WEBVTT 00:00:02.274 --> 00:00:10.505 - to order the meeting of the Elstville Board of Zoning Appeals for Wednesday, May 13, 2026. Pat, would 00:00:10.505 --> 00:00:19.058 - you do this in the Pledge of Allegiance? Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America 00:00:19.058 --> 00:00:27.934 - and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 00:00:31.906 --> 00:00:40.640 - All right, roll call, please. David, you're ready? Here. Travis Conyer. Pat Wesolowski. Here. 00:00:40.640 --> 00:00:50.024 - Kayla Plummer. Here. Matt Seibolt. Okay, the next item on our agenda is approval of the minutes from 00:00:50.024 --> 00:00:59.966 - our meeting on March 11, 2026. So moved. Second? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. 00:01:00.386 --> 00:01:08.526 - Does anyone have a conflict of interest that I need to state in regards to our business this evening? 00:01:08.526 --> 00:01:17.066 - We have no business, new business petition for use variances to allow a crematory and a floodplain overlay 00:01:17.066 --> 00:01:25.366 - district and in a commercial one zone district. And also a variance from development standards to allow 00:01:25.366 --> 00:01:28.478 - vendors to be displayed for six months 00:01:29.282 --> 00:01:37.517 - application is well to be fine Street, just a chance for your home. This number is the 26th. The only 00:01:37.517 --> 00:01:45.672 - I want to agenda this evening is a petition by Chandler funeral home for a variance from development 00:01:45.672 --> 00:01:54.068 - standards to allow a temporary banner to be displayed for 6 months and use variances to allow crematory 00:01:54.068 --> 00:01:56.894 - and a floodplain overlay district. 00:01:57.346 --> 00:02:04.189 - and in a commercial one zoning district. The subject parcel is located at 102 East Fine Street and is 00:02:04.189 --> 00:02:11.099 - zone commercial one neighborhood commercial. We'll start with the variance from development standards. 00:02:11.099 --> 00:02:17.271 - The petitioner is celebrating 50 years of business this year. Petitioner would like to hang 00:02:17.271 --> 00:02:24.382 - banner celebrating this milestone for six months. According to the unified development ordinance, banners 00:02:24.382 --> 00:02:26.462 - are considered temporary signs 00:02:26.914 --> 00:02:34.863 - and can only be up for 30 consecutive days, no more than four times a year. Now I'll get into the use 00:02:34.863 --> 00:02:42.889 - variances. Crematory is in a floodplain overlay district. According to the UDO, the floodplain overlay 00:02:42.889 --> 00:02:48.734 - district is provided for the purpose of establishing standards for the use 00:02:49.506 --> 00:02:56.759 - of land in those areas designated by federal state regulators and flood hazard areas, which is a case 00:02:56.759 --> 00:03:04.226 - for 102 East Fine Street. Crematories are prohibited in a floodplain overlay district. In this instance, 00:03:04.226 --> 00:03:11.337 - however, the crematory will be installed in an existing structure. Petitioner is not seeking to add 00:03:11.337 --> 00:03:15.390 - a new structure or an addition to an existing structure. 00:03:16.066 --> 00:03:24.111 - The existing structure is located approximately 155 feet from the main building of the business. The 00:03:24.111 --> 00:03:32.156 - cremation equipment will not be permanently affixed inside the building. The equipment weighs 15,500 00:03:32.156 --> 00:03:40.360 - pounds and temporary anchors will secure it to the floor as a safety precaution. Subject parcel is .22 00:03:40.360 --> 00:03:42.590 - acres or 9,583 square feet. 00:03:43.426 --> 00:03:49.718 - Petitioner will be required to register the crematorium with the State Board of Funeral and Cemetery 00:03:49.718 --> 00:03:56.010 - Service and obtain the proper permitting from the town of Ellisville. Second use variance, crematory 00:03:56.010 --> 00:04:02.302 - and commercial one neighborhood zoning district. Crematory and commercial one zoning district is not 00:04:02.302 --> 00:04:08.532 - allowed by right. Crematory services are a natural extension of the funeral home operations and are 00:04:08.532 --> 00:04:12.830 - directly connected to the services already provided on the property. 00:04:13.570 --> 00:04:20.362 - Allowing the crematory adjacent to the funeral home permits the business to provide complete end-of-life 00:04:20.362 --> 00:04:27.025 - service at a single location. Reuse of an existing building is consistent with efficient land use. The 00:04:27.025 --> 00:04:33.558 - parcels surrounding the subject parcel on the east, west, and south are zone commercial one. Parcels 00:04:33.558 --> 00:04:40.350 - to the north are zone industrial one and are owned by the town of Ellitsville. Crematories are permitted 00:04:40.350 --> 00:04:43.390 - in industrial one zoning by special exception. 