It is Thursday, October 22nd, 2026, and I'd like to call to order this meeting at the Monroe County
Board of Commissioners. I will know for the record that Commissioner Madura and myself are here and
present in the NatU Hill Room. We'll begin with our public statement. We, the Monroe County Board of
Commissioners, renew our commitment to welcome and protect the rights of all people, regardless of age,
race, color,
the right of every person to live peacefully and without fear. And we will fight and resist at every
step discrimination and harmful policies, whatever their source. We believe in diversity, equity, inclusion
and belonging, and we stand in
And with that, we will move on to our department updates. We'll start with the health department, please.
Good morning, commissioners. Morning. And I wanted to thank the commissioners publicly for the ARPA
funds that we had that allowed us to
as a public health department to partner with homeowners and with the contractors to complete 35 septic
updates in our community. It's significant and it is a protection for all of us. In addition, I would
once again invite everyone to please go and get yourselves vaccinated. There is a lot of common cold
currently, and we don't have, I wish we had a vaccine against that, but no, we have a lot of children
passing around a lot of colds to a lot of families who are passing it on to all of us. In addition,
flu is certainly on the uprise, and as I may have mentioned before, it is currently way
beyond what we expected in the past for this time of year. So please go get yourselves vaccinated. COVID
is not really rearing its head yet, but we do expect it to find its way up from South America and to
bring us a new version. And we don't know quite what that will mean. So that's also important. We know
that as of January 1st, there are going to be new food truck
regulations in this state given to us by the legislators, but of course not ironed out. So public health
departments across the state have been trying to iron out what that's going to mean and particularly
what it's going to mean to our public because there aren't very clear guidelines. It's simply about
making sure that all of the trucks are
licensed but they're licensed once no matter where they are serving. We don't know what it's going to
be like for our county or any other county to try and keep track of all of it and what it's going to
mean in terms of finances because regulating that number of trucks coming into our community when we're
not getting anything in return is going to make things more
I see in the long run. And last, our DIS folks have evening hours now with open doors so that anyone
with sexually transmitted diseases of whatever kind can be seen even in those what might be considered
off hours. So if you have questions about HIV, hepatitis,
or any other sexually transmitted diseases, please get yourselves checked. That's it. Thank you so much.
Great. Thank you so much. You have any questions? No, I'm just horrified. A new strain of COVID coming
from South America. Yeah. And thank you for the food truck regulation updates. I had not known about
that at all. You're most welcome. Thank you all. Thank you. OK. Any other department updates for us today?
public comment. Please raise your hand on teams or come up to the podium. Seeing none. We'll move on
to the next item, which is public comment. This is time to hear from the public for items that are not
on the agenda. We ask each speaker to limit their time to three minutes. Each and to provide your
It looks like we have one in the NatU Hill Room, but if anyone online wishes to participate in public
comment, please raise your hand and we will call on you. Good morning, Mr. M.G. Good morning, commissioners.
This is Christopher M.G. And on behalf of the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce, I want to just
address some of the challenges that our current health department is facing. This is personal to me
as well. I work in the community, raise my family here, and I've
to make Monroe County a little bit better place to live. So, you know, we take pride in our education,
our innovation, public services, and we look out for one another. We should probably expect more from
our health department, not because of politics, but because of who we are in this community. The Chamber
isn't here to take sides on personnel matters. We believe government should be measured by the services
it delivers and the results it achieves. So consider what's happened in that department, our public
health department,
planning clinic closed, costing us federal funding. We've had to seek assistance from another county
to provide vaccinations. Other health public programs have been paused while staffing shortage of strain
communicable disease investigations. And these are essential services our residents depend on. So we
ask county leadership, the Board of Health, what are we delivering today and what can we restore?
Are we effectively using the funding, the staff, our facilities available to us? Are we attracting and
retaining qualified professionals? What's the plan and how can we measure progress? You know, many of
us remember the health department under Penny Caudill's leadership. We know what this department is
capable of. We're not asking for a new standard. We're asking for the county to restore a standard our
community once expected.
