonna get much pressure from the county about areas that you don't see. So something from the road would probably be the place to focus your energy. Yeah.

He's made some. If you look at the picture in front of the garage on 526, there's some effort there.

So would you like to request a 30-day extension? No. Okay.

Do I have a motion for that?

I'll make a motion to take a vote on R-2026-2022. Or 22, sorry. 21. 21, sorry. I second.

All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed, nay. Okay, you have 30 days.

We'll go through these first. This isn't a public discussion.

You made the comment that you can't drive by and see it. You can't see any of that. You can't see any of that.

Yeah, that is, we'll get it took care of.

Yeah, thank you.

Next item, R2026-22, Patrick Land. Have a representative for that one. Okay, Patrick, the main thing here is that we can grant you 30 days. Do you think that that 30 days would be sufficient for you?

Yeah, the Dodge actually left the other day. The only really main thing that's left in that photo is, of course, my Cutlass. It's my derby car. I just haven't had time to start on her. Yeah, I can get that moved. And in the front yard, it's looking a lot better also. Now, the green truck, it's kind of got the... you know, the little tip of the taillight. It's actually legal. I just, training's slipping. I got to get it replaced. Yeah, that'll work.

Board members, any comments or thoughts?

The second picture shows a lot of clutter in the 12, not 12, 11 picture. Is all that stuff going?

I don't have my glasses, but yeah, most they're talking about to the left.

To the right of the house. To the right of the house.

Looks like it is. I mean, there's a more current picture than that. Looks like it's just the cars now. Yeah, I think that it is.

According to that picture, it is.

Yeah, it's just the cars.

So the cars are all that's left? So you saw a significant improvement. I'm sorry, I didn't hear you. So the cars are part of the issue now. So the cars become the easy part. That's a phone call.

Yeah, I just got, well, it's just that gutless is all I have right there now, that one in the center with the back bumper hanging down.

Any other two run and have titles and lights?

That one on the right is gone, the Dodge. But the one that dodged in the left.

The one on the right is gone?

Yes, the one on the left is what we're driving. Got it. And I got that green Chevy. It's legal. It's right in the nip of that photo in front of the house.

Okay. That's a lot of work.

Yeah. Yeah, when you can't afford to... $500 a month on vehicle. You got to do what you got to do.

All right, good. I'll entertain a motion.

I assume you'd like another 30 days to... Yes, yes, please.

Sorry, my throat kind of scratched.

I'll make a motion we vote on a 30-day extension for R2026-22. I second.

All those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Opposed, nay. Okay, Patrick, you have 30 days.

Thank you for what you're doing.

And the last one on the list is R2026-24, Casey and Cody Ulliger.

We have a representative here for that property. Robbins. Robbins.

No representative for the Ulliger property. Okay, that one will proceed on. Correct, Doug? Yes, that's correct. Okay. That concludes that portion of the meeting. We will now move to the Town of St. Paul draft comprehensive plan.

I believe we have.

Yes. We still need a vote to move forward.

Oh, we do need a vote on that? Yes. Okay. We'll need a motion to move R2026-24 forward to the judge. I make a motion R2026-24 move forward. All those in favor say aye.

Aye. Opposed nay.

Okay, now we'll move to Town of St. Paul Draft Comprehensive Plan. And I believe we have a representative here from HWC who will present the draft plan to us. Please state your name.

good evening my name is haley roark i'm a planner and project manager at hwc engineering to complete the comprehensive plan we are now towards the end of the process so we're entering into the adoption phase and what that means is by indiana state statute we have to host a public hearing with the area playing condition which is what's happening tonight if we if we receive a favorable recommendation from you all then we will take it to the council for adoption so that's kind of where we're at in the process next slide please i have just a quick kind of presentation for you all to provide an overview of the process and the plan and then we'll talk about next steps next slide as i mentioned i'm haley rourke if you've been to one of the st paul meetings you've probably seen my co-workers colton and craig Craig is also with me here tonight. Next slide. In terms of the project overview, just a couple of key things. Next slide. starting out with just a little bit of 101 about comprehensive planning so a comprehensive plan is a long-range guidance document for development Community investment the primary purpose of it is to determine the vision and goals for the next 10 to 15 years so it's really a long range kind of vision it serves as the basis for land use and zoning kind of regulations so in order to have zoning or to update your zoning you have to have the comprehensive plan in place in terms of why the town went through this process they received an okra grant which is a state agency office of community and rural affairs to do the planning process last year and so we've been working through that process with them The primary reason to do one of these comprehensive plans is to leverage state and federal funding. A lot of grants require or want to see a community have a comprehensive plan in place because it shows that you had a plan, you had conversations, you're all on the same page of what to do, and so it makes your community more kind of competitive for those funding opportunities if and when they come available. The other one is just building consensus, identifying kind of that overarching vision for the community. And so that's why the town of St. Paul chose to do that and why we've been working with them. Next slide. The study area that we're talking about is for the town of St. Paul, the corporate limits. As many of you all know, it sits right on the county line, so it does impact Shelby County. and Decatur County. We invited folks from both sides of the counties and reviewed plans on both sides of the county just to make sure we are getting kind of the bases covered throughout the planning process. Next slide. We went through a basic kind of four phase planning process starting back in October the first phase one was called CAS division we had a lot of kind of introductory meetings and data collection we met with the steering committee for the first time back in October in December and January we moved into phase two where we went and did a lot of kind of public outreach we had a project website we did a public workshop public survey we had four different focus group meetings and then we summarized it all of all into a public participation report Towards the end of January, we moved on to form the plan, which is really the bulk of the planning process. It's where we take all of the data collection that we collected through the demographics and housing and economic data, plus the community engagement, and start to form the plan. And we met with the committee twice throughout that phase. We also hosted a Big Ideas open house at the end of phase three, where the public was invited to come and review the draft recommendations before we prepared the first initial complete draft plan and then we moved it on to phase four where at the end of march we submitted the plan to okra one of the requirements from the grant is that they have to approve your plan before you can move forward so we have submitted it to okra and they have approved it and so now we're here to go through the adoption process next slide in terms of community engagement there was a several different touch points with the community. We had an 11-person steering committee that had met four times throughout the process. A couple of them are here tonight. We had invited 15 people to focus groups. The first workshop, the attendance was a little low. It was in the middle of December, and the weather was not great, so we had five people show up that night. But following that, we had an online survey where 45 people submitted responses. And then as I mentioned in phase three we had a big ideas open house where the public was invited to See all of the recommendations and we had 11 people sign in for that meeting next slide terms of plan overview if you go to the next slide you'll see if you haven't reviewed the draft plan yet there are 17 chapters it's pretty extensive and part of that is due to ochre's requirements they want it to be in a particular order and cover particular topics so you'll see there are kind of 13 required subject matters to go through so that's anything ranging from land use and public facilities to housing, economic development, historic resources, and so forth. So it's a pretty extensive document that covers a lot of topics. In terms of the vision statement, this is really intended to be kind of an aspirational statement for the future. We worked with the committee to draft this statement, and then it was shared to public through that online and in person engagement and we've received kind of really good feedback and support of the statement. It focuses on investing in quality infrastructure and services. It's supporting the development of the I-74 interchange and surrounding area. with new employment opportunities and local services. And really we wanted to hit this idea of volunteerism pretty hard in the vision statement because with any small town, they rely very heavily on their volunteers to get anything done. So that is kind of highlighted in this as well. Next slide. In terms of the future land use map, this map is really just kind of a visual representation of the desired outcome or the vision for the community. And if you really kind of take a close look at it, it's largely what's happening on the ground today. There's not significant changes. Really, we just kind of clustered together larger kind of swaths of uses, but none of it is significantly different. and it's important to note that this future land use map is not a legally binding tool it's a guidance document it doesn't change or force the current property owner to change what they're doing really it's just a guide for the future so if and when something changes in the future The town knows what the next best use for that property could be. Next slide. The plan also goes through those 13 subject matters that I mentioned, and each one of them has goals and objectives. So the goals is really that statement that identifies that desired outcome. The strategies serve as the to-do list. Really, those are the recommendations, and you'll see an example kind of page from the document here that outlines the strategy. It has a supporting kind of timeline and then it highlights partners that could help them implement that idea.

