- to order the meeting of the Elstville Board of Zoning Appeals for Wednesday, May 13, 2026. Pat, would
- you do this in the Pledge of Allegiance? Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
- and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
- All right, roll call, please. David, you're ready? Here. Travis Conyer. Pat Wesolowski. Here.
- Kayla Plummer. Here. Matt Seibolt. Okay, the next item on our agenda is approval of the minutes from
- our meeting on March 11, 2026. So moved. Second? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.
- Does anyone have a conflict of interest that I need to state in regards to our business this evening?
- We have no business, new business petition for use variances to allow a crematory and a floodplain overlay
- district and in a commercial one zone district. And also a variance from development standards to allow
- vendors to be displayed for six months
- application is well to be fine Street, just a chance for your home. This number is the 26th. The only
- I want to agenda this evening is a petition by Chandler funeral home for a variance from development
- standards to allow a temporary banner to be displayed for 6 months and use variances to allow crematory
- and a floodplain overlay district.
- and in a commercial one zoning district. The subject parcel is located at 102 East Fine Street and is
- zone commercial one neighborhood commercial. We'll start with the variance from development standards.
- The petitioner is celebrating 50 years of business this year. Petitioner would like to hang
- banner celebrating this milestone for six months. According to the unified development ordinance, banners
- are considered temporary signs
- and can only be up for 30 consecutive days, no more than four times a year. Now I'll get into the use
- variances. Crematory is in a floodplain overlay district. According to the UDO, the floodplain overlay
- district is provided for the purpose of establishing standards for the use
- of land in those areas designated by federal state regulators and flood hazard areas, which is a case
- for 102 East Fine Street. Crematories are prohibited in a floodplain overlay district. In this instance,
- however, the crematory will be installed in an existing structure. Petitioner is not seeking to add
- a new structure or an addition to an existing structure.
- The existing structure is located approximately 155 feet from the main building of the business. The
- cremation equipment will not be permanently affixed inside the building. The equipment weighs 15,500
- pounds and temporary anchors will secure it to the floor as a safety precaution. Subject parcel is .22
- acres or 9,583 square feet.
- Petitioner will be required to register the crematorium with the State Board of Funeral and Cemetery
- Service and obtain the proper permitting from the town of Ellisville. Second use variance, crematory
- and commercial one neighborhood zoning district. Crematory and commercial one zoning district is not
- allowed by right. Crematory services are a natural extension of the funeral home operations and are
- directly connected to the services already provided on the property.
- Allowing the crematory adjacent to the funeral home permits the business to provide complete end-of-life
- service at a single location. Reuse of an existing building is consistent with efficient land use. The
- parcels surrounding the subject parcel on the east, west, and south are zone commercial one. Parcels
- to the north are zone industrial one and are owned by the town of Ellitsville. Crematories are permitted
- in industrial one zoning by special exception.
- When the zoning map is amended later this year, the zoning on the town of Ellisville parcels will be
- changed from industrial one. Responsible zoning does not tolerate spot zoning of industrial one surrounded
- by commercial one. It would also hinder redevelopment efforts if it was rezoned to industrial one and
- the petitioner later sold, it left the screen, and later sold
- the parcel, the industrial one zoning would remain in place. And I'll remind you of variance once granted
- runs with the property no matter who owns it. So we'll review the criteria for decisions and taking
- action on all variance requests, the board of zoning appeals shall use the following decision criteria.
- Number one, general welfare, the approval of the special exception and variances from development standards
- will not be injurious to the public health safety morals and general welfare of the community. Staff
- finding for both the use variances and variance from development standards, approval would not cause
- any significant problems in relation to public health and safety. Number two, adjacent property,
- The use or value of the area adjacent to the property included in the variance will not be affected
- in a substantially adverse manner. Staff finding, the use and development standard variances will not
- affect adjacent properties in a substantially adverse manner. The use variances will allow the petitioner
- to utilize a building for equipment that will enhance their business. The development standard variance
- will not affect surrounding properties in an adverse manner.
- as it allows a business to celebrate a milestone of 50 years in business. Number three, practical difficulty.
- The strict application of the terms of the zoning ordinance will result in practical difficulties in
- the use of the property. Staff finding the proposed use variances are necessary due to the requirements
- of the commercial one zoning district in the UDO. As stated earlier, subject parcel zone commercial one
- The parcels surrounding it, east, west, and south, are zoned commercial one. The parcel to the north
- are zoned industrial one and are owned by town Ellsville and that zoning will change later this year.
- Crematories are permitted in industrial one zoning by special exception and town Ellsville does not
- want industrial one zoning surrounded by commercial one. Number four, compliance with comprehensive plan.