We have the talent, we have the resources and the commitment to make the Health Department a model of
effective local government again. The Chamber wants results and we're ready to be part of that solution.
I thank you. Thank you so much. Anyone else have any public comments to offer on Teams? You can raise
your hand.
Okay. Seeing none. Let me get back to my agenda. We will move on to our next item, please, for the minutes.
Yes, I would like to move to approve the minutes for October 8th, 2026. Second. Any comments, corrections,
or edits? I have none. All right. Seeing none, all those in favor of approving the minutes for October
8th, 2026, signify by saying aye.
motion carries two zero uh next item please yes i'd like to move to approve the claims docket for accounts
payable for october 22nd 2026 and for payroll for october 16th 2026 second and we have miss guyardo
joining us good morning good morning the accounts payable claims docker for october 22nd 2026 totals
12 million 363 thousand 26 doubt 26 dollars and 29 cents or
$1,596. I'm sorry. This includes all emergency claims and adjustments. The payroll docket for October
16th, 2026 includes $1,597,208.51 indirect costs, and the remaining $671,860.17 were for indirect costs
for a grand total of $2,269,068.68.
All right. Thank you so much. Comments, questions? No. All right. I don't have any either. Let's see
if there's any public comment on this item. You can raise your hand on Teams or come to the podium.
See none. All those in favor of approving the claim stock and accounts payable October 22nd, 2026 and
payroll for October 16th, 2026 signify by saying aye.
I motion carries to zero. We did receive a report from the Treasurer's Office and that report is dated
September 2026. For our new business, TSD, I'd like to be made a presenter and I'd like to share my
screen. Please. We have Dr. Margaret Clements joining us.
to provide information on a housing data study that she has completed. And hopefully here I will be
able to share my screen. If you give me one moment.
we go? Well, first of all, I'd like to thank you for having me here today to share with you something
that's been an ongoing concern of mine since I joined the Plan Commission in 2018, and that is to know
exactly where we stand from a data perspective, a reliable, replicable data perspective
on housing inventory in Bloomington, Ellitsville, and Monroe County. And as I look around the room this
morning, I see so many people who are engaged in our community, who are civic leaders, and I want to
thank you all for your hard and consistent work, because we all are the people who bring the vision
and the hopes of our community members and our taxpayers to fruition. So thank you all for your service,
and thank you for your dedication
to the community. So with that being said, when I joined the Plan Commission, if you move to the next
slide, in 2018, I have served several roles as in the Plan Commission and on the Board of Zoning Appeals,
various times and many times serving as president. And in order to do my work, I was surprised to find out
that there was no consistent database against which to measure claims made by various constituencies
about our housing need. So in about 2019, I created an inventory of all the projects that were being
built and that were under construction.
that had been approved by the planned commissions of the various constituencies like the city of Bloomington,
Monroe County, and the town of Ellitsville, and I created that inventory so that we could test claims,
claims like those made by the city of Bloomington. If you could move to the next slide. And the city
of Bloomington, it turns out, is kind of a consistent source of
that the area needed 12,225 units by the year 2040. And that claim was replicated and cited in various
other studies that have been repeated on several occasions through the Bloomington Economic Development
Corporation, through the Regional Opportunities Initiative, and also through the Indiana Business Research
Development Center. So that 12,225 units
that we may agree with, may have changed, or we may disagree with. So there are conflicting conclusions
about our housing needs.
believe that we have overbuilt. And most of the studies have been retrospective. There's no shared system
between the Monroe County Building Department, the Monroe County Planning Department, and the town of
Ellitsville. But it should be noted that the Monroe County Building Department is the permitting authority
for the city of Bloomington and for the unincorporated area of
Monroe County. So one of the goals of my report was to describe the housing landscape between 2016.