Next slide.

OCRA also likes to have what they call implementation projects in there. So each chapter has one to two kind of key projects that the town can help or start implementing just to keep the plan kind of from sitting on the shelf. So this particular example is placemaking. So it's talking about wayfinding and gateway signage. And it provides just a little bit more information for the town to be able to implement.

Next slide.

Before we wrap up with next steps, I did want to just draw attention to the fact that we know that there's some concerns and some chatter online about the comp plan being tied to a data center. And I think we just wanted to be super clear that It's not directly tied to a data center proposal. We did talk about data centers with the committee and we were directed that they didn't really want to address that topic and that their main priority was just making sure that any type of kind of regulation or policy was being consistent between the county and town. So just working with the county. And that's the statement you'll see here in the italics. Next slide. In terms of next steps, next slide. Again, tonight is the public hearing and hopefully a favorable recommendation if you all are comfortable doing so. And then if we receive that, then we'll be able to take it to the town council at their next meeting for them to vote and sign a resolution. And with that, thank you for your time and for considering the plan. And I'm happy to take any questions from the board.

Haley, will you have to go to Shelby County's area plan as well?

Not that I'm aware of. I was going to confirm that with Missy, but as far as I know, all of the planning and zoning typically goes through you all is what I've been told.

Even the parcels that are in Shelby County.

And then just to reiterate, this is simply a comp plan. There's no zoning changes. There's no, nothing changes.

Correct.

It is just a direction. It is similar to the county has a comp plan that we utilize. My other question is, this was developed by you guys and the town of St. Paul.

Mm-hmm.

We are here tonight to provide either a favorable or unfavorable recommendation for that to go back and be approved by the St. Paul Town Council.

Correct.

So I think something for the board to kind of keep in mind, it's not necessarily ours to edit. It is more of ours to give the favorable or unfavorable. And if edits need to be made, then that would happen by the creators of the document, correct? Yes.

So in the event that you go back and the town council modifies the document, do you then come back here and do this all over again?

I think technically, yes.

And I see that there's some casino funds from Shelby County. I live by St. Paul. So does that money have to be spent in the Shelby County part? St. Paul or can that be spread over because I noticed that you're talking about wayfinding and Signage and things like that. Does that just mean signs? The answer was Okay

And our office did receive two letters that I did forward to you for the meeting, so I just want to make it acknowledged that you did receive those. Yes.

And those will be public record. Hold on. Hold on. I'll ask for comments, and then you'll be able to come up and state your name. So don't worry. Everybody will get their chance within reason until we start hearing the same thing over and over again. But, yes, everybody will be first as a matter of fact. So, board members, do you guys have any more questions for Haley?

I think I just want to bring light to what you said, Brad. The gate that we are at right now is something that OCRA puts in place to make sure that what the town is doing has some alignment with what the county does. We're not the controllers of the town of St. Paul comprehensive plan, right? We're saying, yeah, you guys are not wanting to do something that we think is outlandish in Decatur County. move forward or no, that's way different than what we as a county believe. Is that accurate? Yes.

So any edits or changes would need to be made by the town council. But this is the public meeting that lets everyone express their thoughts about those. Another thought and comment is, so this OCRA, stipulation, it opens the door for a lot of funding. And I know the town of St. Paul has been searching for funding for the sanitary for a while. That's one that's really hurting because I know IDEM's really pushing pretty hard on them. So that was the intent of creating this comp plan. It's part of the steps that are required to then file for those grants and receive that federal funding. This is just one of the steps that St. Paul is going through in order to apply for federal funding so that they can actually afford to upgrade the sewer plant.

Until they can upgrade the sewer plant, St. Paul can't do much. St. Paul really can't even accomplish all its infill housing needs without sewer plant upgrades. Is that a fair statement?

Yes. Yeah.

Because currently, if anybody wants to hook on in St. Paul, IDEM has to approve it, correct? It's a strict requirement that they may or may not be granted access.

Yeah, their hands are tied until they address the utility issues, for sure.

So expansion outside of the current city limits won't occur until the... current sanitary and water systems are upgraded, updated, and repaired or replaced.

Yes.

And honestly, including within city limits.

Well, right. And as I said earlier, you can't even do – and St. Paul's got a lot of empty lots, and you can't even do the infill because your current sanitary can't handle the load.

They would have to address the current infrastructure before they could even consider expanding anywhere.

right correct that's that's my statement so so the and the rhetorical statement but some of the concerns that i've heard from people that aren't here is that their land is going to get rezoned and some of the agricultural lands are going to get rezoned and the simple fact is until that land gets sold it won't get rezoned and if the owner doesn't want to sell it it won't get rezoned from agricultural so that's really not nor could it be annexed. Correct, correct. And some of those fields, some of that area out the county line is all owned by one family. So unless they decide to sell, they're not going to get rezoned. So that's really not as big a concern.

Yeah, rezoning can only happen by request from the property owner.

None of the maps in the document impact zoning at all.

And that's just a general statement. The zoning changes that are included in this plan aren't being shoved down somebody's throat. It's just a guideline that in the event that all the septic gets fixed or all the sanitary gets fixed and the water gets fixed and all the other stuff that has to be fixed before any growth can occur, This might be the path, and logic takes St. Paul to the 74 Exchange. It doesn't take it towards Germantown.

That's just a simple... And the only way that that would occur is if that landowner chose to do so, which in that case, they could look to this comp plan and say, okay, this is what I could do with this property.

And there is a map just after, I think, this one in the document that shows the I-74 kind of areas for their use. And I will say that we talked with the committee on that map. It's not in the presentation. It's in the document. And those future land use categories were pulled from existing documents. So the Shelby County site was pulled from Shelby County's plot plan. Rush County was pulled from Rush County. Decatur County was pulled from a utility study that was done several years ago. So all of the stuff that's shown is already in existing plans. It's not anything new.

The plan actually says that in the pages around that.

Any other questions for Hayley? Thank you. Okay, I'm going to open the floor to public comment and you get to go first. So if you could step up there and tell us your name.

I don't know if, do you have page 206 in your, show that as future land use?

I don't know if you can bring that up on there or not. Yes, yep, I got it.

Anyway, I live on the corner of 550 South and 800 East. And it is showing that they're wanting to make that all industrial on all the side of my house and all in front of my house. When it's zoned industrial, it means warehouses, data centers, whatever can come in there. These people that farm this, they don't even know anything about it. They know nothing about this.

But just to be clear, there's no zoning change to it. I'm sorry? This is not a zoning change. This is just a future suggestion.

I know. I understand that, but this scares me to death.

It can't be shoved down. If you don't want your property rezoned, it won't be rezoned. We kind of mentioned that earlier. It's not... This is not something that is going to happen and you're going to wake up one morning and find a factory in your front yard.

But it's a 10 to 15 year plan.

Plan. Plan. Not directive.

Plan. Plans can change. Hold on. It's not even a plan to make that industrial. If there was a company that was looking to have space that was industrial, an outside consulting company said, this is the area to possibly consider that. Currently, there is no one wanting to come in there. There's not a plan to make it industrial, but that is the area that could be considered for it based on its proximity to surrounding infrastructure, interstates, and things like that. But don't confuse the word plan with it's happening. It is an area for consideration. How about that?

And the current property owner would have to be willing to sell it to somebody to do that. If they would choose not to sell their property, it will remain agriculture for the rest of our lives.

