Plan Commission - Regular Meeting

I can lead I can lead that discussion if you want. [Music] It was on and then it uh

when you switched over something the remote search for the IT person for these meetings going to what we're doing. No, we approved to hire a new IT person. Yeah. Be here at the meetings. It's not come before us yet. So, I love the idea. Has to, but I mean, we've not heard anything about it. I thought I thought you guys approved it and it came to us. I've got my paper.

We approved so much in one meeting. It's unbelievable sometimes. We'll go ahead and get started while Kayla's working on the technology here. We'll call the meeting to order. The September 23rd meeting of the Hancock County Area Plant Commission. We ask that you please turn off your cell phones and other electronic devices and and noise makers. The first order of business this evening will be the adoption of the previous uh month's meeting minutes that were submitted electronically to approve the August meeting minutes. Second. Okay, it's been moved and seconded to approve last month's uh meeting minutes. All those in favor signify by saying I. I.

All those opposed. Same sign. Same. Good. Uh we've got uh for our roll call this evening, we have um Mr. Tol is is absent and Miss is absent. And other than that, all members are present. I'd like to advise you that all testimony is being recorded and taken under oath. We request that anyone wishing to speak do so only when called upon. We ask that you face our attorney to my left to be sworn in before speaking. All persons speaking will be asked to give their full name for the record, spell their last name so that we have accurate meeting minutes and please speak into the microphone so that we can get a good uh recording. Kayla will give her staff report and then the petitioner is given 10 minutes for their presentation. That presentation is followed by 10 minutes for remmonstrators. We then offer 5 minutes for any government officials that would like to speak for or against uh and then another five minutes for the petitioner's rebuttal. Our attorney will give each party a two-minut and a one minute warning as their time is expiring. Uh we ask that all persons conduct themselves in a civil manner and if you can't do that, we reserve the right to ask you to leave. Uh please be notified that this meeting is being recorded and streamed for public viewing. By participating, you acknowledge that your image, voice, and comments may be captured and made publicly available. This meeting has been properly noticed in accordance with Indiana code 5141.5. Looks like we're going to be uh without that. You guys good without the uh the TV there? You survive? All right. We can slide down if you need to, but um first we've got one uh hearing item this evening and then uh other than that we've got then five other business items. So we'll go ahead and get started with item number one. Eric Glasco Gooden uh ground commercial neighborhood reszone.

All right. So, we have one item on the uh agenda for a reason this evening located at 3859 and 3863 West US40. This is nearly to 400 West. Uh let me see if I can. So here you can see that the majority of the properties in this vicinity are zoned CN as a lot of the properties during our last zone map change along US40 were pretty much all reszoned to CN. That was the transfer of the new uh zone map. Um however um a lot of the uses that are occurring in this area uh really line up better with the CC zoning district. So, this is a pretty common uh request that we're seeing, which is let's reszone an area to CC or community commercial, I'm sorry, commercial community rather than commercial neighborhood. So, the reason that Good and Ground Maintenance is here this evening requesting this reszone is because they wish to expand their existing legal non-conforming use, which is a uh landscaping contractor um by adding a building um in the area of yard closest to US40 and toward the west of this site. So, whenever you change um or add to a non-conforming use like this, you need to bring it into compliance with the zoning code. In this case, a contractor's storage yard or contractor's warehouse is not permitted in the CN district, but it is a special

exception use in the CC district. When we look at the future land use map, it calls this a mixeduse corridor. Uh it states that uh these are areas we expect to um develop in the future and that they should um basically become more intense development as utilities become available down US 40. If we look at uh uses that are permitted in that mixeduse corridor, the comprehensive plan states that general commercial and office uses such as retail, restaurants, accommodations, entertainment, personal services, offices, medical clinics, etc. are permitted as well as intensive commercial uses such as service stations, auto repair, auto sales, contractor shops, repair shops, fabrication, storage, etc. And that outdoor storage is discouraged and should be at a minimum. This is what good and ground uh good and ground maintenance looks like from US40. You can see it's a fairly clean site, well-maintained lawn, simple sign, and then a long drive back to the uh area that they operate out of, which consists of a couple of barns. um and one I believe one house that's currently serving as their office, but I'll let them talk about that more. Um and the building they're hoping to build then would go between the two trees on the front of this parcel

um and would of course have to comply with corridor overlay uh standards. So if we look at the zoning district intents, the current zoning district CN is intended to provide convenience, goods, services, and amenities within close proximity to residential areas. It is further intended to permit the development of traditional mixeduse neighborhood centers, which would include secondstory residential above commercial and should be protected from non- neighborhood serving land uses such as big box or other more regional retail uses. that lines up really more with what we're seeing down the road in Spring Lake and Philadelphia or as we get into Cumberland. This middle area right here really lines up better uh with the proposed CC zoning, which I'll read to you now. CC, Community Commercial Zoning District, is intended to provide locations for a variety of small to midsize businesses and institutional facilities that serve a wide area of the community. This district can be used alone and in combination with other zoning districts to create areas for community shopping, entertainment, services, and public gatherings. This district is intended to permit a mixture of compatible land uses in close proximity to transportation routes and other necessary infrastructure and utilities. And then if we move on to your decision criteria, what we're looking for this evening is a recommendation to the board of zone board of commissioners. You can give a favorable recommendation, an unfavorable recommendation, no recommendation, or a continuence. You may include commitments with your recommendation. Decision criteria include the

comprehensive plan and any other applicable adopted planning studies or reports. Current conditions and character of current structures and uses in each district. The desired use, the most desirable use for which the land is in in each district is adapted. Property values. The conservation of property values throughout the jurisdiction. and responsible growth and development. So based on this staff presentation, my staff pre recommendation is favorable uh to give a favorable recommendation to the board of commissioners. I will point out that uh two of the com two of the plan commissioners here this evening have mentioned to me this is adjacent to the Pensy Trail. Um which I am so sorry this just exited my mindset. Um so if you would like to and I gave the uh petitioner a heads up, Maria did as soon as we realized we may have missed something that was not in the staff report. Um, so I'm gonna go ahead and turn the uh podium over to Eric Glasco who is representing Good and Ground Maintenance. Um, unless you have any further questions for me and the Penzy is not developed behind this yet, but it is owned by the county.

But it will be and it will be. No, it's been paid behind it that the between 300 and uh it is. Okay. And and there's parking lot and the officer there's usually a sheriff officer. I don't saw the parking lot. No, I've not been in that area. Yeah. I drive by every day. Okay. All right. All right. I'll turn it over. Okay. All right.