00:04:44.034 --> 00:04:52.174 - When the zoning map is amended later this year, the zoning on the town of Ellisville parcels will be 00:04:52.174 --> 00:05:00.797 - changed from industrial one. Responsible zoning does not tolerate spot zoning of industrial one surrounded 00:05:00.797 --> 00:05:09.017 - by commercial one. It would also hinder redevelopment efforts if it was rezoned to industrial one and 00:05:09.017 --> 00:05:14.014 - the petitioner later sold, it left the screen, and later sold 00:05:14.626 --> 00:05:23.466 - the parcel, the industrial one zoning would remain in place. And I'll remind you of variance once granted 00:05:23.466 --> 00:05:31.805 - runs with the property no matter who owns it. So we'll review the criteria for decisions and taking 00:05:31.805 --> 00:05:40.478 - action on all variance requests, the board of zoning appeals shall use the following decision criteria. 00:05:41.602 --> 00:05:48.063 - Number one, general welfare, the approval of the special exception and variances from development standards 00:05:48.063 --> 00:05:54.105 - will not be injurious to the public health safety morals and general welfare of the community. Staff 00:05:54.105 --> 00:06:00.147 - finding for both the use variances and variance from development standards, approval would not cause 00:06:00.147 --> 00:06:05.950 - any significant problems in relation to public health and safety. Number two, adjacent property, 00:06:06.626 --> 00:06:12.599 - The use or value of the area adjacent to the property included in the variance will not be affected 00:06:12.599 --> 00:06:18.691 - in a substantially adverse manner. Staff finding, the use and development standard variances will not 00:06:18.691 --> 00:06:25.023 - affect adjacent properties in a substantially adverse manner. The use variances will allow the petitioner 00:06:25.023 --> 00:06:31.235 - to utilize a building for equipment that will enhance their business. The development standard variance 00:06:31.235 --> 00:06:34.878 - will not affect surrounding properties in an adverse manner. 00:06:35.202 --> 00:06:42.577 - as it allows a business to celebrate a milestone of 50 years in business. Number three, practical difficulty. 00:06:42.577 --> 00:06:49.349 - The strict application of the terms of the zoning ordinance will result in practical difficulties in 00:06:49.349 --> 00:06:56.321 - the use of the property. Staff finding the proposed use variances are necessary due to the requirements 00:06:56.321 --> 00:07:03.294 - of the commercial one zoning district in the UDO. As stated earlier, subject parcel zone commercial one 00:07:03.618 --> 00:07:10.800 - The parcels surrounding it, east, west, and south, are zoned commercial one. The parcel to the north 00:07:10.800 --> 00:07:18.053 - are zoned industrial one and are owned by town Ellsville and that zoning will change later this year. 00:07:18.053 --> 00:07:25.164 - Crematories are permitted in industrial one zoning by special exception and town Ellsville does not 00:07:25.164 --> 00:07:32.702 - want industrial one zoning surrounded by commercial one. Number four, compliance with comprehensive plan. 00:07:33.058 --> 00:07:39.770 - The variance request is substantially in compliance with the existing comprehensive plan. Staff finding 00:07:39.770 --> 00:07:46.547 - the use variances comply with mixed use commercial land use as outlined in the comprehensive plan. Small 00:07:46.547 --> 00:07:53.194 - scale commercial is a primary use in a designated mixed use commercial area. Five, financial hardship. 00:07:53.194 --> 00:07:59.390 - The need for the variance does not arise from some condition peculiar to the property involved. 00:08:00.546 --> 00:08:07.210 - While the current status of the property does not result in a financial hardship for the petitioner, 00:08:07.210 --> 00:08:13.874 - it will do so if the crematory is not permitted to operate at the proposed location they invested in 00:08:13.874 --> 00:08:20.471 - approximately 15 years ago. The ability to utilize the existing building for the proposed crematory 00:08:20.471 --> 00:08:27.267 - operation may reduce the economic vitality of the property and limit reasonable business opportunities 00:08:27.267 --> 00:08:30.302 - associated with the funeral service industry. 