And it's a little deceiving when you look at that colored chart. There could be the potential for a parcel that is not in this comp plan that somebody purchases and wants to develop. They would have to follow the same process to go through. In other words, just because that's purple doesn't mean that that's going to be industrial. They may, somebody may purchase a south end of that and decide to put a house up. It may be one house. So, and that, they would come to the zoning board. They would have to get it rezoned for a house. And if it was, if everything... That's a whole different set of circumstances, though, because once again, St. Paul could not annex any of this unless the landowner was willing.

They can't annex it unless they can provide public utilities to it, and they can't. Would you like to go next? Yeah, step up.

Good evening. My name's Alan Miller. I live here in Greensburg. I'm a candidate for State House District 73, which covers St. Paul. It's been brought up. Haley mentioned it. You guys mentioned it at the start of the meeting about online rumors. I'd like to, first of all, apologize for my part in that. You know, we know how these small-town rumor mills get turning. And especially with the topic of data centers, people are scared. And this is... This is a huge issue that's affecting multiple communities in the area. And I would like to thank you guys for the time that you've spent making educational comments to the people in the room. I think I can cross out about half of what I got typed out just because you guys have already addressed it. So thank you guys. The last thing I would say is I would very strongly urge you to follow the lead of the Shelby County Planning Commission and be proactive about implementing a data center overlay district much like they have under consideration at the moment in order to combine the economic development needs of the area with the residential or the with the concerns of the residents of the area that's all thank you so so i do have a question on not necessarily for you maybe maybe you but with the data center so so

Data centers, we're all scared of them. You know, the small site nuclear is a bit frightening. There are several things. However, the evolution, those types of developments are at the moment in their infancy. So you can't say in 15 years we can't have a data center because a data center could be the size of this room. in 15 years and present no problems and no cooling and no noise. So to take a plan like this and say, well, we're not going to have it, number one, it's still just a plan. You're going to have to, as a community, take each one of those individual opportunities and opportunities can be good and bad and address them individually at the time they come in front of you, but excluding them, who knows, in 15 years a data center might be a good idea. But today, you know, we're all scared of them. So I think that's – is that the logic that was used when the town decided to not – make a stand with data centers and nuclear and and all that going forward i mean i i know people that are that that you know they just don't want to see small site nuclear in your backyard i'm one of them but yeah i think that is but in 15 years

available next week or next year and so it's hard to kind of set boundaries around something you don't know.

The evolution is so fast.

If I could add, another thing that's scary about it is there's been a real and perceived, to varying degrees, lack of transparency among some of the local governments. And as we saw in Shelbyville, an outright disdain for the public and a complete dismissal. We handed in a petition with, how many was it, 7,000 signatures? 75. which represents approximately 50% of the population of the city of Shelbyville and we were practically laughed out of the room there were at least twice the mayor of Shelbyville threatened to have the police clear the room now granted that was because people were getting loud because we were being ignored and I think that's part of why I was urging you guys to be proactive is so that we have something in place ahead of time so that if, as you say, in 15 years maybe we could have a data center the size of this room instead of 430 acres getting annexed outside of Shelbyville. There are things that I would change about the Shelby County proposal, but I do think it is a pretty robust one. I would strongly urge you guys to reach out to the Shelby County Area Plan Commission to work with them, especially when we have towns that straddle both counties. I think we need to work together against some of these out-of-state corporate interests that are trying to ruin our rural communities.

But it's not our job to reach out. It's the town's job to do that and then bring it here.

For the town plan, yes. I'm urging you guys for a county plan level.

That's actually, I mean, that's a great topic, but that's not the topic on our agenda currently. So right now I want to focus on this comp plan and making sure everybody understands that. But

You're welcome to the podium. No, I don't have anything else. I thought you guys were calling me back for questions.

Thank you. Hi, good evening, Lord.

I'm Gina Jackson, and my interest in the St. Paul area, I have extensive generational ties to the St. Paul area. Still have farmland and Waldron. We take our grain to Kolkemeyer's Brothers. That's where we sell our grain. St. Paul's a very sweet, cozy little town. As Alan mentioned, our experience in Shelby County has been absolutely devastating to experience the total, utter disregard. So it has created much trauma. And I think, Clay, you spoke briefly on rezoning. And the concern with that, yes, that's factual, that the property would never be rezoned unless the property is sold. And the concern is the procedures of a voluntary annexation. For example, in Shelby County, it all started with our RDC, 142 acres. There was a lack of transparency in the process there. And then that evolved to, all of the sudden, a voluntary, a super voluntary annexation of 429 acres of prime agricultural farmland that was allocated in our comprehensive, our UDO. What's our UDO? Yeah, our UDO, to be protected as agricultural, be farmed. That was disregarded. It was annexed and rezoned. The timing was awful. There was very little notification to the adjacent property owners. So there's a little bit of trauma. And I know we're not talking about a data center here. However, here's the concern. The process and the proposal of the TIF district and the alignment with the Economic Development Corporation and the concern and questions would be would I noticed Haley on your on the presentation it aligns the town council working with the EDC or the RDC rather and so it seems as though the town council would retain a sovereign voice as opposed to everything being discreetly done through the RDC if that TIF district is created. Is anyone able to affirm that? Would St. Paul retain any type of sovereignty? Thank you, Alan. Can anyone touch on that?

Yes, because I need a good politician's help here. The TIF district setup would require the public meetings. So in other words, that's like this tonight. And that's the key. That's why we're doing this is to have a public meeting. You guys get to voice your concerns and everybody kind of understands what the thought process is. So if it were a TIF district, then there's monthly public meetings for those for that TIF board. So that would be how you would have the- Bill your accountability. Yeah, the public accountability for that. In other words, that would be the opportunity to voice your concerns about anything that's happening. Now, it's up to that TIF board to properly publish notices like we did. That's all your small town, that's a lot of work. So as long as all of that was being taken care of properly, then yes, you would have that voice still. And it wouldn't be kind of a one-off organization. It would be a public organization.

Sure, sure. There's been several comments made about the OCRA funding. And in 22, the town received almost $700,000 for a grant which was utilized to do some infrastructure upgrading. And it seems like the focus on creating the relationship with the RDC and creating specifically the economic development area, which I don't know if I notated the page. I did not notate the page, I apologize.

I remember the one. I'm stuck in housing right now.

But it's interesting when you look at the definition of an economic development area according to the Redevelopment Association of Indiana. The definition is a purpose of EDA is to declare that the area in need is a menace to the social and economic interest of the jurisdiction and its inhabitants or to declare that the plan for an economic development area cannot be achieved by regulatory processes or the ordinary operation of private enterprise without the resort to redevelopment powers. So my question is, is do we really need to bring the RDC in this tri-county area that would be a muck mess?

So essentially, what Haley proposed, it's not creating that. It's just a suggestion to create it.

Correct. It's a suggestion. But if the board determines a favorable recommendation, that means the board is getting behind creating an economic development area. That's what's suggested in the proposal. Furthermore. And I don't consider St. Paul to be either one of those under that definition. I'm not sure what anyone else considers. I don't see St. Paul to be a menace to society. That's interesting language that they use.

That's fairly exclusionary. Makes it a pretty fine line to go across.

I have one question for you.

Sure.

Did you attend any of these meetings while this was created?

Brett, I would love to say that I did. Honestly, I had no knowledge of them. I really did not. Otherwise, I would have.

So what's unfortunate, and I see this in many small towns, these things don't blow up until after all of these meetings. Correct. It's posted, but until something catches fire, like data center, And then everybody, it just spreads like wildfire. And it's very unfortunate because those are the meetings where this needs to occur.

Address, yes.

Now, fortunately, in this case, you still got that opportunity because if we send this back to St. Paul, then you have that meeting available to do the editing that you would see fit. I just don't feel like it's our document to edit. And I don't disagree with several of your points, but with all of the work that they've put into it so far, I feel like, and this worked well because now everybody knows. The word's out and everybody understands and Haley's done a great job of explaining it and we've tried to educate you guys tonight on what the purpose is here and what the purpose isn't. So I guess that's just my directive with my statement here.