- The variance request is substantially in compliance with the existing comprehensive plan. Staff finding
- the use variances comply with mixed use commercial land use as outlined in the comprehensive plan. Small
- scale commercial is a primary use in a designated mixed use commercial area. Five, financial hardship.
- The need for the variance does not arise from some condition peculiar to the property involved.
- While the current status of the property does not result in a financial hardship for the petitioner,
- it will do so if the crematory is not permitted to operate at the proposed location they invested in
- approximately 15 years ago. The ability to utilize the existing building for the proposed crematory
- operation may reduce the economic vitality of the property and limit reasonable business opportunities
- associated with the funeral service industry.
- Number six, and the last criteria, compliance with other town codes. The variance request is substantially
- in compliance with other town codes. The property is currently in compliance with all town codes. The
- Board of Zoning Appeals action shall be in the form of approval, approval with conditions, denial, or
- a continuance. The Board of Zoning Appeals takes final action on all variance petitions. Staff recommendation,
- Use and development standard variances are authorized when a particular use is appropriate for the zoning
- district it is in. The purpose of a variance is to provide relief in situations where the land or other
- condition offers resistance to meaning a particular zoning regulation through no fault of the occupant
- of the land. Therefore, based on the above analysis, is staff opinion that the use variances
- crematory in a floodplain overlay district and crematory in a commercial one neighborhood commercial
- zoning district and a variance from development standards to allow temporary banners for six months
- meet all requirements and therefore staff recommends approval of the variance request. The board may
- approve variance as if after testimony and discussion it finds that the request meet all six of the
- criteria I read above.
- If the board denies the variances, it shall state which requirements have not been met. And I would
- ask that you make a separate motion for each variance request, please. So on the GIS, the zoning map
- does show commercial two, but when we redid the land use map in September of 2024, we did away with
- the C3 zoning district.
- and all those became C2s and then all commercial two zoning districts became commercial one. So it will
- show up on the GIS as C2, but it's actually commercial one. And that's all I have and petitioner is
- here if you have any questions. And I'll show you the, so this is the surrounding zoning. You see C2
- on all sides.
- except the north which is industrial and it's town parcels. We wanna do some things in that area so
- industrial one is just not appropriate zoning. And let's see. This is aerial view. This is a building
- and the parcel the crematorium will set in. And so there is the gentleman who will be installing
- The crematorium is here if you have any questions. I'll show you the pictures of it. And as I stated,
- it weighs 15,500 pounds. So that's it for me. So I don't really have any questions about the crematorium
- and the building's already there. I don't recall in seeing that area flood
- years that I can remember. Well, we also did flood mitigation behind it. Right. But as far as the signs
- go, do we know, or banners, do we know what type, how big, how many, anything like that? I think there's
- either one or a couple, if you'd like to come up and explain it, to go on the main building. Wrong way.
- We already have a banner up that was approved for 30 days. And I don't have the exact dimensions, but
- it's on the building now. It's where we hold the farmers market. So it's just one banner? There'll be
- another one, but it'll be on the entrance side of our building. And it's smaller than that one. And
- I don't think it will be for six months. It would probably be for a shorter time period, probably four
- months total.
- And they're very high-quality banners. They get ratted toward anything that they're cutting down. But
- it's to celebrate our 50th anniversary here now, so. While you're there, I don't really know much about
- crematories. I assume they don't spew noxious gases into the surrounding area? There's no smoke ink
- like you would think. The only thing you really see
- is the vent stack, which is kind of there in that photo. It goes up through the ceiling of the garage
- and will come out through the roof. You'll just see kind of the heat signature, just like you would
- off your car in the summer or off the pavement. You won't hear anything. It sounds like a air conditioner
- running in your home. That's all it sounds like. So it's not going to disturb neighbors. There's no odors.
- Jake here with the crematory company can kind of go into more detail with you on that. But there's not
- going to be any kind of visible things that people will even notice. Are there any other crematoriums
- in and around Bloomington already? There are three. There's one at the Holloman Re-Gardens. There's
- one at South Central Indiana, which is down by Allen Funeral Road. And there is another at the funeral
- chapel there by Long.