Hello, Eric Blasco with Stevenson Refe on behalf of the petitioner. Can I swear you in? Do you swear or affirm under the penalty of perjury that the testimony you're about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but

I do. Um, she stole some of my best material, so I will I will keep this brief. Um, as she indicated, we're looking at reszoning three parcels. This came up when um Dave um and working with um Philillip and uh architect on a building determined that it was a non-conforming use and that we needed to take some steps to get us in line with how the county views this area and how we're currently using the property. Uh if you're familiar, this is the old Mattingly Automotive property. Uh when Dave bought it and Good and Ground Maintenance bought it, uh it was not in the best of condition. We'll understate it. And as you can see now, he he does a meta meticulous job of maintaining it, having it look nice. Uh the same also happens to be the the case on the backside where the Pinsey Trail is. Uh Dave is actually the one maintaining the area behind his on the Piny Trail, both sides. When he started that, he said the weeds were taller than I am. So, he is he's actually back there now kind of maintaining his section of it where it is going across his property. Um, I know there were some concerns about what that might look like on the back. Obviously, when whenever I'm working with a landscaping company, there's no better advertising for them than what their property looks like. So, uh, Dave takes that to heart and, you know, has every intention of of working with the county to make sure that that trail looks nice behind his property. Um, there was a mention about a gate. Um, our concern, only concern with adding a gate, although it's not really relevant to this petition, would be a security concern of people accessing the the yard where there are storage of of landscaping materials from the trail. Um, so obviously that would be a concern. Um, Good and Ground Maintenance is the largest landscaping company in Hancock County. It employs close to 100 people. Um the intention here is to relocate the offices that are currently in a house um that's was built probably in the 50s or 60s and meant for

residential purposes which are not real conducive to the operation of a business into a building that would be more conducive to the the housing of the operations conference rooms and those kinds of things. Um, and in that regard, we're looking for a reszone to the the uh CC district um so that we can then request at the BCA level a variance for the outdoor storage to get us in compliance with the county's requirements. Um it it says here that uh obviously uh outdoor storage is discouraged and should be screened at a minimum. I think you probably heard her say that.

Yes. How much outdoor storage do you guys have and will you pretty much eliminate that because concern is you're next to a Penzy Trail. Obviously we're worried about quality of place and you know there I'm worried that somebody's going to come off the Pensy Trail maybe try to steal something. Yes. Because you're not far from the trail head even though there is a sheriff usually there. Yeah. Um that would be a concern of mine if you said it wasn't gated. I mean I'm thinking it's gated cuz I know you have electronic gate in the front. Yeah. And it's 100% fenced. The property is 100% fenced now. Um, with what chain? It's a chain link. Chain on the back. Chain link. Yeah. Yeah. And so obviously trying to gate the front, I think.

Yeah. And obviously on the back end, you know, there's there's, you know, some discussion Dave and I have had some discussions about what that looks like with with the Pensy Trail because I mean a chain link fence is not screened. It it it it's it's fenced, but what we're what I feel we're talking about is maybe a privacy fence or something like that. Something it's going to block the view from the pixie trail.

Yeah. Um Yeah. And and I think that kind of goes along with the outdoor storage component of it and the screening. Um, keeping in mind, you know, we're we're trying to figure out how to approach this now, and this has kind of come about rather, you know, in the short span of finding out that it was a non-conforming use. Um, while there is going to be an exp like an expansion of the non-conforming use in the sense of forming an office building, the outdoor storage and the the level of equipment machinery will will remain very similar to where that is now, just subject to growth of the business itself. The main purpose of the petition was for that office building to be constructed. Um not necessarily to increase the amount of outdoor storage um in that capacity.

There possibility in the future to have a building to store everything in so that there is no outdoor storage. Is that a vision or something? I know today I'm not sure how much how big of a building that would actually encompass um because they do have quite a bit of equipment that they store. not to mention materials as well. Um, but security is definitely a concern especially as more people are using that trail and the best way to secure it is to screen the the visibility of it. Um, and then my other one was um because it is a Pensy Trail and obviously we're worried about you know I don't know how many employers are there because I know they come and go a lot of them come and go because they're landscaping. Yeah,

I know who they are. So, is there a way for them to access the trail so that if somebody's working in that office building that they can go and walk the trail and know that quality of place component? Yeah. And that's kind of what Dave and I were discussing. Um, but you know, anytime you're providing access out, you know, you're also providing access in. Um, and you know, just from a work life and you know, life balance, giving them the opportunity to walk the trail at lunch, you know. Um I you know Dave's wife you know runs the office and is there and I'm sure she would love that. You know it's just kind of trying to figure out a way to make that work that doesn't sacrifice security as well.

But I mean I would think that uh since they're going to be taking care of that portion of the trail that butts up to them they'd need to get their lawnmowers or whatever out there. So I mean you would think that there would be something there. Well, and I don't if you're if you're if you're going to speak, please come up and be sworn in. Yeah. Um and I think the the Yeah. Can't speak from the audience. You swear affirm under the penalty of perjury that the testimony you're about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I do. Please state your name and spell your last name for the record.

David Gooden. G O D I N. We access the trail right now from the Pency Trail off of 400. We actually have an outside path due to the setback of where the fence is supposed to be at based on the language that we read on the zoning. The so we have an outside area that we mow on the outside of the fence that we can access to. Um, and I can appreciate the screening, you know, that you guys are after that's back there. We're not done landscaping back there. I mean, I can speak for myself on those things, but we don't know what we need to do and what we haven't done. But I know that they have volunteers there regularly. And so, you know, I paid for my labor to take care of what the city should be taking care of or whoever is taking care of the Penty Trail of the County who doesn't take care of it. And I pay for my labor with my guys to go out there on a weekly basis to address it.

So, a little bit of balance back and forth would be really nice to have that. I I plan to do some things there because obviously it is advertising and we do want things to look nice and organized and and professional. So, um, you know, it's I know most of it's treelined. Is your portion treelined or just No, it's not treeine. Okay. The screening is going to be very important. That's a that that's a must. So, and usually on a project like this, I usually ask to make sure that we're not going to be bringing materials in and burn them on the property. That happens. I mean, I can't lie that it doesn't. Pardon?

That happens. I can't lie that it doesn't. It's nursery material that we have in stock there. Trick or treat waste. Yeah, I know. But normally, I'm not on the BZA anymore, but I usually put a stipulation if I was that a company like yours would not be able to bring in material and burn on the site. I can burn the material that's there. Correct.

Right. How you do? And that's that's where this gets a little confusing with the non-conforming prior use aspect of this. Um, so I think that is something at least from the BCA standpoint that we'll have to evaluate. Any more questions? All right. Very good. Thank you. Thank you.

Do we have anybody that would like to speak in opposition to this petition? All right. With that, you'd have a rebuttal period if you if you'd like. Mr. Vasco, any anything else you'd like to say? No. All good. All right. Any discussion? Um, we would like the report says we have u our standard options of uh recommendation of favorable, non-favorable, no recommendation or continue. We could talk about sounds like landscaping screening is a condition option. So if we want to look at buffer yard conditions or something like that, we can discuss that. Now

we definitely want the screening.

That a um typical requirement that we would put as a condition that would pass through the BCA or a recommendation to the BCA. How would you handled it both ways? it. We can actually condition our approval on those conditions of the BCA. I would say if it's important to us, we should probably make the zoning. It should be a zoning commitment. Correct. I was looking to see I don't have my cheat sheet here.

Besides the uh Pensy Trail that it ab butts on the south side, what's the zoning just south of it?

No, it wasn't. That would tell us what the buffer yard would typically tell you what the buffer requirement would be. Anyways, yeah, part of it might be residential. And the the trail becomes a spite strip, I guess, from that perspective, but probably R1 on the south.

Is part of it that one subdivision being built though or is that far that's farther down? Yeah, that's right here kind of caddy corner.

