Plan Commission - Special Meeting

All right, I'm ready if you're ready.

Yep, I'm good to go.

We'll call the special meeting of the planned commission for July 7th to order. Can we have a roll call, please?

Yes. Jason Carnahan.

Here.

Callan Dooley.

Here.

Bill VanWyne. Here. Sandy Harrison. Here. Jerry Yoder.

Here.

Frank Pulver. Here. Suzanne Davis. Here. Angie Holt. Here. Tyra Lanning.

Here.

Alicia Rogers. Mike McCarrewich. Andrew Cruz.

Here.

Chris Gomer, Meredith Wright here.

We will now stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. And I'll have a moment if someone would like to lead us in a word of prayer. Mr. Barhands.

Father God, we approach your throne this morning, Lord. We ask you for your attendance in this meeting. This morning that we might make decisions for your use intended, for your glory, for the residents of this county. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

We have No old business correct New business petition 26-28 Robert and Teresa craft requesting a zone map amendment Approximately seven point three three acres from I to low industrial low industry low intensity industrial To re real estate property is located at 32 95 County Road 52, Auburn, Indiana All right, we've got

Here before you a rezoned request for, like you said, 7.328 acres from low-intensity industrial I-2 to rural estate RE. The Crafts own two properties there. Wish for them to be under the same zoning district. Approximately 5.11 acres are zoned I-2. and 1.91 acres are zoned RE. This was a zoning change that was done back when the new UDO was created, effective on January 1, 2009. I think Rathburn might be the only industry that's up in that area. People are shaking their heads yes. I'm assuming that the county, when this was created in 2009, thought the industry might come down closer to County Road 52. In this case, there's some residences down here that will probably stay residences until, if or when, somebody would purchase them to put in some sort of industry. Changing it from I-2 to RE makes sense, especially for properties that, you know, mortgages and refinances and things like that are difficult, if not impossible, to get when they're not zoned correctly. So on page two there just shows kind of a more zoomed out aerial imagery of between the intersection of County Road 31, County Road 52, page 3. You can see the yellow outline there, the property with the house, about the northern... Y'all are busy today. The... Entire property there is zoned I2, low intensity industrial. And then there's kind of a swath there in the middle zoned RE, rural estate of a wooded area that the crafts own as well. So on page four there shows that existing zoning. Page five is the future land use map. When we did this future land use map, Probably should have or could have changed that, but as you guys know, when doing rezones, the zoning district doesn't necessarily have to fit what the future land use map is. So this future land use map isn't law or doesn't have any bearing as far as zoning rules and regulations, but just something to keep into account there. And then page six there shows what the new zoning district, or sorry, new property would look like as far as the zoning. You can kind of see that brown area along County Road 52. That's Auburn's extraterritorial jurisdiction. They have planning and zoning jurisdiction 300 feet, as we talked yesterday, Andrew, about 300 feet on either side of their sewer district. Or sorry, sewer line. They've got sewer running along County Road 52. So that buffer is there for that. Yeah, so just changing the zoning district from RE to I-2 low-intensity industrial. On page 7 there we just kind of outline what the differences are and what the uses are in that zoning district. Obviously in the low-intensity industrial it's going to be more light manufacturing uses and then in the rural estate more obviously single-family homes. So with that, I'll take any questions you have. I saw Bob walk in. I think his wife is here, too. If we've got any questions for them, they'd be probably more than happy to come up and speak on behalf of their petition.

Chris, I had a question on the application. The proposed zoning is R1. I don't even know if, is there an R1? I assume that the intent was that it was supposed to be RE.

RE, yeah. We'll change that and have Bob just initial it so that it's in the record that it should be RE.

That's our fault, Bob.

Good catch.

Now if the sewer system goes out there on the first one, are we still required

300 feet on either side of the sewer line so they have their residential zoning district Along that etj area Auburn's zoning, but then ours is just considered Auburn etj. So We get to say what it is, but Auburn Falls, right? Right More or less, Auburn mirrors what our zoning is when they take those properties into their jurisdiction. So they don't technically have a rural estate district, but they've got, I think, a rural country or something.

Are you on Auburn? You got your own septic system?

Yeah, they got their own septic. They're not on septic. Both places? Yeah, one's just woods. If they were on sewer, because water goes out there, too, because of Bear Creek. So if they were on city sewer and water, then they would automatically go into the Auburn's planning and zoning jurisdiction.

Anyone have any questions for the petitioners? Anyone in the audience wish to speak for or against this petition?

You may just want to ask Bob if he's got anything to add.

Well, Bob's got it.

Oh, he's coming up. There he is. My bad.