May I ask you a question, Haley? Okay. Has the language to address aligning policies In the Agricultural Goals and Strategies, Chapter 9, Number 3. Coordinate with Decatur County to align policies for emerging energy and infrastructure users using solar energy data centers, SMRs, and battery to ensure regulatory consistency and long-term economic readiness. Now, I was super excited that Decatur County passed a solar ordinance. Yay for you guys. Two-year moratorium. That's fantastic. But you guys also have a data center coming in your backyard.

That's Greensburg, not Decatur County. Greensburg, Decatur County had nothing to do with that.

That's correct. Forgive me. Is there an ordinance being worked on in the county for data centers? Wonderful. Is there a moratorium in place at the current moment? Regarding data centers? Not regarding data centers. There is a moratorium in place, so it would exclude for solar and wind, but not for data centers. Is there conversation of when being put into place? We have not had any conversation.

And technically, that's the commissioners.

Correct. Sure. There's no petition in place. OK. OK. No applicants have, no one has applied in the county.

Directly from the agency today, nothing.

OK.

Things could change tomorrow. Absolutely they can. 1,000%. They could change tomorrow.

I want you to understand we are not shoehorning this based on one. And I think that's the feel is that they're making a change based on something happening. And I can put my hand on a Bible and say there is nothing.

So would the commissioners oversee St. Paul? Or the RDC? I know there was a line of command with the TIF district. Does that get annexed to the city has access to it at all, or is that all county?

No, it would be St. Paul's.

It would be St. Paul's, standalone. Standalone TIF district. Okay. I'm asking questions because I know a lot of other people have those questions as well.

And I understand your concerns about some of the language. And as Brad said, that's something that you guys, after tonight, you go back to your own You go back to the Civic Center and you hash that out. And if the public and the town board come to a consensus that language needs to be changed, that's the opportunity to change that. Tonight is not that opportunity.

So you are saying there will be another public hearing before the town council would take a vote on the comp plan?

That timeline, it goes back to the... It goes back to the town board. The town board meetings are open to the public.

That is where you could represent, I mean, everyone could represent their feelings on potential edits.

Because we as a board can't do anything about that. Does the document suit the purpose that was laid out in the beginning? We're not here to make decisions for St. Paul. as a board, we cannot make decisions for St. Paul.

Then may I ask, what is the purpose of even coming before the plan commission?

Because it's a requirement.

Yeah. And she said that it was for the okra funding to come through. the plan has to align with the county that it lives in. So this is basically us saying, good job, it makes sense. We also do like these things, don't like those things, and then we pass it back to you all. But we're not here to edit St. Paul's plan.

So they're just looking for your stamp of approval to say that we approve a general comp plan, but we don't care what the contents are.

No, we're saying that it aligns with our comp plan. In other words, the language is similar, the uses are similar. Like Haley said, the maps that were generated were pulled from previous comp plans, which were all created. Paul was part of the last one. It took several years to create that comp plan with a lot of public input. It was a struggle. Please don't say we don't care. That's not true. There were lots of meetings for the previous comp plan and now we're starting a new one and it's going to be the same process. Now, fortunately for the county comp plan, there'll be a lot more publicity. So we'll have people attending the public hearings, the meet and greets where they basically present the ideas and people get to comment on them. but that's just the difference in exposure between county and the small town of St. Paul, unfortunately.

I apologize, Paul. I didn't intend to upset you.

And hopefully, Gina, you can take this back to St. Paul and HWC and maybe get some of the wording changed in the way you view things, right?

Can anyone answer? Is there a clear parameter of the policies when it comes to data centers?

SHE DID ANSWER THAT. BASICALLY, THEY TOOK THEIR HANDS OFF OF IT AND DIDN'T WANT TO ADDRESS IT BECAUSE I DON'T THINK THEY KNEW HOW TO ADDRESS IT.

I ATTENDED TO ASK THIS LANGUAGE. IS THAT LANGUAGE REMOVED TO ALIGN WITH DECATER COUNTY POLICIES WHEN IT COMES TO BESS, SOLAR, WIND, WHICH THERE'S AN ORDINANCE ON SOLAR. HAS THAT LANGUAGE BEEN MODIFIED? So that remains in there, then, in the agricultural section. OK. Another concern, I'll throw this out here, the changing of the language from annexation. Annexation is an alarming word. I think she said it best. Everyone's afraid of annexation. For the language to be altered to state growth, annexation to growth, is not very warm and comforting when there's been a history of just not a lot of transparency in several communities. So I don't know, has that been altered back to growth or back to annexation? Voluntary always has a push to be voluntary though. There's always someone in the background pushing for that voluntary annexation.

There's a quick question for the town. How long are your terms for your town board members? Four years? There's your opportunity for change. If you don't like what you're getting, don't put them back.

I think that's all I had. Thank you.

You'll get your chance, I promise. No, you go ahead. You're already heading out there. I'm sorry.

Good evening, everyone. I'm a resident of St. Paul, not in the city limits, but if you look up on the map shown, I'm... Can we get your name? Yes, I'm sorry. I'm Justin McBride. Okay, thank you. Been in St. Paul for 10 years on April 7th of 27, so I'm almost a decade under my belt and I love the town. I've kayaked on the Flat Rock River. I've set up a family there and had three kids. I go to the St. Paul Tavern almost weekly to get their waffle fries. I love the town, and the town is great. That little area needs some help with utilities, and that's why we're here tonight, I believe. But the plan itself, I do have some concerns about. So I live in a 1900 built home, old farmhouse. beautiful birch tree, probably 200 feet tall, I don't know, never measured it, can't reach my arms around it. And that thing started as a seed. And that's what's happening tonight with these plants is it is a seed that can grow into something beautiful or something horrible. And why I want to talk tonight is I support fixing the utilities. The work's overdue and necessary. I'm strongly opposed to the direction that's laid out in the plan, especially on page 39 that shows the map, a much bigger map than that that goes all the way to and past 74. There's a huge industrial section marked out. And I get, I get, you'd have to sell to be able to rezone. But people sell. People have economic problems. 10, 15 years, we don't know what's going to be there. What if that industrial section is now an industrial section? All the neighbors around it have to worry about what's going to be put there. I know we can't see 10, 15 years out, but this is the seed that starts that growth. Page 41 describes these industrial uses for this area as including heavy truck traffic, noise, needs for buffers for residents. This is in the plan. This isn't me. Data centers, nuclear reactors, who knows what could be built there. And I get 10, 15 years. It's far in the distance. This isn't what's here tonight. But I encourage this committee to take a look at these plans and what it means for the town of St. Paul. They may have surveyed somebody. I never knew about it, and I live right next to that line. I've never heard a single thing about it until it blew up online. There's reasoning behind that. There's intent behind that. To my neighbors, if you value this beautiful, peaceful country life we have for our families, now is the time to speak up. Now is the time to get involved. Now is the time to go to the town council meetings. Now is the time to go to meetings like this. And I encourage the board to take that into consideration.

Thank you.