Okay. So, yes, it's currently farmland. There could be a condition that um something along the lines of as development occurs or as things change on the parcel that's adjacent to the Penzy that screening or trail access would be uh looked into. And that way it's not on this particular user in use, but as that site perhaps gains value and transitions, then that could be looked into. Why would we not address it right now?

It's up to you. Take it down the road. I mean, I guess from a planning perspective, I look at it through our zoning ordinance as a non-conforming existing use that they're not suggesting any changes to at this time. Therefore, I don't look at it. The one thing that I do look at is the thing they're changing, which is adding the office building at the front. So, that's what starts to kick in all of this stuff. But it's up to you guys.

Yeah. I mean, obviously, he's going to make a concerted effort to make it look good like he said, and I would believe that. Um, I'd kind of hate to impose a significant burden on the part right now. So maybe a commitment to a certain level of landscaping over five years or something like that or a certain amount of time possibly. If we look at something then just that recognizes the current buffering or screening requirements to the adjacent zoning or as otherwise identified by the BA or staff. I just know that the last one that we approved there was an 8 foot fence around it. That was in Maxwell.

I mean,

yeah. Um, I would say it would be it'll be an issue at the BCA for the special exception as well, but it's kind of a unique case here. So, how did you have that phrased with what were you saying? Something about Make a motion. Mhm.

I'll try it. A motion for a favorable recommendation um with the following conditions. First, that the privacy fence and/or screening be put into place that aligns with the current adjacent zoning that might be required by our current ordinances or as required by the BZA or staff. And second, that the BZA um provide an edict on on-site burning for this particular site.

Second. All right. Uh it's been moved and seconded to forward a favorable recommendation to the board of commissioners with the uh attached commitments conditions. Is there any discussion? So essentially that'll that'll put some of that landscape requirement on the BZA then because the adjacent zoning will be it'll be CN to CC, right? Because the the trail is existing. Okay. So we can deal with that then and I'll give some time to talk about what that probably needs to consist of. So all right, any more discussion? Was that a commitment or condition?

Termed it a condition. Condition. Okay.

All right. So, um, when you're ready, Don, you can call the roll. Yes. Yes, Mr. Yes, Mr. McDaniel. Yes, Mr. Yes, Mr. Yes,

heard the first one. I didn't really hear the second one. Okay. Uh, could you re reread that back out of the minutes? Yeah. Thought it was or screening. Did you read that fencing as required? Oh, she said privacy. Yeah, I can. So, it' be privacy fencing or screening as required by the adjacent zoning or as approved by the BCA or staff. Thank you. Gives you a little time to do some work before Thursday. Yep. Okay.

Essentially work work with the staff on it. Essentially is what it'll be. All right. That uh that would conclude our hearing items for this evening. and other business. I would make a motion to move the elections to the the next meeting since we have members not here. You you won't be here at the next meeting though. So, so this this election is just to backfill our vice president.

Oh, okay. That's true. This would be just for our vice president. So, another option would be if we're going to push it to next month. I mean, we could just wait and just hobble through without a vice president if I intend to be here. So, it should be fine. So, is that And if you're not here, Renee will probably be here, so she could actually run it at that point in time. That's correct. Yeah. Does that seem okay or is it a little concerning to you legally? I'm trying to think of the rules and I don't have those right in front of me. We're supposed one, but um Oh, we should point one for each meeting. There's not one here. Then we would do one. Okay, I give

Okay. So, we'll just do we could do that at the beginning of each meeting. It's just a point. I mean, if we if you're not here, then Oh, right. Right. Okay. All right. All right. So, we have a motion to just to move to move the election of vice president to the u October meeting. Second. It's moved and seconded to move the election of vice president to the October meeting. All those in favor signify by saying I. I.

Post. Same sign. Motion carries. Um item number two. Uh I think most of the folks that are here this evening would are probably here to listen to quality of place. So, you want to flip-flop UDO and quality of place or did you want to talk quality of or talk UDO prior to quality of place? Um, Kayla, is there a storytelling method there? I really don't have anything to add to the UDO update today. Um, as you guys know, you've got most of the chapter 2 um to be reviewing as well as chapter five, I think, that I sent out on Friday. Um, so just please email me with any thoughts or comments.

Did we have anything that you wanted to to speak to on chapter five? I unfortunately haven't had a chance to really get into it too much, but was chapter 5 is the one that uh Mr. Apple put the red line or which one was that? Uh, I believe I tried to send you the red line chapter with that as well as with chapter 2 kind of backtracking. Okay. and the comments on those as you guys may have noticed. Yeah. Subdivision type. Yeah. With that, I will sit back down. Oh, okay.

And then um there's an I believe we're having a small executive session with the board of commissioners tomorrow evening to further discuss this and how this gets put out and progresses. Yes. Oh, okay. Tomorrow or is it is it Thursday? Thursday. Sorry. Thursday. Thursday. Okay. Yep. Okay. Well, then we will move on to quality of place plan discussion.

Randy also in sworn in. Do you swear or affirm under the penalty of perjury that the testimony you're about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Thanks. Mary, do you plan to speak as well? Tell them the truth. We are affirm under the penalty of perjury that the testimony you're about to give is the truth, the whole truth. I do. Okay. Please both state your names. Spell your last names for the record.

My name is Randy Surell. S O R E L L. Uh I'm the executive director of the Hancock Economic Development Council and I live at 6694 Hidden Meadow Pass, Cordsville, Indiana here in Hancock County. Mary Gibble, Community Foundation President and CEO. I am a resident of Greenfield, Indiana, in eastern part of the county, Blue River Township, and um work every day on behalf of those who live here in Hancock County. So, the reason we're both standing up here, um, the quality of place plan that you you've heard about, this goes back to the comprehensive plan that was, uh, worked on in the years 2122 and, uh, actually was adopted and recommended by this planning commission in October of 2022 and then formally adopted by the board of commissioners in January of 2023 when the comprehensive planning process was was going on. It was pretty unique to the extent that typically um comprehensive plans are about land use, maybe about thorough affairs and we did a a comprehensive plan with three chapters, land use, a thoroughfare plan and an economic development strategy for the county. Um with at that time it was of course Mike Dale was the county planner and he was running point on that. Gary P being the highway engineer was running point on the thoroughfare plan and me as the countyy's economic development director the uh economic development plan uh fell into in my province. So that was adopted the uh uh became official policy of the county January of 2023. the implementation of the uh economic development strategy which is housed in my office. If you look through that you'll see there were six different

themes uh that was the foundation of economic development strategy. Theme number five was quality of place as an economic development incentive which the idea of that is that businesses want to locate where in good communities where there are nice amenities where people want to live because can't bring a company if you can't get workforce and people live in good communities and as a part of the economic development strategy there were uh timelines for certain things to happen and sort of a designation of responsible parties and given the the core of the work that the community foundation does uh a lot of all they everything they do is community development uh projects. So, uh we've we partnered on this uh with quite frankly the community foundation taking uh the greater lead on it and they did interviews did uh for firms to do a quality of place plan and uh went through that process. I had staff that was on that steering committee as well and they ultimately came HWC was hired. they did a plan and so the question is okay of what effect does that plan have how does it how do we give it effect and uh I think that's probably where uh there's been some element of confusion occur it's it's it's our workforce it's our work product and it's our responsibility to implement these things don't necessarily think that it takes adoption by whether it's a city council or the county planning commission or the towns, but the more of an endorsement of okay, yes, this is what we want to see happen in our community. This we want to see these things happen in our jurisdiction.