- I've never heard of any problems with any of those. What about odor? No odor. No odor. So Ron has advised
- the crematorium will be used strictly for their business. They won't, that's correct, right? Yes, we
- won't allow other funeral homes. That's kind of what we're doing now with what we contract with another
- funeral home. We're losing a substantial amount of money that can stay in the community. It's leaving
- the community. It's not staying here and now let's go where GL can
- use that money to better our business, to better our community here. It allows us more control to keep
- the families within everything that the North Indians do. You asked about flooding, David. The last
- time that property flooded was 2013. That garage, along with the funeral home, the funeral hadn't had
- more water in it than that garage did. But that was before the mitigation. After the mitigation, there
- has not been any
- water just gets into the main street, and it doesn't even go down past, too much past the funeral and
- stuff. So that's how it's driven this way. And with, I think, the construction of the bridge, I think
- that we can help more. But from what I understand, talking to Jake, there are several crematories across
- the country that are within floodplains, and it does not affect their operations. It doesn't damage
- the equipment unless it's completely covered. You can see how tall that is.
- We're all going to be in trouble if it gets that high. I hope that never happens. But you can kind of
- see a little electrical panel there on the right-hand side of the electrical box. That is mostly what
- it is. And he explained to me that if it does get water inside, that they raise the temperature 100
- degrees an hour until it dries out. The inside of these are made out of brick. They're a fire brick inside.
- So it's not metal inside, it's a fire mine with a fire break. And that's how, so water really won't
- damage it, even if it does. And like she said, it weighs 15,000 pounds. So that building's pretty safe,
- it's concrete block and so on. So, yeah. Okay, does anybody have any more? Yeah, I got some questions.
- Does the DNR have to okay this? So what you're doing tonight is giving him
- the authority to do this. So then he and I have been working on a construction and floodway permit for
- the town. And then the determination from that permit will dictate whether or not DNR has to also provide
- a permit. And that's why it not being permanently attached to the building is such an important item.
- Another question I have is this building? Are they going to have any markings on this building? No.
- It looked just like it does today. The only exception is the garage door on the left-hand side or the
- east side will be one foot taller than the other garage door and the bedside.
- So they will also be required to get a building permit for any modifications that they need as well.
- Because then the other thing is the flags for 50 years. I think six months is kind of drastic. I will
- say that was
- me to give them as much opportunity as they needed. Their tremendous help to Ellisville and we just
- wanted to make sure they had every opportunity they needed to celebrate that. August is actually our
- anniversary. We opened in August of 1976 so that's why we're kind of looking
- Well, six months, people kind of go by and don't even see it after a while in their minds.
- You know that, well, as I do. That was just kind of a hiding spot, so. Because of that, I have no questions.
- OK. OK, anybody else have any more questions? No questions here. Is there any public comment? God, everybody
- jumped at once.
- Okay. Well, seeing that, I will make a motion that we approve the variance to allow banners at 102 East
- Vine Street, case number as requested in case number BZA 26-4. Did you want to put a limit on it or
- do you want to go for the whole six months or do you want to go for something else? Can I make a correction
- to that? The banners are on the funeral home, which would be 203 East.
- Okay, the variance for the crematory is 102. So there's just that. I don't know if that's a legal thing
- that you'll have to do. No, I just didn't mention it. It was so minor compared to what else you want.
- So thank you, though, as long as they're going to be not gigantic. I'm okay with six months as long as we're
- We understand if somebody else wants the same thing, we might have to give it to them. But I'm okay
- with that. It sounded like they weren't necessarily gonna use the whole six months. How many banners
- are you gonna have? Just the two. Two? Just two. One is up right now. That's on one side of the building,
- the other one is on the other. Because he could have a permit for 30 days, and he went ahead and got
- one. I'll second it. Okay, roll call, please.
- David Drake? Yes, I almost said here. Pat Wesolowski? Yes. Caleb Plummer? Yes. Thank you. Okay, motion
- carries. I will also make a motion that we approve allowing the crematory in the floodplain overlay
- district as stated in case number BZA-26-4. I'll second. Okay, we have a motion and a second, roll call.
- David Drake? Yes. Pat Wesolowski? Yes. Kayla Plummer? Yes. Motion carries. The next item on our agenda
- is- Well- Oh, go ahead. I need three motions. Oh, we need another one? Yeah, crematory and a commercial
- one, neighborhood commercial zoning district. Okay, I'll make a motion to approve the crematory and
- the commercial one zoning district. I will second that. And roll call again, please.
- David Drake? Yes. Pat Weslowski? Yes. Caleb Plummer? Yes. Thank you. Okay, that's it. You know, David,
- if we usually get a free something free, but I don't think we want one here. No. Okay. No, we don't
- get free anything. I thought, did he just say this on TV?
- planning department update next meeting is June 10th and you will be having a meeting we'll have new
- business we do mm-hmm I think it's gonna be a couple cases okay is there anyone in the public that wants
- to comment on anything any from the body from the board that wants to comment on anything seeing none
- we're adjourned