First of all, thank you very much for your time and your consideration and your eagerness to help your citizens. I'm sorry. Okay, there's a lot behind that. My name is Diana Lemons. Could you please pull that map up that extends up to 74, if you would, please? I don't know what page it's on. You don't have it? You don't have it either? Well, 39. You can look it up on 39. Okay, there you go. My husband and my son farm property that is in the purple on the northwest side of 74 there. And my husband and I own property in Rush County, which is like a mile and a half north and east of... The interchange. Yes. Thank you. And I heard about this and had some concerns and I looked over your comprehensive plan and I do have some things I'd like to bring up. On page three, it states the survey indicates ambivalence and conflict towards annex of land for growth. And it mentions the I-74 exchange as part of the growth with a rather significant amount of that land that sits in Shelby County. And the 2025 Shelby County future land use map I don't know what map she was looking at, but it does not even remotely come close to what is shown on the one that is in your pamphlet there. The designation of the areas and what they're used for. And I realize this is a crystal ball kind of thing, you're just kind of guessing, but we have a significant situation here where you're dealing with Shelby County and Decatur County. And as a Shelby County resident and Rush County property owner, I also have concerns about who's really in charge if it comes to significantly industrial plans in the future. On page 53, it says that public input key findings were a 40% lack of effective communication LACK OF TRANSPARENCY IN DECISION MAKING, AND, WOW, THAT'S HAPPENING EVERYWHERE, AND I STAND AS PART OF THAT FROM SHELBY COUNTY CONCERNING THE DATA CENTER. GOT TWO DAYS MAIL NOTICE BEFORE THE HEARING THAT THAT WAS DECIDED ON, AND TOO MANY NDAs AND TOO MUCH SILENCE AND TOO MUCH SECRECY, AND LET'S JUST SLIP IT IN AND HOPE NO ONE IS PAYING ATTENTION. SO THAT'S PART OF WHY YOU HAVE PEOPLE HERE THIS EVENING. And maybe it's a good thing to get people active in their community and to take part and to listen and be a part of. So please don't, I mean, you know, we're just, we're a little paranoid. So that's where that's coming from. And, but I did have, I did have questions that like Gina about the TIFF, about who, how, who got that many. And you said that goes to St. Paul. Did I understand that correctly? Okay. So, and then my next question is on page 54, it says St. Paul, is overseen by Decatur County Area Plan Commission. So any development, let's say it goes into Shelby County, into Rush County, who takes responsibility for that?

We have Shelby, but not Rush.

We have the town of St. Paul that is in Shelby County.

Yes, so in other words, outside of town limits in Shelby, that is Shelby County. Current town limits. I would bet if that happened, it would not, because that would probably change.

That was my big question as well. I mean, that was the point I was trying to make, is who's in charge.

We're a long way from ever having any input. Just hang on. I'll get to you. Yeah, I'll get to you. You'll be next.

Okay. I think other people have hit things that I was going to hit on, so I'll move on and let someone else speak.

Thank you. I want to step in real quick. I want to go back to like the 2017-2018 timeframe when Decatur County completed and signed its comprehensive plan. I understand the scare factor with these very broad painted brush strokes a long time ago when decatur county came up with a comprehensive plan we hired a company like hayley's came in they said all right we're going to help you identify if there's a factory that comes in you don't want to put them nine miles away from an interstate nowhere close to a railroad nowhere close to water supply things like that there has to be infrastructure supplies that supports that so so companies like that come in and help you kind of step away from things and look at it so One of the things that was discussed in that, they were like, I think that you need to consider that the interchange right here, the 134 I believe is it, that logistically that's where a lot of things would make sense. And currently that's all cornfields. They recommended that we consider that for development. And the family that owns that basically came back and said, it's not happening. And that's okay. The town didn't go to that family and say, y'all are losing your property. We just decided to make this purple. You're out. Factories are in. These companies try and get you to step back and look at what makes sense, what may be a decent idea for consideration, things like that. Please keep in mind that Haley and this company or the people that have been working on this plan have not made any decisions to take any property from anyone. Nothing like that is happening, but it probably does make sense to at least hear what they have to recommend that we consider as a community. She's not putting in any data centers. I don't think anything like that is happening, but it does make sense to evaluate those and look at that from an overhead logistics standpoint. And if the town decides that doesn't happen, then that doesn't happen. Does that all make sense, hopefully? It happened right out here, and it didn't go anywhere. But we at least considered it, and that family said it's not happening, and that was the end of it.

Yeah, and it won't happen for a long time. It won't? Yeah. Okay, I've got the gentleman back here. If you could come up and...

And the one thing that I've really got an issue with is this map that came out that goes all the way to 74, which had the lovely purple areas that said it's available for industrialization.

It's not available. It's not available. It's not available. It's just a suggestion.

Well, yes, granted, okay? But people's arms can be twisted to sell their property. That's just my opinion, okay?

The family along that county road doesn't arm twist very well.

Well, whatever, sir.

And it does add something to the property values.

Can the city or the town of St. Paul annex the property adjacent to County Line Road up to Old Michigan Road and to the right? Can they do that?

Only if the landowner wants to.

The reason why I'm asking is like, for instance, right here on our city limits, on the northwest corner over there, that's Shelby County. At least if we had annexed that property, maybe we'd have a little bit of a twist on what's gonna go in there. That's not ours to... Well, I understand, but at least we could control our destiny a little bit.

We can't control that. That's not our... That's not why... The St. Paul Town Board. That's the Town Board issue 100%. And, I mean... The Dollar General's not even inside the town limits.

Are you asking... I'm sorry, are you asking if St. Paul can or should annex that? Is that your question?

If they could. Now... I understand the sewer situation is a major concern. That's got to be done. As long as I've been here, it's been a problem. But that whole section up there is suggested possible business. And you've got a pipeline that runs right through that thing with natural gas. So that's a big plus for them.

You're talking about Shelby County, right?

No, it runs right across county line road going towards Honda.

No, no, he's saying what parcels are you speaking? The area you're discussing is in Shelby County.

The one that is above the northwest corner on that map going all the way up.

That's in Shelby. That's Shelby County.

That's Shelby County, yes. Everything on the west side. Okay. What my bottom line is, is there any way that the town of St. Paul could annex that property All the way up where we have that that plan. And you know, with the with the consideration by the people that own the land. There's a little bit of a protection on it by ourselves.

Yes, they could. If the landowner wanted to.

If the landowner would want to do that, they could approach the city. They sure could. I'm sure the city's not annexing anything until they get the water and sewer fixed. But after that, I would say it could be a possibility if that landowner would like to do that.

But if we don't want to, then they can no longer, of course.

No, they can't ever do that.

No, they never could. It's all voluntary. So if you don't want to be annexed, there's some parcels right here in Greensburg. that are owned by the same people that he was talking about. That are still in the county. That are still in the county. And the city surrounds them. Because they refuse to be annexed. And that's their prerogative. So that's where the laws protect them. And would you guys as well?

Well, I'd love St. Paul to grow. Absolutely. I'm born and raised in Decatur County. And I'm on the Decatur County side. But I'm the only house in the purple on the Decatur County side.

I'm the one right here on the corner. Yeah. Yeah. And nothing.

And fortunately, when I seen the zoning change, I was like,

There's nobody changing anything. Yes. None of that will change.

What is the where the truck stop is? Is that just county property?

Yeah, that's not part of any city.

That's not part of any city?

That's correct. It's zoned differently, but it's not part of a city.

Yep.

Okay, hang on, I've got one behind you that had his hand up, and then I'll get to you. What's your name?

My name is Jasveer Singh, and I do have a three partial right off of 421. If I do like to get voluntarily annexed into the town, voluntarily, can I do that?

I have to ask the town. You have to ask the town. Not here.

But would that be a possibility if I voluntarily wanted to do it?

You'd have to ask the town. Yeah, the town, I mean, you need to address the town council for that.

Okay. Yes.

Thank you. She's next. No, you go right ahead. You're right there.

Sorry, I've been misquoted in the past. My name is Deborah Meehl. My husband is James Meehl. We are the family that owns the property, the farms on both sides of County Line. He opted not to be here tonight even though he knew it was important because he's farming his first love. And that's what he's spent most of his time doing. He has lived in St. Paul for 76 years in only three houses that all line up going outside a county line. Now, Rams did build a house in the back that kind of threw that off. But except when he was at Purdue, he has only lived in those three homes ever. He and I own property on both sides. We'll probably never be able to control all of the Shelby County side because there are eight grandchildren involved in some of that property. However, on the Decatur County side, our grandson lives in what we consider to be our homestead house. The actual meal homestead is up the road just a few miles in Rush County. But this homestead was started, and we qualify for a Hoosier homestead. I just haven't gotten the paperwork done yet. But our grandson is the fifth generation to live there. He loves the land, he loves the farm, and he hopes to continue to do that all through his life. We have tried to be good neighbors. We lived within the limits for a couple of years, but we live in our current home for 48 years. Jim has always farmed the land with his dad. His dad was named Conservation Farmer of the Year for Decatur County back in the 70s. He was very good friends with Frank Smith, who is the father of Scott Smith, who was the winner this year. As far as the town of St. Paul goes and volunteerism, my husband has been in the St. Paul Kiwanis Club for 50 years. He has served as president multiple times because other people would not take on the responsibility. He has made sure that the children of St. Paul, I'm sorry, I'm getting emotional too, but that they have had Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and Halloween treats for 50 years.