And so, uh, I know Mike was in a meeting. We were talking about this based upon conversation that Mary and I had, uh, created this almost a proclamation. I'm not sure. U, which Do you have that in front of you this evening? Yep. Oh, I do. I read it. Yeah, I remember found my email. It's a a letter addressed to um folk to the county commissioners and the county planning commission. Reading it on a phone here, so give me a moment. Um Oh,

I have a print out of it. The email was uh was addressed uh to you folks and we appreciate your dedication uh to thoughtful land use uh safe and efficient thorough affairs, exceptional quality of place. In support of these efforts, we propose the following and we propose it. Uh Hancock County and its distinct communities, as evidenced by their letters of plan support, share a commitment to health and wellness for all. Building on existing assets, Hancock County promotes outstanding quality of place through a focus on healthy living physically, mentally, spiritually, socially, and environmentally. We, the governing body, because we're asking various communities to do this, uh recognize the quality of place plan as a guiding document to be referenced for elements contributing to Hancock County's unique and vibrant character. This guiding document is intended for use by public, private, and nonprofit entities and is a product of the ongoing collaboration between the Community Foundation of Hancock County and the Hancock Economic Development Council. Developed with community input, the plan reflects diverse perspectives gathered during the engagement process. Through its foundational tools and strategic recommendations, the plan serves as a playbook for enhancing quality of place across the county. It identifies future productions and events, capacity gaps, and proposed implementation timelines, positioning our towns, the city, and the county for grant funding opportunities as they present themselves. And so we would we're ask our ask is that this body uh generate a document with language that's the suggested language. If you want to word smith it, that's fine. But like I said, we're not asking for a formal adoption because it's

it's my stuff to do. It's our stuff to do, but we we'd like that it to have some seal of approval from the from the bodies that that govern these jurisdictions. So, who pays? I mean, obviously look at the quality of place. Who pays for implementing these uh some of these things? Is it all different people or who is it? Well, it is [Laughter] So I think refer to the woman in the room. Yes. So I think what's beautiful about a body of work like this is it sets us up for opportunities that we may not know even exist yet.

So it's so imperative that you have a plan when funding opportunities come to us and we may not know what those are today. We didn't know ready would be a thing until ready was a thing. We didn't know the office of community and rural affairs would make stellar a thing until stellar was a thing. But we had a plan. And so what we would share with you is that this is indeed a plan. And a plan means that there may be adjustments to it as we go. But it also gives us an opportunity to leverage conversations with funders, whether they be those from government entities, foundations, um, all levels of opportunities. The important thing is that I think what you did when you approved the movement forward of an economic development strategy with very thoughtful themes is you gave us an opportunity to be prepared for opportunity. And as the I think this year's second fastest growing county, I would argue one of the fastest growing counties in the United States of America. We have a tool that's very unique. When we interviewed the um consultants that presented us, we interviewed three different consultants and they were like, "We've never had anyone ask for a product of this nature." So, what what would you see as being really beneficial as part of that? And we said, "I think we're going to learn that from our community." And so we went through a very thoughtful process of a very public and transparent way of going about this like you would any kind of planning that you would want to be approved by governing bodies. That meant focus groups. It meant a survey. It meant public meetings. It meant a public presentation. We went through all of the steps kind of anticipation actually of it being brought forward as a request for adoption.

But what we've realized in conversations with you and with others is that we're bringing something that's unique enough that we're not quite sure that that was absolutely necessary. that we recognize an opportunity to maybe set a precedence here for other complimentary plans that may come out of not only the economic development strategy but the thoroughfare plan and the land use plan that move us forward in a really aspirational way. I think the quality of place plan is unique in some to some degree. Um, and it hearkens to me the Hancock County Trails Plan in that with our involvement, we are convening our neighbors, municipalities, our towns, our city, and our county to create an a document that drives a vision that we can all celebrate. We may not celebrate it the same way. That's indicative of the trails plan. And yet, even though our individual communities and our towns and our city may identify their portion of the Hancock County Trails System in their own way, there's an overriding brand that's the Hancock County Trail System brand. And that's a result of an intentionality behind the community foundation to quarterly convene partners year after year after year and keep that conversation alive where we exchange ideas where we bring unique um projects that we think will complement the plan. And that's really what we have before us today is a guide book, a framework that gives us an opportunity to continue working together with our

neighbors across our county towards a common vision, which is really to provide the tools that Hancock County might use to become the best version of itself. Not just unincorporated Hancock County, all of Hancock County. All of us who live here, all of us who might live here, we want this to be a place where people aspire to leave live here, but we also don't want it to be done willy-nilly. If we don't plan, we will be planned, right? That's why we do plans. So, this is another plan. It's another tool in our toolbox of ways in which we can continue to respond to being the fastest growing county in the state and one of the fastest in the United States as a beacon and truly as a visionary community that has produced something that's quite unique in its nature. Oh, you following up. I

Pardon me. I just had a couple of questions.

Yeah. Well, I I wanted to answer Scots. So, um, this was adopted and made formal policy in January of 2023. In October of 2023, I hired in my office staff someone who came from the community development world. Some of you have met Erica Adams. uh she's our community development manager. She worked in Marian County and in southern Indiana doing community development projects throughout. So the as far as housing and hiring and funding uh to date there's one person dedicated to that and they're on my staff and I pay their salary. There may well be other groups along the way say we want to designate somebody to do this. Maybe they're already on staff, maybe they hire. I don't what I do know is we're the e the economic development corporation is tasked with implementing this plan and so the hiring and staffing and the leading starts in my office and so I've taken that first step a team will get built out it may be citizen volunteers I don't know how that looks like you guys know what I do I do traditional economic development things but we the community development side. I couldn't get to that because I'm busy with the things I'm doing. So, we carved that niche out and found an expert in that space and brought them on our staff. So, that's that's our leadership in this area.

Question. So, just to orient uh the economic development strategy from 2023, yes, had eight different strategies required within that. So, leadership um instit um industrial A, yes, budget timeline all this. So number five pertains to quality of place and that's where we're living right now. There's a requirement within that theme number five to create a 10-year implementation program which is what this big document is is we're looking here. Got it? Okay. In this this big document that we see I think there's there's three components, right? There's a fundraising component which you just addressed is going through your office. the marketing committee funding the decide decisions about branding um application for grants and

partnering with them because she has she has access to grant opportunities that I don't the HDC and their partners would be that at the the front so the no funding requirements would come from here correct

second you have a team that you're be convening to make sure that you have the pulse of the public within not only implementing but making any top of- mind decisions as these implementations occur. You've got um implementation committee, you've got the marketing firm, you're working with tourism, you have civic groups. Love that. Um um I I'm just the only thing I'm missing in here is maybe some membership here. And I'll I'll explain why that might be important in a second. The third area I see is that you have very distinct criteria requirements in this document that we're going to see on this on this bench. Overlay districts. We're going to have to o overlay districts. Yes.