Bob, make sure the mic's on. 52 when I built my house there 35 years ago it was owned agricultural and which allowed for a house to be built there I bought the farm next to me and rezoned a bunch of that 20 years ago to residential the old lumber farm and somehow in 2009 without being notified they rezoned my property I to which I The state statute says you can't do. You can't rezone without notifying a property owner that you're rezoning. So I'm not sure that that's valid. It went over 10 of my neighbor's houses as well. I ran into this when I went to get a HELOC loan, and the appraiser said, well, they can't value the home because it's industrial, so nobody can sell a house, get a mortgage. I mean, you might be able to at some crazy interest rate or something, but it really is going to mess up 11 different homes there that... I, too, went over top of just randomly without notice to the property owner. So I needed to solve my problem right away so I could get this HELOC loan locked in. That's why I called the special meeting. But I know that you're going to have several other neighbors. This problem is going to need to be addressed for all of those houses that got inadvertently or however it happened That they zone them all I to because you can't you're not supposed to have a residential home on it.

I do Because they it's considered a non-conforming use so if something would happen to the house Bob or whoever would live on these properties that are zoned I to could not rebuild it at its current Location so basically the mortgage isn't they're not gonna want to Take the mortgage on on the property loan isn't gonna work. So it's a serious problem Didn't used to be until About 20 when did I come here 2016 about 2016 2017 is when Banks really started looking at the zoning of properties Just and I just want to speak for a couple of neighbors I know that are here that

Hopefully that you can address all the other properties in this near future so that that's taken care of for them. You know, Chris was gracious enough not to charge me for the $500 fee because it wasn't my mistake that made it I-2, but I did pay for the newspaper ads and the mailings, which is fine, but I don't think all the neighbors are going to want to invest any money into something that they didn't cause, so...

And just so your neighbors are aware and the Planning Commission is aware, once we get over the hurdle of our data center moratorium, probably take these on, if not by the end of this year, early next year, especially these properties along County Road 31. And yeah, we would do that as a... staff-initiated rezone. They would get notice. They would still receive notice per Indiana code. But we would just do it as a staff-initiated one versus having them individually take it through the process. Now, in this case, Bob needed it to get done relatively soon, so he had to bring it forward. But we just...

Kind of take these on as time as time allows with with our own plan commission There is a house on 31 that is for sale right now as for sale sign in front of it that the I2 goes right through the middle of their house Yeah, that when they if they ever do get a buyer that'll be an issue for them Anyone else in the audience wish to speak on this petition I

Seeing none, we'll close the public comment portion and move on to our findings.

All right. Thank you. These findings are all proposed and not final until voted upon, but we'll go through them here this morning. Jurisdictional findings. Jurisdictional findings. Application completed and filed on June 8th, 2026.

Yes.

Legal notice published in the Star on June 26th and publisher's affidavit received.

Yes.

Certificate of mailing notices sent and receipts given to staff. Yes non-objection letter from the County Board of Health dated June 18th Yes, non-objection letter from the County Highway Department dated June 22nd. Yes non-objection letter from the DeKalb County soil and water conservation district dated June 18th Yes, non-objection letter from the county surveyor dated June 19th. Yes and Then we go to the UDO and statutory matters to consider. There's five matters to consider as part of this. And so I'll go down through each one of these five and anyone can make comments on any of these as we go forward, but we should have at least one comment on each one as we go down through it. Number one is the change in zoning paying reasonable regard to the comprehensive plan.

Yes, the subject area has a future land use designation of industrial the proposed zoning district is not necessarily compatible with this future land use designation But the designation does not limit the zoning districts that can be located within it Number two is the change in zoning paying reasonable regard to the current conditions in character of current structures and uses in each district Yes, the existing development surrounding the properties are agricultural agricultural and residential areas

use. This change in zoning will be consistent with the surrounding properties and the current conditions and character of current structures and land uses in the area.

Number three, is the change in zoning paying reasonable regard to the most desirable use for which the land in each district is adapted?

Yes, the proposed zoning district is desirable for this property in the area.

Number four is the change in zoning paying reasonable regard to the conservation of property values throughout the district throughout the jurisdiction Yes, the property values of the area should not be disturbed negatively similar uses have been At and surrounding this property for several years In fact, it'll be probably a good value to the homeowners to have it back All right Number five is the change in zoning paying reasonable regard to responsible development and growth.

Yes, in changing the zoning of the property to RE rural estate, the plan commission will be promoting the desired use of the land while promoting responsible development and growth.

All right. It appears that the staff is recommending a favorable recommendation to the county commissioners for the requested zone map amendment. And so far, I do not see any proposed conditions. Okay.

Is there any more discussion amongst the board? If not, we would entertain a motion for favorable, unfavorable, or no recommendation for this petition.

I move to make a favorable recommendation to the commissioners for petition 26-28. Second.

I have a motion and a second for a favorable recommendation. We have a roll call vote, please, Meredith.

Yes. Duly yes bill van why yes sandy Harrison Jerry odor yes Frank Palmer. Yes, Suzanne Davis. Yes, Angie Holt. Yes, Ira Lanning. Yes, Jason Carnahan.

Yes, I Believe that is all we had for this meeting this morning We will adjourn the plane Commission meeting next meeting July 15th. I