00:08:30.914 --> 00:08:38.353 - Number six, and the last criteria, compliance with other town codes. The variance request is substantially 00:08:38.353 --> 00:08:45.445 - in compliance with other town codes. The property is currently in compliance with all town codes. The 00:08:45.445 --> 00:08:52.537 - Board of Zoning Appeals action shall be in the form of approval, approval with conditions, denial, or 00:08:52.537 --> 00:09:00.254 - a continuance. The Board of Zoning Appeals takes final action on all variance petitions. Staff recommendation, 00:09:01.090 --> 00:09:07.681 - Use and development standard variances are authorized when a particular use is appropriate for the zoning 00:09:07.681 --> 00:09:14.147 - district it is in. The purpose of a variance is to provide relief in situations where the land or other 00:09:14.147 --> 00:09:20.552 - condition offers resistance to meaning a particular zoning regulation through no fault of the occupant 00:09:20.552 --> 00:09:26.334 - of the land. Therefore, based on the above analysis, is staff opinion that the use variances 00:09:26.882 --> 00:09:33.117 - crematory in a floodplain overlay district and crematory in a commercial one neighborhood commercial 00:09:33.117 --> 00:09:39.290 - zoning district and a variance from development standards to allow temporary banners for six months 00:09:39.290 --> 00:09:45.525 - meet all requirements and therefore staff recommends approval of the variance request. The board may 00:09:45.525 --> 00:09:51.698 - approve variance as if after testimony and discussion it finds that the request meet all six of the 00:09:51.698 --> 00:09:53.118 - criteria I read above. 00:09:53.698 --> 00:10:02.893 - If the board denies the variances, it shall state which requirements have not been met. And I would 00:10:02.893 --> 00:10:12.180 - ask that you make a separate motion for each variance request, please. So on the GIS, the zoning map 00:10:12.180 --> 00:10:21.375 - does show commercial two, but when we redid the land use map in September of 2024, we did away with 00:10:21.375 --> 00:10:23.582 - the C3 zoning district. 00:10:24.226 --> 00:10:33.677 - and all those became C2s and then all commercial two zoning districts became commercial one. So it will 00:10:33.677 --> 00:10:42.764 - show up on the GIS as C2, but it's actually commercial one. And that's all I have and petitioner is 00:10:42.764 --> 00:10:51.942 - here if you have any questions. And I'll show you the, so this is the surrounding zoning. You see C2 00:10:51.942 --> 00:10:53.214 - on all sides. 00:10:53.698 --> 00:11:02.943 - except the north which is industrial and it's town parcels. We wanna do some things in that area so 00:11:02.943 --> 00:11:12.374 - industrial one is just not appropriate zoning. And let's see. This is aerial view. This is a building 00:11:12.374 --> 00:11:21.342 - and the parcel the crematorium will set in. And so there is the gentleman who will be installing 00:11:22.050 --> 00:11:32.257 - The crematorium is here if you have any questions. I'll show you the pictures of it. And as I stated, 00:11:32.257 --> 00:11:42.765 - it weighs 15,500 pounds. So that's it for me. So I don't really have any questions about the crematorium 00:11:42.765 --> 00:11:50.270 - and the building's already there. I don't recall in seeing that area flood 00:11:51.266 --> 00:12:01.196 - years that I can remember. Well, we also did flood mitigation behind it. Right. But as far as the signs 00:12:01.196 --> 00:12:11.220 - go, do we know, or banners, do we know what type, how big, how many, anything like that? I think there's 00:12:11.220 --> 00:12:21.150 - either one or a couple, if you'd like to come up and explain it, to go on the main building. Wrong way. 00:12:21.474 --> 00:12:28.583 - We already have a banner up that was approved for 30 days. And I don't have the exact dimensions, but 00:12:28.583 --> 00:12:35.691 - it's on the building now. It's where we hold the farmers market. So it's just one banner? There'll be 00:12:35.691 --> 00:12:42.660 - another one, but it'll be on the entrance side of our building. And it's smaller than that one. And 00:12:42.660 --> 00:12:49.838 - I don't think it will be for six months. It would probably be for a shorter time period, probably four 00:12:49.838 --> 00:12:50.814 - months total. 