Yeah. We some we don't even have yet. we know that are needed. We we know that there's there's a need for some additional overlay districts and I I I have not been privy to those conversations, but I know those conversations are being had. Okay. Ex. So, that's what I'm saying. There's like it's it's a melded document with the different things in here. So, we have authority and would need to make sure that our criteria that we're considering overlay districts probably something with use on parks and Rex land that might be established or reszoned or you know, however we handle that. um something about a tourist attraction, right? There's tourist attraction in here. So, we would these are where we have jurisdiction that that are coming in front of us and and the trails plan

and and some of those things I mean are extra jurisdictional for you. We're we're talking about things that will happen within the city of Greenfield and within the towns. This is a right

this is not just legal jurisdictions. This is county line to county line. I'm just trying to find a way that this connects to our everyday lives on this bench like or on the up on so so I think that criteria is what we would want to hear about. Hey uh like the the adoption of the trails program. So we sometimes hear the trails program program recommended this or this. So I think those are the areas that I see within the larger document that direct our everyday lives that we would need if we're making a statement we would want to probably say we intend to be informed as the these criteria develop with overlay districts parks and wreck um trails plan and um any tourist attractions that would come before us. We wouldn't be funding that.

Sure. Okay. That's a obviously it's a forward-looking document but that's where we're going not where we've been. So,

and if you have noticed and you will soon be getting um an update from the last future Hancock implementation steering committee group, we are meeting, we are convening a group of um folks, staff and uh community members who were involved in the steering committee of the future Hancock comprehensive planning team. We have flipped that to implementation team. We meet on a quarterly basis and we report out on this and the quality of place plan has been mentioned in every single one of those quarterly reports that's emailed to you and the county commissioners. So we will continue the practice of con of keeping this group informed of any progress that is happening within the context of quality of place and they may be things that complement this plan. They may not be spelled out in this plan. There's a lot of things that have happened in the implementation of policy, safety, and promotion of the trails plan that was kind of the soft side for lack of a professional term from because I'm not a planner. But when the trails plan BFNS was hired way back in 2017 2018 to formalize and develop um a trails plan, Health by Design, Healthy by Design was a complimentary consultant that worked out well not only do you approve lines on a map, you approve how you will make sure that these trails are safe, how they will be promoted, how they will be branded, how they will be over many, many years enhanced. And so some of the quality of place plan that you have before you are exactly that. You know, they are suggestions. They are going to be modified. I'm sure as time

rolls on, they may be enhanced in ways that we can't today tell you what that would be. What's important is that you have two organizations who are committed to not letting the economic developments strategy which you approved as part of the future Hancock comprehensive plan sit on a shelf. We are working the plan. You gave us the authority to do that. And what you see before you is a product of working the plan that was approved when future Hancock comprehensive plan was approved. Does that help at all? Is is that it's a complimentary tool. It's a complimentary guide. Um, I think we recognize now that we probably should have positioned that as such in the first place. But I will tell you that because we wanted this to be done so well that we hired a professional firm in HWC Engineering that went about doing this work in a way that would allow it to be positioned for a formal approval. That's why we brought it to you the way we did. What we didn't necessarily anticipate is it might not be the right way to bring it forward and we appreciate the thought that you've given to this and and frankly I appreciate that we'll have more flexibility by having this document recognized um as a viable tool in the toolbox of moving forward as a community than as a formal board resolution that requires some additional legal um requirements. Um, I'm not I You guys know your job so much better than I know your job as a community foundation. Um, it didn't even occur to me until I made a phone call to find out from Caleb what

is there a a holdup? Is there a problem? because we thought we'd checked all the boxes and done all the right things to get it to the point where we could bring it to you in a way that HWC Engineering shared with us that this is the way you get things done. So here we are today recognizing the fact that what we really need from you is is a nod to um keep working, keep moving forward, keep convening as an as a county and as a as a collaborative group of people who care about Hancock County to be the best version we can be.

Can I chime in with some information? Um, I've read through the quality of place plan. It's beautiful. I mean, it it a lot of hard work went into that. So, it it does look nice. But, um, I just wanted to point out when it was originally brought here a couple months ago, I think the request was that it would be incorporated in with the comprehensive plan. And Kayla and I were on the phone today talking about this. Um there is set procedure in the Indiana code about amending the comprehensive plan. So you have to go through the same steps that you do when you create one for the very first time to amend the plan. I I'll just walk you through those steps. So first of all it's 3674500 series is what we're looking at the comprehensive plan. And then it says in section 511 that each amendment to the comprehensive plan must be approved according to the procedure set forth in the 500 series. And it says if the legislative body wants an amendment, it may direct the plan commission to prepare the amendment and submit it in the same manner as any other amendment to the comprehensive plan. The commission shall prepare and submit the amendment within 60 days after the formal written request by the legislative body. However, the legislative body may grant the commission an extension of time as specified duration in which to prepare and submit the amendment. I think that goes to the fact that the plan commission is a recommending body to the commissioners. So really this decision is in the hands of the commissioners where they want to go here. Um then assuming the commissioners provide some direction of what they want to do here. Let's say they did want to do an amendment to the comprehensive plan. One of the things you have to look at is jurisdiction because this plan commission only has jurisdiction over the unincorporated area of the county

and Spring Lake and Shirley. Uh the other cities that may be addressed in your quality of place plan, we don't have jurisdiction here. So there's a little bit of it doesn't quite mesh up correctly. Right, Randy? You're going to say something? I agree with everything you said. Okay. That's why when it came back around to me, it's like

no, that's not what we want to do. We just want all the jurisdictions that would be involved to give give us something more than just a thumbs up, but not a not a ratification because then you start the formalizing. It's like no, we don't want to disturb. This is a document that drives our work plan implementing the plan that's been adopted. So I don't let's not go all the way back to the top and repeat that cycle and and make this a formal document that's been adopted by this body because then we also have to go to the city planning commission and the town's planning commissions and do this whole thing. We don't want to do that. We want to we want a good housekeeping seal of approval that yeah when we adopted this and and the uh economic development strategy and you also approved that e uh quality of life is a valid economic development incentive. This puts meat on those bones.

Right? So section 505 of I'm going to read through the steps. One one thing that that section addresses is the plan commission. So, so then the process goes to the plan commission and the plan commission has to hold formal public hearings just like we did for this petition that was here today that requires notice in the newspaper and we give notice to the public that they can come. That's a little different than the notice you were given because this is a governmental entity. And so these are formal public hearings and um we're which is a little different than a um a nonprofit having a hearing or having a meeting where the public was welcome to attend. It's a little it's it's different because it's governmental. And then the plan commission may request from public or private officials information, documents, plans that have been prepared and that provide any information relating to the comp plan. So that might be a document that would be very helpful to the plan commission. And then in section 507, the notice under 531 in the 10day advant 10 days notice of the public hearing. And then after the public hearing, the plan commission may approve the amendment to the comp plan. If approved, the plan commission certifies that amendment to the participating legislative body, which would be the commissioners and then the councils of Shirley and Spring Lake. And then after certification, the commissioners adopt a resolution, which I think is what was asked for originally, approving, rejecting, or amending the amendment to the comp plan. Other legislative bodies such as Spring Lake and Shirley must also then approve and a copy of the amendment shall be on file with the county recorder. So basically to make this part of our comp plan as was first requested there's these procedural steps that we just have to follow. So I think now the question to the plan commissioner really to the commissioners since they're we're just a recommending body here to the

commissioners is how they want to use this document whether it becomes part of the comp plan and maybe parts of it does become part uh if they want to amend the comp plan or whether um if they incorporate it into and use it say as a guiding document or endorse it probably does need to go through some public hearing process. That's my recommendation. I can assure you that I do not have any desire to reopen the comprehensive planning process. So whatever whatever we can do on this side of that line is what I want to do. I would think at the very least public hearings

if if you're going to somehow endorse it or make it part because that way it could be used as um part of a a case. let's say that a lawsuit um that you've now accepted as one of your guiding documents um that you have to be very careful because then that becomes part of case law. So I think that's the question here tonight is you might want to just request make a motion to request um input from the commissioners to see how they want to proceed since you're a recommending body. Sounds fine to me.