So we have tried to be good citizens and good volunteers.

He has attended meetings in the past for town board and everything. We understand we can't vote because we do not live within the city limits. But what these towns like St. Paul decide affects all of the people around them. What Marion County Mayor and City Council do in Indianapolis has affected my life, all of ours. So we have to be vigilant and we have to make sure we're doing what needs to be done. We have been fighting St. Paul on different things for many years. We had to fight the gas pipeline that went ahead and came through our property. I made trips with Jim up to Carmel to talk to an attorney up there. We tried to fight all the sewer and water coming out of town to accommodate loves. We were called first to sell property to Dollar General, and we refused to sell our property to Dollar General. They have put a lot of trash on our property, but they're handy for the people in St. Paul that don't have transportation and cannot go to Shelbyville or Greensburg. So we're trying to be good stewards of the land and we are trying to be good neighbors. I will tell you that when I was approached by a former board member to go ahead and voluntarily annex our farm so that St. Paul could come clear from St. Paul out to 74 so that a liquor store could be placed across from Love's. I was shocked and appalled. So we have requested that not happen. So when we saw the map just recently, that talked about it being industrial right on both sides of the road where we live. We were upset. I went back through some of the things. I've been supportive of the Shelby County group, but I have not been as active as I needed to be, and I'm ignorant of a lot of the maps and things. but when i looked back to the february town board or well it was not a town board meeting i apologize the february meeting where you had several people listening to things many of his co-kawanians were listed on there and i asked him i said do you know about this have you heard anything and he said no he knew nothing about it he hadn't been told So that was pretty heartbreaking for us not to realize that what the town is planning with good need and good reason because we know their sewer system and water is difficult. We've all had difficulty getting... Internet and everything and we're very sympathetic with that because we've dealt with it ourselves But we would request that the town please show us the respect of keeping it Agriculture because we want to keep this property in our farm and in our family So we respectfully ask this board to please send it back to st. Paul Let us have more time now that so many of us are aware of this, and let us work with our friends and our neighbors in the town of St. Paul. Thank you for your time and your consideration.

Thank you. Debbie, that is what's going to happen. Yeah. It goes back to St. Paul. It does go back to St. Paul from here.

Bye.

No, if we give the stamp of approval, it goes back.

It goes back no matter what it goes back.

Well, I still respectfully ask you to not give your stamp of approval just for all of us.

Is there much of a difference between the two votes? It goes back.

yeah because technically the same thing would happen debbie so in other words favorable or unfavorable it would go back each way it would get edited i mean is that if it gets edited then it has to come back again yes correct so so in other words when it goes back that is when you have your chance to edit it when it goes back to the saint paul town board is when that's the opportunity to edit. I guess that's what I'm trying to make clear here is that this presence tonight is the large public meeting. But for changes to be made, it needs to happen at the same poll meeting.

I guess my question is, Brad, if we give favorable, then it doesn't. I know if it gets edited, it has to come back here. But is the St. Paul board really need to make edits if we give a favorable recommendation? Or can they just pass it through? My feeling is these people are here asking us They're late to the game for whatever reason. I don't know if that's acceptable or not.

Yeah, and I guess by all rights, if we send it back unfavorable, then the board can pass it regardless of what these people say. No, if we give an unfavorable, if we give an unfavorable, then they will have to edit. That's the point I wanted to make. Is that correct, Taylor?

They'll have to discuss.

Missy, do you know the correct answer to that? In other words, if we give an unfavorable recommendation, it goes back to the town of St. Paul, and they have to edit it.

In other words, do we deem to give a reason, or we just... Well, I think that has to be a fine line, but if we're giving an unfavorable recommendation, recommendation, then they would want from us to know why we're doing that. We don't control how they prepare it or what they vote on. It would just be for them to reconsider it and, I guess, bring it back. And obviously, I know Haley's here, and she can speak to that, but...

I don't know what Oprah's role is. That's the other question. The timing of this play a role in this...

I think regardless

it's going to have to get edited because there's going to be a lot of people at the next meeting and, and that pressure is going to be there. So since we've made such a public light of it, I do think that that's, that's bound to happen.

And not in anybody's defense, nor my point fingers, but the reason that Those of you outside the city limits, you, Debbie, and you, sir, I know Debbie all my life, but I don't know you. The reason you weren't notified of this is because this is all hypothetical anyway. This is a wish list. This is Christmas. This is a wish list. It doesn't mean it's going to happen. And I said it before, you guys don't push well, and you have no intentions of ever selling this ground. And without you having the intention of ever selling this ground, that won't happen. Period. Not it might happen or it will happen if, unless.

It's a recommendation for a consideration is what it is by an outside company. They don't control the property. I mean, understand, and again, this is the second round of what I've seen of this. And basically, you as a family say, understand that logistically that may make sense from the outside, but it's just not going to happen.

Period. And you know, that's it. So maybe they, instead of going through your ground, they go around Ram's ground. That's going to be another fight.

Okay. I've got another one at the podium. Please state your name.

Melissa Meltzer. I just found out. I'm one of those that just found out today, actually. So I've been looking frantically everywhere for this draft. I'm actually on the Town of St. Paul website, and there is nothing on there. I've looked on your guys's. I mean, you guys have your comp survey on the homepage for the county, correct? But I can't find the draft anywhere to even read it. So I'm not exactly sure where it's at.

Are you in the town?

I am not. I am Rush County. And so HWC has done, they did our comp plan. And a comp plan is done every 10 years after a census. And the comp plan is done to find out what the people, the residents want. And then the ordinances are supposed to follow that. So I guess first of all, I'm really confused as if we're talking about St. Paul, why is 74 even in this conversation? It's not even in the town. So why is it even part of the draft?

Well, the purpose of a comp plan is potential growth. Forward looking.

nothing happening today potential growth where do they where does the city see that or the town see that it's also an advertisement to doing some grants is it's an advertisement to get those grants if you keep it basic and everything else, you're not as pilling as the next town, then your sewer is still in the same shape, too. So that's kind of the wishes and stuff of where we want to get.

Wishes from who, though? The question is, so the comp plan, again, is based on residents. desires and opinions, not on HWCs, not putting out a banner or a billboard out there going, hey, we'd love to have development here. You know what I'm saying? something isn't quite right with that part and and i will tell you from rush county when they did our comp plan and i'm not complaining in any way but but fact the fact is before this big data center boom it wasn't even a part of our comp plan it wasn't even a question on the survey so my question would be was that actually part of your comp plan survey for these residents was that even in there for them to even give an opinion on So that would be my other concern because you really don't know what the residents want or don't want on that.

That was the town's job to have, that's the town's job.

No, it's HWC's job to come up with the survey.

Correct? Correct. Well, the town is ultimately responsible for it.

They also allowed the write-in comments which all are published in the report. I mean, there are several pages of write-in comments by the respondents to the survey. So I think you guys had almost 50 people is what responded to the online survey. Forty-five.

Forty-five people out of 1,000.

Yeah.

You call that a survey? Yeah, it was on the St. Paul page.

Yeah, I mean, the St. Paul, I'm assuming, website?

St. Paul.org.

Wait a minute, we're losing control.

Well, now, hold on. I'm sorry. So I think that, as I mentioned, that infiltration of information, it never happens on these small town projects because nobody's really paying attention, nor if you see even something pop up on Facebook about some survey, you're going to scroll on by because you didn't think at the time that it mattered. But unfortunately, it does. And now we have the opportunity to broach subject. So back to you.