00:12:51.266 --> 00:12:59.625 - And they're very high-quality banners. They get ratted toward anything that they're cutting down. But 00:12:59.625 --> 00:13:08.149 - it's to celebrate our 50th anniversary here now, so. While you're there, I don't really know much about 00:13:08.149 --> 00:13:16.344 - crematories. I assume they don't spew noxious gases into the surrounding area? There's no smoke ink 00:13:16.344 --> 00:13:20.606 - like you would think. The only thing you really see 00:13:21.058 --> 00:13:27.514 - is the vent stack, which is kind of there in that photo. It goes up through the ceiling of the garage 00:13:27.514 --> 00:13:33.844 - and will come out through the roof. You'll just see kind of the heat signature, just like you would 00:13:33.844 --> 00:13:40.553 - off your car in the summer or off the pavement. You won't hear anything. It sounds like a air conditioner 00:13:40.553 --> 00:13:47.326 - running in your home. That's all it sounds like. So it's not going to disturb neighbors. There's no odors. 00:13:47.650 --> 00:13:54.808 - Jake here with the crematory company can kind of go into more detail with you on that. But there's not 00:13:54.808 --> 00:14:01.897 - going to be any kind of visible things that people will even notice. Are there any other crematoriums 00:14:01.897 --> 00:14:08.847 - in and around Bloomington already? There are three. There's one at the Holloman Re-Gardens. There's 00:14:08.847 --> 00:14:16.005 - one at South Central Indiana, which is down by Allen Funeral Road. And there is another at the funeral 00:14:16.005 --> 00:14:17.534 - chapel there by Long. 00:14:17.730 --> 00:14:24.351 - I've never heard of any problems with any of those. What about odor? No odor. No odor. So Ron has advised 00:14:24.351 --> 00:14:30.659 - the crematorium will be used strictly for their business. They won't, that's correct, right? Yes, we 00:14:30.659 --> 00:14:37.155 - won't allow other funeral homes. That's kind of what we're doing now with what we contract with another 00:14:37.155 --> 00:14:43.525 - funeral home. We're losing a substantial amount of money that can stay in the community. It's leaving 00:14:43.525 --> 00:14:47.710 - the community. It's not staying here and now let's go where GL can 00:14:48.194 --> 00:14:55.235 - use that money to better our business, to better our community here. It allows us more control to keep 00:14:55.235 --> 00:15:02.071 - the families within everything that the North Indians do. You asked about flooding, David. The last 00:15:02.071 --> 00:15:09.043 - time that property flooded was 2013. That garage, along with the funeral home, the funeral hadn't had 00:15:09.043 --> 00:15:16.084 - more water in it than that garage did. But that was before the mitigation. After the mitigation, there 00:15:16.084 --> 00:15:17.246 - has not been any 00:15:18.466 --> 00:15:24.771 - water just gets into the main street, and it doesn't even go down past, too much past the funeral and 00:15:24.771 --> 00:15:31.076 - stuff. So that's how it's driven this way. And with, I think, the construction of the bridge, I think 00:15:31.076 --> 00:15:37.567 - that we can help more. But from what I understand, talking to Jake, there are several crematories across 00:15:37.567 --> 00:15:43.748 - the country that are within floodplains, and it does not affect their operations. It doesn't damage 00:15:43.748 --> 00:15:48.446 - the equipment unless it's completely covered. You can see how tall that is. 00:15:49.794 --> 00:15:57.169 - We're all going to be in trouble if it gets that high. I hope that never happens. But you can kind of 00:15:57.169 --> 00:16:04.543 - see a little electrical panel there on the right-hand side of the electrical box. That is mostly what 00:16:04.543 --> 00:16:11.773 - it is. And he explained to me that if it does get water inside, that they raise the temperature 100 00:16:11.773 --> 00:16:19.582 - degrees an hour until it dries out. The inside of these are made out of brick. They're a fire brick inside. 00:16:19.874 --> 00:16:27.672 - So it's not metal inside, it's a fire mine with a fire break. And that's how, so water really won't 00:16:27.672 --> 00:16:35.782 - damage it, even if it does. And like she said, it weighs 15,000 pounds. So that building's pretty safe, 00:16:35.782 --> 00:16:43.814 - it's concrete block and so on. So, yeah. Okay, does anybody have any more? Yeah, I got some questions. 00:16:43.814 --> 00:16:49.662 - Does the DNR have to okay this? So what you're doing tonight is giving him 00:16:50.114 --> 00:16:59.715 - the authority to do this. So then he and I have been working on a construction and floodway permit for 00:16:59.715 --> 00:17:09.595 - the town. And then the determination from that permit will dictate whether or not DNR has to also provide 00:17:09.595 --> 00:17:19.102 - a permit. And that's why it not being permanently attached to the building is such an important item. 00:17:19.426 --> 00:17:27.242 - Another question I have is this building? Are they going to have any markings on this building? No. 00:17:27.242 --> 00:17:35.214 - It looked just like it does today. The only exception is the garage door on the left-hand side or the 00:17:35.214 --> 00:17:41.310 - east side will be one foot taller than the other garage door and the bedside. 