Yeah. So these these documents I probably unfortunately unfairly treat them as um testimony I guess. I mean, if there's a case that comes like I'll, you know, like I look a lot to that uh urban land institute study that was done on not comfort road and I looked to the trails plan like we did tonight, you know, we looked at the trails plan for this reasonzoning and um so I kind of lumped this in with that and then all these other questions started coming up, you know, with it. Um, so I I just wanted to make sure that we were doing it correctly and then all these questions were coming up about is this forcing us to do things that cost money.

So I was like, well, we need to pay that some mind, you know, but and I don't think it says that specifically, but it could imply it. So I understand that. So, um, yeah, I think it's probably best to do. So how I guess that was my question. I never called Kayla, but um how did we address the trails plan was a it was like a recognition of the trails plan, I believe. I don't think that the commissioners took any action on the trails plan. I honestly don't know. Can you answer that? I don't know how that was. And the urban land institute plan. I think we just did that. I I question you when you you brought that up because

Urban Urban Land Institute came in when I started. Yeah. So I shepherded that. I don't know that that got any formal recognition or adoption by anybody. But out of that then came the Mount Comfort Corridor plan which did become something. It did. Right. So, uh, I guess I'm treating this more like the Urban Land Institute report, which may well create other things down the road, but I don't know. Is the Mount Comfort Corridor instructional for us an official overlay district that we can reference? I don't I think we've run into that issue in the past. Question one, trails plan. Okay,

that did come here and it was then sent to the board of commissioners where it was adopted by resolution resolution as an update to the comprehensive plan. So they went through all the process um with as far as I know because that was before your So I don't think they did everything you just went through there though was a concern. So that was I guess my question is would they do a resolution or would they do an I'm happy to provide that resolution to you guys and you can look over everything it says that and who knows some some of it may have been retroactively for all if it was me involved it probably would have had to have been done retroactively to button everything up

but um the other one mount comfort corridor plan uh is referenced in our uh comprehensive plan as a regional uh basically ically I think it's called a sub regional uh plan and it it states in the area over that corridor or that area of the county that the Mount Comfort corridor plan actually overrides the comprehensive plan future land use map. So if I'm in that area I actually close my book there and I open up the Mount Comfort corridor plan instead. I just know I think I given all the information and everything and this being more or less of a legal document here, I I think that the whole thing needs to come before the commissioners and give them input to to see which direction we want to go with this. Uh that's uh because I mean I'm I read the letter and all that kind of stuff, but I just don't know what it's going to obligate the commissioners to. So that's that's more than anything. I hate to I hate to hold it up, but I think that that's where we need to really start.

Well, and I I appreciate that. I don't feel like you're holding anything up. I mean, like I said, I've already hired staff and we're working on these things. We just want to Yeah. Do go do that. I mean, there's a lot of work. I I would like to have the other commissioner's input on this. Sure. I mean, Bill's been doing this a lot longer than I have, and he's he's had more input to it than I have also, but at the same time, and Janine was there also. I I I just think that it needs to go between before them and our attorney also. Okay.

No, but I'm not objecting to it. I'm just saying I I want to cover all our bases. And and that's why I wanted to be here because it's like, well, I feel like that I thought it was going to look like this, then all of a sudden all this other chatter started. It's like, well, let's, you know, let's tamp that down. And if it's a presentation and I get three thumbs up, like I said, we're going to do the we want to do the things that are in the plan that's already within our province. We just want to make sure that we haven't gone rogue that that we're that we are living out and working out the comp plan that was adopted in the economic development strategy that

you see where we want to go and the things we want to see happen and the things we want to foster in the county and that that you're on board with that is this makes sense to you guys. Is this in furtherance? And it might well be that

we we start at the top and work our way down. We go to the board of commissioners and they handle that however they want to. It could be very well be that I think we were talking about how they came up with the trails plan originally. I think this a subcommittee was created Kayla if you correct me if I'm wrong that a subcommittee was created by the plan commission then to go through all the public steps of holding the hearings and getting input so that that could be formally adopted as part of the county um guidance um and part of the comp plan. So that may be something the commissioners want to take want the plan commission to take on. But before they do that, it probably would be best to check with them and kind of get some and I would I would suggest the 21st of October meeting.

I was going to say I'll get on the agenda just to say where we are and then make it if there want a formal presentation or whatever else even have the consultants we can figure that all out but okay happy to come to you guys. I make one more note. I I we're not in a place right now where some of the items in this even big document um will become criteria for us but the potential is there. So I think the guiding document the guidance here is should include when these things are mature enough they need to go through the statutory approval process in order to make sure we're in our criteria. We can't take this alone. Is that is it necessary Lacy if it's not adopted as part by board resolution as part of the comprehensive plan

or or resolution?

I think that's the question and why we are reconsidering the approach. I will I will tell you that as I mentioned earlier, HWC Engineering in partnership with us did go through all the steps and and I'd be happy to have them come in and present to the county commissioners if that would we posted a public notice for the last public meeting. Um so we did all of the things. We checked off all of the boxes so that there was an anticipation that this would be adopted as part of the comprehensive plan. At this point, we want to do the work. We want to celebrate the fact that we have done something that's a chapter of the economic development strategy. If you look at that document that I sent you on the page that I sent you, HCCF is now CFHC. HCCF was named to lead this effort and we did that in partnership with HDC and at our own expense, but went through all of the steps so that we could get to the point where if it were the will of this body and the county commissioners that it be adopted as a formal document, it could be. I would suggest to you as we talk through this and as we hear you and your concerns and that of the county commissioners with whom I have spoken to a couple, our desire to move forward as two organizations who recognize quality of place as essential not only to enhance and enrich life here in Hancock County for people, those who live here, but for us to attract people to come to live here. We will move forward as part of our own work plans that we have adopted. I have a strategic plan with a whole chapter called embrace our place. We've been convening the same people that were at

the table for this since 2012 in an effort called celebrating communities. Lacy, you may remember that you were on the board of directors. We've been doing this work a long time. And that's why Mike Higgby came to the foundation after talking to Randy and said, "You know, you guys have been in this space for a long time. Your entire mission is to enrich and enhance life in Hancock County. We use philanthropy as our major mechanism. Rarely will you see us come to you. Our job is to convene and to catalyze and to fund when we can and to position the community in a way that governing bodies have the opportunity to take advantage of that by having healthy plans in place. So I question again which is why we're here. We we've modified the original proposal that we asked Kayla to bring because it was part of the plan. It was part of the boxes you check off when you're working with a professional team like HWC Engineering. But we just want to be able to move forward. We want to pull a community in a way that we're all working towards the same vision and not in pockets here, there, and everywhere. Um, it's really the only way we're truly going to stimulate economic development in Hancock County.