So my point is, is there a reason why we're not putting those in as a standard question nowadays, considering most counties are dealing with this issue? And I know you guys have been working on it for probably a year or so, probably. So, I mean, I know some of this data center stuff has only really hit hard maybe within the last six months or so. But still, probably a long enough time for you guys to go, hey, maybe we should add something in here just to find out what our residents need. about this topic I'm just I'm just throwing that out because that was a little bit of my frustration in Rush County was none of that and then the comp plan was written and we don't have we don't have any any input But you do have to understand the climate that we're in. And being on the Tri-County area, it's going to affect a lot of people. Like, I'm on the Rush Shelby. and Shelbyville's already approved, that thing's four miles from my house. In Rush County, I have a possible one, maybe a quarter mile from my home, so I could literally, on the county line, be sandwiched between two. And then if, if, if, something like this were to come in in the St. Paul area on that 774 Loves exit, that'd be another four miles from the one in Shelbyville. So it's just, it'd be like, they're all going to be like four miles away from me. That's, we got to think about this. I don't think a lot of counties are looking at the fact that, that, these county lines and the people on those county lines are going to be affected. And I'm not saying you guys aren't thinking about that. But I'm just saying, in general, when we're proposing this kind of stuff, we're not thinking about the bigger picture, if that makes sense. And then I know this is not comp plan related. You guys were talking about the not having a moratorium for a data center and you're currently working on your ordinance for the county, correct? Doing the survey. And I don't know, Gina, maybe you can educate me a little bit. My understanding is if you don't have a moratorium in place and you don't have an ordinance against a data center, you are asking for trouble. Anybody can come in and put a petition in, and if you don't have an ordinance, you're up a creek. Like, I could be wrong.

Okay, I just want to make sure I'm understanding. We're getting off target here. We're working on a comp plan. Let's focus on that.

I apologize, but it was brought up in the meeting, so that's why I'm addressing it.

And that was off target, too. So let's just stick to this.

Okay. So I'm representing my parents who live in. the on the rush county side of that tri-county area and i'm also here um with the permission of mike cassidy to represent cassidy farms as well and they are they're unfavorable they're asking for an unfavorable recommendation at this point so that things can be edited thank you thank you go ahead

My name's Kim Livingston, and I do sit on the town board of St. Paul, and I also was involved in the steering committee and coming up with this plan with Haley. And I just want to make it clear this has really nothing to do with data centers. I know that that's a hot topic right now. An unfavorable vote would most likely push us back behind a deadline. Our concern for the town is the town. We have no say so in the areas outside. So personally, I'm friends with the meals. She mentioned the ramps. That's my family. That's a big fat no for any annexation from both sides. It's never going to happen. OK, like never. Not in our lifetimes. Do we still have to ask as a town board member? Yes, because we're looking at highest and best use. So I called my friends, Debbie and Jim, and I said, hey guys, I knew the answer, right? But I had to ask, are you willing to think about annexation? And they have every right to say, no, we really are not. And I said, okay, thank you for your time. And I report back to the board. And it is really as simple as that. Just because there's different colors on the map does not mean that any of those are plans for the future. So anything that you see that's upsetting, know it there's nothing different with your land if you want something changed and you want to be heard come to our town board meetings on tuesday at seven i'm not pretending that every bit of verbiage is just spot on perfection but when you get into these projects we are really trying to solve issues with the town of st paul and we have many and We're a very active board, and we are really trying to make forward movement and be able to kind of fix some of our issues. So we need funds to do it, because 1,000 people, we are flat broke. We don't have the funds we need to help our neighbors. We have all kinds of issues with sanitary system and wastewater and different things. So we are having to make hard decisions. And I've lived in St. Paul. Over 25 years and I grew up right outside of St. Paul. I understand my friends and my neighbors. I know how they feel. And this is in no way any kind of arm wrestling event to make people do things with their property that they don't want to. So when you're working with a firm and they're showing you how to navigate through a process like this, You're thinking of highest and best use. So yes, you do focus on areas that could be developed because you have to show that in your plan. You have to show that you're willing to make developments, to move forward. Otherwise, they just don't give you funds. And without funds, we can't do things that we really do need to have done. So we did not focus on anything to do with data centers. We have not been approached by anyone. It has not even crossed our radar. I understand that it is a concern. It's something that we're all worried about. We all have strong opinions on that. But there's nothing specifically, I mean, inside the town of St. Paul, there's no way we have, like, we're on a sewer ban, BAN WITH IDEM, I MEAN, IT'S JUST NOT A CONCERN. YOU KNOW, I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS, BUT THIS PLAN HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THAT. SO THE GROUP OF PEOPLE THAT CAME TOGETHER ON THE STEERING COMMITTEE WORKED VERY WELL TOGETHER. IT WAS A WELL-SPOKEN GROUP. ALL AGES WERE ACCOUNTED FOR. WE HAD GREAT DISCUSSIONS ON THE TOWN. MOSTLY THESE FUNDS ARE BEAUTIFICATION OF THE TOWN. WE'RE WORKING ON LOTS OF GRANTS things for our town. We've got a roadway grant we just got to do some changes. We just got a grant for our gym so we can fix some HVAC and some issues in there. So this is part of a bigger plan, I guess, a piece of the pie. And we definitely want to hear, like, all of this has been advertised. It may not be in the places that you've looked. It's hard to know how to reach everyone. Like for the survey specifically, it was on Facebook. The town has a site. The meeting minutes are always posted. You can see it was on the topic many times. Lots of times at our meetings, we have no one there, except for the people that are there to report their reports. Um, so trying to get people to join the steering committee was very difficult. Trying to get people to show up to the big ideas, workshops, uh, very difficult. Um, you know, people are becoming involved now because we're all in the, like, you know, the data center, the data center. And I understand that, but I hope that you can separate that from this and realize that's not what it's about. So nothing, nothing changes. It's just a new way of looking forward for the town. So if anyone has any questions or anything else that, that's the one yeah but nothing is specifically does that make sense it's like yes we know that those are things that could be in the realm of something that would be in the future well I think that's probably something we could very easily edit There is no master grand plan. There is no master grand plan to do anything sneaky or shady whatsoever. We are all very level-headed. I don't think we'd have any problem changing a simple sentence in order to move our process forward so that we're not missing out on funds. We have neighbors that have serious problems with flushing their potties, okay? That's something that, that was what we are working towards. We are working towards inside the town of St. Paul. If we could have annexed 74, we would have already many times over. We even have been, we've been approached many times in the year plus that I've sat on the board. One company even purchased ground before finding out that we couldn't support them to do an additional truck stop besides loves out there. We cannot annex. We have not annexed. We do not plan to annex because, quite frankly, we've been told no. So we can't. So if that, you know, come to the meeting and you'll see three of your neighbors that want the best for the town sitting on it. And you'll see Kiwanis group member, the fire department, the police department representatives, all the people that serve in your community. None of them want anything different than you do.

So if a little bit of word needs to go which way or that way, it's not a problem.

We'll figure it out together. But I would urge this board to pass us on so that we can make our timeline and so that we don't get a ding and we can get some funds that help us with the problems that are at hand, the ones that we do need fixing right now. I totally agree with all your statements on data centers. I followed the Shelby County tragedy and I feel your pain. I work in Shelby County. A lot of my friends voice similar opinions. I'm not in disagreement. I don't think, I understand your words and I think they are valid and we probably do need to be proactively finding a way to address that. It's new, I don't think any of us really know what it is, but we need to work on it for sure. But that is not this. So that's the main thing I wanted to communicate.

Thank you very much, Kim.

Why not just take out that purple? But that can be decided. That's why she is inviting you to that meeting. I think that's the emphasis. And I really applaud you for coming up here and explaining that. Yes.

Yeah.

OK. Got time? Get that, Haley.

