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