So, the only thing I'm just going to reinforce, you asked me, is it required? our our attorneys will tell you approval, but if you're going to update the trails plan or you're gonna update any overlays or create new ones, we have to have a mechanism and a resolution to do that. That's all that that's all this document we can't rely upon to make those types of decisions to tell a developer and a PUD you got the trails plan is

I would agree with that and that's why we're not asking for that. I would agree. I've learned a lot. I've learned a lot and I think Randy knew some of these things and we just really had to sit down when the question marks started popping up to have a conversation and he said you know we probably shouldn't have moved forward with it in the way that we did but but there may be things in your quality of place plan that we do want to make have the force of law where we do want to hold people accountable. So, it's important that they have this discussion with the commissioners because you may have found some really good pieces that we that they do want to incorporate into their comprehensive plan and hold people absolutely accountable where it's not just advisory or it's not just like a great idea or great suggestion that we can actually hold, you know, make it hold people accountable. So,

I would I would be curious on what that would look like and I would encourage our county commissioners to think about things that they want to hold to law. If that indeed is the case, if there are things in there that you see that you say, "Yep, we're going to hold somebody legally accountable to an element of this plan," then I would welcome what that might look like. Changes to the trails plan and overlay districts. I think that's top of my list. Say that one more time. changes to the trails plan and overlay districts. That would be that's the that's how we make decisions right now. That so those are the types I think that's the the guidance would be as these things mature they're properly handled through our normal process. That's all.

Yeah. Thank you Lacy. Thanks everyone. We appreciate your time. Just uh get on the the agenda that way. I'll be in town and the meeting say it's probably not going to be the seventh. So did Pardon me. It probably won't be the seventh. There there's there there's a lot going on in that meeting. First look. Okay. Not to drag this out any, but did did Renee hap did Renee Oldm happen to contact either of you the two of you this week with her comments?

Not No. Okay. Because she was on the steering committee, right? I mean, she was. But anyway, she she's not here tonight, but she sent me an email. she had um and I'll just mention just uh so that you see she put a lot a lot of thought into this uh item on the agenda this evening, but um she liked the term recognize that was used at the very beginning of the second paragraph. Um and then I think that her concerns were kind of um echoing what we were getting from the like the the council members and the commissioners. proposed implementation of timelines and future projects and those were the types of terminologies that were I think catching people's attention that are we locking ourselves into things or whatever. So I think that she was she was going to propose maybe the statement that you have the three paragraphs and maybe condense some of that maybe I I don't know. So maybe she can kind of connect with

when the first draft of this came out you know the and saw some of the language and I thought it was a little too uh uh a little legalistic like you say timelines and and building capacity to do these things. It's like I'm not going to tell governmental units they need to hire three people for the parks department or something. That's ridiculous.

We're trying to make do what we can to drive the efforts to make all of Hancock County a place where people want to live. the amenities. These are the things that are the forte of the community foundation because I use that does when companies I have a site visit here in the next couple weeks a really nice company. They want to know about what what the county's like. They want to talk to the school super. They want to hear about education. They they know where the roads are. They know we're close to 465, but they want to know what what's Hancock County bringing to the table here. Not talking dollars and cents. So quality of place is a big part of what I sell.

Mhm. And so, uh, that's that's incumbent upon that's a part of what we do to make it that's why when I first read the first draft, I thought, no, no, that's and I they've softened some of those, made it more recommendations as opposed to timelines and uh because I thought that it just felt a little it felt a little demanding first draft and thought we tamped that down, but apparently there were still concerns that maybe it well, it spidered out a little bit from where we wanted it to go.

Yeah. And I think I mean Rene's comes from that world as well. Um just like Erica does. And so I think she just wanted to put in some suggestions on this statement, I guess. So she'll she'll she'll probably contact you this week. So that's right. Well, uh see you on the 21st. Thank you. Thanks. We don't need to take any action if they're just going to get on the commissioner's agenda or do should we make a recommendation that we or request request direction from the commissioners?

Make a motion to um inquire with the commissioners. I don't know if you want staff to do that or have Gary take the message back to commissioners uh to as to how they'd wish to proceed and whether uh they want an amendment to the comp plan or just how they would like us to proceed. Taylor, you did copy the other two commissioners, didn't you, on this or did you? they were on the initial e I I want to say it was I I I but I don't I've not we've not had a chance to be together to actually even discuss it. So that's why that's why I was kind of a bit leerary about it but uh yeah I I suggest it be recommended that we look at it.

So all right thanks thank you. So are you are you good to just take that message to the commissioner? I'll get a hold of it. That's right.

I'll take care of it. Okay. All right. That's good stuff. Um, [Applause] all right. Item number four is the Shirley interlocal agreement draft revisions update. I don't have anything new on this topic. Um Rhonda and I just spoke earlier and Wendell, please let me know if this is not correct, but we just talked about how um and I believe I've talked to Teresa once about this already. Teresa uh and and I and also uh Rhonda and Shirley's attorney probably just need to have a little Zoom call and figure out how we need to move forward with interlocal agreement language as well as any other language in Shirley'stown code that might be problematic. One more thing that I might want to mention since this has been around 20 years

probably. I don't know. There's just been some change in population distribution within the county. And on the BZA in particular, we have about 3% of our total population represented by two of the five members. It's a super weird outcome of the interlocal that we might want to look at. Only three. I mean, we're making decisions that are maybe not representative of our of our population base is I mean gerrymandering in the but not not purposely is all an outcome of the interlocal agreement. Well, that's a statutory thing. Correct. Yes.

The BCA or or even here wherever it is. I think as a function of our interlocal agreements, um we just should look at how we're representing our our population. I believe the only alternative to that would be the communities involved in our area plan commission branching off and creating their own plan commissions. What is the the membership of the BCA is statutory? Yes. Yes. The interlocal has nothing to do.

I don't think that the statute uh anticipated um the size of Spring Lake. I mean, it's basically a neighborhood, right? I mean, it's like that's why it's so skewed, but um the the but I think that the reason that it I'm I could make peace with it after you didn't commented about it is that they vote for the same council and commissioners. You know, I was just going to say the same thing. Yeah, they are county residents, too. So, so as long as the interlocals don't affect any membership.

Okay. I think in the interlocal we were talking about membership but it's only in relation to the statutory members not a springy interest the interlocal is simply an an agreement and a recognition between the town of Shirley and Hancock County Planning Department. Got it. What responsibilities we cover in their community and what and how that interacts. Mhm.

The strange thing about it, I believe it's BCA, we have to follow statute to the tea. Under plane commission, there is a provision in the statute that allows you to create your own makeup of plan commission. And somewhere back in the 90s, that's what we decided to do. We found that out kind of when we were going through the process of making sure we had all of our members appointed in the right terms. That that way back that's what our county did. So, um, remember recently we added two more members and we made this a nine member board. We used to have seven and so we did make some modifications to that that ordinance and but that's but that is in that ordinance and not in the interlocal.