Hi, everybody. Is this about something besides the data center? Because I really think that dog is dead.

I'm Tim Ray. I also represent the town of St. Paul. I just want to tell you guys that I am against the data center. There was a lot of people that said things about us not being transparent, which is inaccurate. Every meeting minute is in the town of St. Paul website. There's not many people in here I've even seen attend a meeting, so you may not know this information that we have. I understand. And we also do the videos. So I just wanted to be transparent about a couple of things. We have had interest in obtaining the Loves gas station into the town of St. Paul for tax revenues. We do supply them water and we do supply them sewer. They approached us and they asked for more. They said we want to add RV dump stations. We'll be the only ones between Cincinnati and Indianapolis. We told them that we cannot supply them anymore because Because of the band, we, we were on a band, we have been lifted from a band and we are on a high alert. We can make certain decisions, but anybody outside of the town of St. Paul at this moment cannot be added onto it. We had a trucking company, um, or I'm sorry, a gas station. Again, what she had mentioned, they have, they have bought that property. It's called Tiger Gas Stations. They want to be right next to them. They came to us. We told them that we cannot do anything for them. They said they had a verbal agreement years ago with St. Paul, and it was just a verbal agreement. We told them that there's nothing we can do. So if we had interest out there, yes, we had no interest in your guys' property. The first thing we did is asked about the street. Can we annex the street out there and us become that? They stopped doing that in like 2018, 2019, something like that. So there was no way that we could do that. So then we did approach some owners and they said no, and we squashed it right there. We have no interest in taking your property away. We can't even do that. So the plan with all the purple, I would be scared too if I was out there. But again, it was a big picture idea that's obviously not gonna happen if people don't want it to happen. So I just wanted to clarify that, that we, The comprehensive plan that is in, a lot of you may not have heard a lot about it because you don't live in town. It's really going to affect the town and not outside of the town so much. You come into town, you're going to see some improvements, and it's a good thing. We're just trying to head in the right direction, and we're not trying to take anybody's property. We don't want to. So that's all. Thank you.

Yes. Yes. You spell your last name, sir? Ray, R-A-Y.

Easiest one you've had all night. Okay, and I do appreciate both town council members. That helps with the clarification, and it also helps us to understand that you're open to the suggestion and that you want these people at the meeting. And that's the purpose of tonight is to get everybody together and figure this out.

I think everybody should thank these people for volunteering all the hours that they've been working on this. I think you understand they're not villains trying to sneak something through, but they've rather been volunteering and trying to make your sewer systems better and get money to do that.

Yes.

My name is John Jones. And how many people live in the town of St. Paul here tonight? I know St. Paul needs a lot of help. We're all trying to do what we can. Been having a lot of trouble with infiltration in the sewer systems. Our water systems are borderline. And we're doing all we can just to get things turned around. I think this board's doing an excellent job. What they have, we've just recently got some CCMG money to do some paving. We've done some improvements at our park. The gym, we just got a $20,000 grant at the gym. I think things are looking up and I think St. Paul needs your help.

Thanks, John.

Okay.

So with the input that we've received from the town council, what's our thoughts, board? I feel as though they are more than willing to make the accommodations that everyone is asking for. And in order to not turn it into a train wreck, would it not make sense to pass it back to them, and you guys all know, next Tuesday? And that's the opportunity to edit this. Once that is edited, it will come back to us again, Is that correct, Missy?

Is that an okra?

It's not an okra requirement.

We have to look at the state statute.

I think...

I don't know.

I have to look at that. I'm not 100% sure.

I don't know if it defines...

Whether... Yeah. What is your... You mentioned an August date, and I didn't hear the date. What is your August? So I believe the Oprah closeout date for the grant is at the end of August.

The end of August.

The end of August. So. Cercy is the one who is doing the grant administration on that, and so they would have to go, if it wasn't approved. So let me repeat what I heard you say and throw some others. So it goes back to the town. One way or the other, it goes back to the town. You guys edit to a point that it has to come back to us. We meet the first Wednesday of every month. So let's call it the first Wednesday of August. Does that give you the time to meet the other deadline, the deadline so that OCRA, because the overarching issue here is not the word data center. It is the infrastructure of St. Paul that is not getting any younger and not getting any better because there is no money to fix it. I think that's the overarching, that's the whole reason this exists. So, yeah. So my question is, is there enough time, if it does have to go make the route back to St. Paul, then back to us, then back to you guys, is there enough time to make that trip and meet the deadlines so that everybody gets what they need?

Well, I think they could just be put on our agenda for August. St. Paul could have a special meeting after next Tuesday's meeting if they needed to. Does that give you the time to meet your deadline? But the town can call a special meeting, yes?

Will that meet your timeline? That's a yes or no. So if it comes back to us and then goes back to you, then there is time to get this, the group consensus with the language that is in creating the stick in everybody's eye to get this done. Okay, thank you.

And there's 1,000 people, so I'm sure everybody knows everybody on the board that's up there. I live at Lake Santee, and there's a little over 800 there, so everybody knows everybody, and you guys maybe can communicate with the board and hopefully get your needs met.

SOMEBODY CALLED IN EARLIER TODAY.

On the website, I haven't looked real close, but I mean, it's been a topic at our meeting for months, and it's during committee meetings with the two public open houses, so the survey,

So these are questions for your town council.

Regardless, everybody is now in the communication link on it and understands the process that is required to work through these edits. So, board, my thought would be to send it back. I agree. I mean, it can be favorable and that will keep everything on track. We've got two town council members here and everybody knows when the meeting is and that's where it has to be edited. So I think we've kind of brought everything together here.

So if we go favorable, and there is some question about whether or not the language change requires it to come back to us. So for everybody's understanding, if we go favorable, then you guys go back to your room and you beat everybody up and you know, whoever doesn't have blood on their shoes wins. Um, then it doesn't have to come back to us and you save yourself a month. If the determination is that the language is significantly changed enough that it has to come back to us, you come back anyway. So there's some benefit from a time standpoint. for you guys, for us to go favorable because you're going to meet anyway. And I think you've got enough people. Your town council that you have now is not the same town council you've had in the past. And I think that you can pretty well stipulate that. I know St. Paul Town Council has had problems in the past. I don't think this group is that group personally from two miles, which is where I'm at. I don't see that happening. So that's my side of it is if we go favorable, then it could save you guys a month if the language changes are not significant enough that it has to come back to us. Does that make sense?

You in agreement, Paul?

I agree. I mean, what this board is looking for is alignment with the county's comprehensive plan. And from my seat in the ballpark, it aligns. I understand completely with some of the details about what you all see in there. By all means, I think that... I think that your neighbors are the stakeholders in this, not this board. So I think that you guys communicate your concerns. It seems like to me, they're very willing to hear them and make those edits as you see fit, channel those in there. From my position of this board, it aligns with our comprehensive plan. So for me, it's favorable. Get your details figured out and get your toilets and all this stuff going is my opinion.

And for me, it has to be favorable because our requirement is that it does align with the county It does align. It has satisfied the issues that make us have to be favorable.

Correct. OK. With that in mind, I will look for a motion.

I make a motion that we vote on the draft comprehensive plan for the town of St. Paul with a favorable recommendation.

Okay. I need a second.

I second.

The vote to make a favorable recommendation on the St. Paul Comprehensive Plan to the St. Paul Town Council are as follows. Tom Hunter, yes. Courtland Robertson, yes. Sheila Kirchhoff, yes. Paul Stone, yes. Clay Hargit, yes. Max Melle, yes. Fred Sheedy, yes.

Now go home tonight and properly word your concerns and emails and things like that right to... Haley, and I really think you guys will see the results that you want to see. Show up at the town meeting and get it ironed out.

Invite your neighbors. Tell everybody.

And thank you for coming tonight to be part of this process.

If your town hall meeting looks like this every time, you won't have a single worry.

You will own the town.

I move that we adjourn.

Second. Second. Have a good night.