00:17:47.842 --> 00:18:01.082 - So they will also be required to get a building permit for any modifications that they need as well. 00:18:01.082 --> 00:18:14.454 - Because then the other thing is the flags for 50 years. I think six months is kind of drastic. I will 00:18:14.454 --> 00:18:16.158 - say that was 00:18:16.610 --> 00:18:25.380 - me to give them as much opportunity as they needed. Their tremendous help to Ellisville and we just 00:18:25.380 --> 00:18:34.237 - wanted to make sure they had every opportunity they needed to celebrate that. August is actually our 00:18:34.237 --> 00:18:40.990 - anniversary. We opened in August of 1976 so that's why we're kind of looking 00:18:44.514 --> 00:18:51.860 - Well, six months, people kind of go by and don't even see it after a while in their minds. 00:18:51.860 --> 00:19:00.659 - You know that, well, as I do. That was just kind of a hiding spot, so. Because of that, I have no questions. 00:19:00.659 --> 00:19:09.458 - OK. OK, anybody else have any more questions? No questions here. Is there any public comment? God, everybody 00:19:09.458 --> 00:19:10.750 - jumped at once. 00:19:14.082 --> 00:19:21.736 - Okay. Well, seeing that, I will make a motion that we approve the variance to allow banners at 102 East 00:19:21.736 --> 00:19:29.096 - Vine Street, case number as requested in case number BZA 26-4. Did you want to put a limit on it or 00:19:29.096 --> 00:19:37.045 - do you want to go for the whole six months or do you want to go for something else? Can I make a correction 00:19:37.045 --> 00:19:42.270 - to that? The banners are on the funeral home, which would be 203 East. 00:19:42.914 --> 00:19:51.470 - Okay, the variance for the crematory is 102. So there's just that. I don't know if that's a legal thing 00:19:51.470 --> 00:19:59.862 - that you'll have to do. No, I just didn't mention it. It was so minor compared to what else you want. 00:19:59.862 --> 00:20:08.830 - 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 00:20:09.410 --> 00:20:15.344 - We understand if somebody else wants the same thing, we might have to give it to them. But I'm okay 00:20:15.344 --> 00:20:21.337 - with that. It sounded like they weren't necessarily gonna use the whole six months. How many banners 00:20:21.337 --> 00:20:27.627 - are you gonna have? Just the two. Two? Just two. One is up right now. That's on one side of the building, 00:20:27.627 --> 00:20:33.620 - the other one is on the other. Because he could have a permit for 30 days, and he went ahead and got 00:20:33.620 --> 00:20:36.350 - one. I'll second it. Okay, roll call, please. 00:20:39.298 --> 00:20:49.013 - David Drake? Yes, I almost said here. Pat Wesolowski? Yes. Caleb Plummer? Yes. Thank you. Okay, motion 00:20:49.013 --> 00:20:58.446 - carries. I will also make a motion that we approve allowing the crematory in the floodplain overlay 00:20:58.446 --> 00:21:08.350 - district as stated in case number BZA-26-4. I'll second. Okay, we have a motion and a second, roll call. 00:21:09.346 --> 00:21:17.198 - David Drake? Yes. Pat Wesolowski? Yes. Kayla Plummer? Yes. Motion carries. The next item on our agenda 00:21:17.198 --> 00:21:25.127 - is- Well- Oh, go ahead. I need three motions. Oh, we need another one? Yeah, crematory and a commercial 00:21:25.127 --> 00:21:32.750 - one, neighborhood commercial zoning district. Okay, I'll make a motion to approve the crematory and 00:21:32.750 --> 00:21:39.230 - the commercial one zoning district. I will second that. And roll call again, please. 00:21:41.858 --> 00:21:53.045 - David Drake? Yes. Pat Weslowski? Yes. Caleb Plummer? Yes. Thank you. Okay, that's it. You know, David, 00:21:53.045 --> 00:22:03.906 - if we usually get a free something free, but I don't think we want one here. No. Okay. No, we don't 00:22:03.906 --> 00:22:10.206 - get free anything. I thought, did he just say this on TV? 00:22:13.442 --> 00:22:21.152 - planning department update next meeting is June 10th and you will be having a meeting we'll have new 00:22:21.152 --> 00:22:29.167 - business we do mm-hmm I think it's gonna be a couple cases okay is there anyone in the public that wants 00:22:29.167 --> 00:22:36.953 - to comment on anything any from the body from the board that wants to comment on anything seeing none 00:22:36.953 --> 00:22:38.174 - we're adjourned