Okay, that's all I have on that topic. I I3 reszone. All right, now we get into the good stuff. Um, so I, uh, just introducing this topic tonight. Um, but back in 2022, uh, this site, uh, which is located near 500 West and 300 North. I'll pull it up on the computer here so it Okay. Yep. Here we go. Um, so you see we're at Yeah. 300 North and 500 West. Louder Cemetery is located right here on the corner. We don't see it, but

I'm so sorry I don't have my computer plugged in. Next to I7 south of Fre. I know where you're at, but just letting you know we don't. Yeah. And there's the audience. Come on. Don't see anything. Oh, am I hooked up to PC? You guys see my computer? high tech. Nope, it's blank. I don't even have what they have. Hey, that one's coming. Oh, that one went off this list. Oh, there it is. It is on both sides now. Okay, good. All right, so this shows the area that we're talking about. We

still got a strip of houses along 300 North in front here. And then uh on 300 north uh and then along um the east side

east side, thank you, is a teel truck enterprise or transport enterprise leasing and that stretches all the way between 300 north and I7. Um and then there's some lowland uh north and west of the I3 site. And also there's a few little um I think maybe just one residence still existing on uh this stretch. Um we also had some issues last year if you'll remember with I believe there was a um a deceased person found on 500 West in an abandoned house um and some condition issues back there. The fire department took care of those and used the houses as uh training grounds and ultimately burnt the houses. So that's those are gone now on these two parcels just that are outlined in yellow uh north of that field. But okay, anyway, getting into it. So these were reszoned from agricultural to industrial business park back in 2022. Um that came with a fair number of commitments and namely we're just talking about the ones with a C over them here. So let mehead and clear that all out. There we go. All right. And I can refer to those ordinances to double check that information, but they came with a commitment that uh an economic development agreement had to be agreed upon and certain actions had to be accomplished um within 720 days of December 2nd.

What was it?

7th, 2022. that dated to about November 24th, 2024. Um, residents reached out and asked, "Hey, the this is expired. This EDA is expired." And there was a zoning commitment attached to it that said if they don't accomplish this, it needs to be reszoned back to agriculture. Well, guess where we are? Uh, we are in late, you know, at this point, late 2025. That site is still more or less as it stood, not developed. no roundabouts been built at there at the intersection like was agreed upon. Um and so there's uh there's some motion to kind of want to reszone this back to agriculture since that project did not follow through. Um and this would basically put the control back in the hands of the county then when a project does or if it does um when and if they would like to reszone to some other zoning category. Uh that that is uh promising. So um

Kayla, one thing they they did meet the conditions for for the So it wasn't like an automatic resone. Mhm. So now here we are where they met the conditions I believe is what we determined. So, we're in this kind of limbo now where should it be reszoned back because it's not it's not an automatic reszone back at this point. Right. The question was that uh were they responsible to do it or were we?

I don't think the language in the commitment said anything about they had to they were required to petition for the reszone. We've seen that language in some other commitments, but I don't think it was in this. Okay. So, we can do that on our own. We can reszone that. You would just start as a reszone. You'd have to take into consideration whether you want to go that route and we can talk about that offline, but um if if um you want to reszone it, but not because it they didn't meet their mark because I think they met the two criteria. They did apply for the tax abatement and they did I'd have to look at their commitment which I don't have in front of me right now. Can I read it real quick?

Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

County. So, one of the conditions um I'll just go ahead and and read the uh this how this all read played out. So, um, the ordinance 22-d being one of one of two of them, uh, read that, um, so this parcel is hereby zoned from a to IBP, Industrial Business Park, um, and is conditioned upon the following. A, the following types of land uses shall not be permitted. Parking lot structures out as a primary use, outdoor boat, RV storage, lumber yard, and mini warehouse self- storage. B. The intersection at County Road 500 West and County Road 300 North shall be improved to the satisfaction of the county highway engineer to include a roadway that will be reconstructed to the width of two 15t wide travel lanes with two foot shoulders um increasing the width of the road. The roadway shall include a culde-sac turnaround at the south end of the public ride ofway. The total ride ofway width shall be 80 ft wide. A single lane roundabout will be constructed at the intersection of North County Road 500 West and West County Road 300 North and an additional additional improvements as may be required by the highway engineer upon further review. And C, county approval of an economic development agreement and tax abatement approved from county council related to the subject properties. If this condition is not satisfied on or before May 1st, 2023, then the zoning of the subject property shall revert back to a agricultural. If we look through the notes, we'll see that an economic development agreement was reached on December 6th of 2022 and that an expiration date was attached

to that in minutes of the board of commissioners that 720 days which got us to 2024. And that's where we're determining that it kind of expired and nothing happened. But because it's not clear if that conversion from or that reversion back to egg is automatic or not, that's where the safest bet is to follow our own zoning ordinance, which states that for any property in the county, there are three ways to reszone. First, the owner petitions to do so. Second, a group of neighbors, I think more than 50% of the people in the area that they're trying to reszone petition us to reszone. Or third, the board of commissioners or the plan commission begins this process and says, "Hey, we need to reszone this." And so the safe way here is that latter where the board of commissioners or this body says, "Hey, I3 didn't do what they said they were going to do. This is well expired. To honor the intent of the initial zoning ordinance, we should consider reszoning this back to egg." That's the point we're at. So, this is really up to this body, the board of commissioners, um, to determine how we proceed. Um, I have reached out to I3, but it's been, it was not very long ago, just to let you know. So, I'm still trying to let them know where we're at with this. Um, so this is not an official uh, public hearing by any means. This is just introducing this item as something that is up for discussion. And uh I'm looking for you guys to direct me how to move forward.

One one question. Is the reversion specific to subsection C only or subsections A, B, and C of the condition. A paragraph onto its own or is it subsection C only? It gives A, B, and C. There's no ands or ors. Does that help? Let me bring you the paperwork. I'm just trying to see if I mean, yes, we got the economic, but I don't think any of the department highway department improvements were made. That means all three of those subsections were required. Yeah. For revision. Yeah. That's what I was wondering. Yeah. Approval. This condition. Okay. See is this condition.

I for my notes I have both ordinance contain ordinances contain the language contain the same language that the revision is contingent on two actions happening. one action by the commissioners to approve the EDA and action by the and two action by the council to approve the tax abatement and I believe those two things happened so it would be coming to us next month is that what is that what you're saying you want if motion that

motion I I think we would need a motion to instruct staff to begin the process for proper notice to uh revert the zoning um to act. Is that your motion? Second. All right. It's been moved and seconded to um which part of C I have a question. Go ahead. Which part of C did they not meet? I know there's a tax abatement, but nothing was done so they don't get nothing. I mean, right. And then has the EA been violated or not proved right? I read it.

Well, they they don't get I mean, they don't do it in EDA unless something money is made somewhere. I know how you do that. So, I mean, does it matter that I mean, at that point, well, it says county approval of an economic development agreement and tax abatement approved from related to the subject properties. If this this condition, which would be not satisfied, honor before revert. So I think that's an automatic reversion. The way I'm reading it is that the other

that's how I'd read it. I mean essentially the landowner could come in and remmonstrate against it, right? And try to prove us wrong. So, okay. All right. Any more discussion on the motion? All right. It's been moved and seconded to um direct the staff to begin the resoning process. All those in favor signify by saying I I oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. Thank you. That was the last item on my list. Scott post. We got a chorus going on. If

we hadn't had our technology issues, we'd have been done before 8. Yep. See you.