You can move the slide to 2020.
six and to integrate what's under construction or planned and not just what is built and to standardize
data definitions across the jurisdictions and to inform planning zoning and density decisions with shared
facts. So the primary sources for this inventory were the permitting data and especially occupancy permits
from the Monroe County Building Department. And where there were conflicts in reports, there was aerial
imagery and address databases that were cross-checked because a large apartment complex, like for example,
at Atlas, can undergo many different changes in name, many different changes in address as the streets
and the roads are developed and their plans itself may change. So,
Every single multifamily housing unit was analyzed for how many actual units that they built. And this
is not a per bedroom count because that is not a standardized unit of measure that's comparable across
the jurisdictions or even wider beyond Bloomington. One thing that we have to consider with any database is that
We basically have a second population layered on the residential population and that is the student
population and at this moment the student population in the city city of bloomington exceeds that of
the residential population in the city of bloomington And we are one of the largest if not the largest
of cities in our class with
student population relative to resident population. And why does this matter? It matters because we
are under the possibility that we're going to be converting to an income tax-based system, and that
population, by definition, earns very little income. So the average median age
in Bloomington is 24.9 nationwide, it's like 34 years old. So our population in the city of Bloomington
replicates and validates that asserted fact that the student population exceeds the residential population
in the city of Bloomington. So if we, I think we move to the next slide. Here in this room,
We have so many good people and yet among us we have kind of a divided vision for what our community
should become. There are those especially in the city who have argued and pursued a path of higher density
in almost all cases across the city of Bloomington and wish to extend that into the county.
unincorporated area of Monroe County has asserted their preference for remaining rural and to not join
the city of Bloomington. And in fact, the annexation response showed that a super majority of people
were opposed to joining the city of Bloomington. And while five of those annexation areas remain under
review by the Supreme Court, by and large,
the population has stated their wish that they would like to remain unincorporated from the city of
Bloomington. The town of Ellitsville is a bedroom community, as you know, but what I find surprising
is that 88% of the properties are owner occupied. And so a lot of people move to Ellitsville to pursue
a lifestyle that they're finding increasingly difficult to find in the city of Bloomington.
So if we turn to the next slide, you know, remember at the beginning of this, I said that the city of
Bloomington had asserted that 12,225 units were needed by the year 2040.
between 2016 and 2026, 11,227 units had already been built. Now that's an under count. There's another
500 unit apartment building I didn't include in this study because I wasn't sure exactly what date the
occupancy permit was issued and subsequently I found that it would be included in this date range. And
there's also the town of Ellitsville information that we,
that we do not have. So I think we're in a position where we have exceeded what has been estimated we
need for a good long time. Now, what I would like to move on to in the next slide
is that there's a lot in the pipeline. We have 2,153 units under construction. They'll probably go online
in 2026 and 2027. We have 5,301 units that have been approved but not built. And we have 915 units that
are discussed under review, under deliberation, under processes of possible approval.
and have been the subject of newspaper articles. So that's a total of 19,596 units that are completed
underway or in the pipeline since 2016. More than four times the housing activity, most of the retrospective
reports from the City of Bloomington, the Regional Opportunities Initiative had asserted. So, you know,
This basically says that we have met what we asserted that we needed. I think the problem that we face
as a community, which is on the next slide, is that we still have not, despite all of this expense and
despite all of this construction, despite all of this change in our community's landscape, we don't
have a shared vision. It doesn't resolve what kind of jobs we have,
how many jobs are coming online. Before I came here today, I looked at the U.S. Department of Labor
Statistics, and I'm shocked, and I can't believe my eyes, but they said we lost 4,100 jobs in September
2026. We know we're losing jobs. We see it in the newspaper article 400 here, 800 there, 200 in other
place. The Monroe County School Corporation is laying off teachers, and yet the U.S. Department
of labor statistics says we lost 4,100 jobs in September 2026. So I think it's really imperative that
we come together as a community, that we work together to make Bloomington the place that we hope it
can be, that we can help to be a part in realizing the aspirations of our community members, and that
we can help them live better
lives. But back to the data inventory, this data does not resolve whether or not we have jobs, whether
or not we have infrastructure, if we don't know the prices of the units and we can't really know that,
we can't really dictate affordability, and we don't necessarily have information on
exactly how many units of what type do we need. Student housing is governed by Indiana University. If
it's enrollment restricted, it is governed by Indiana University and it is subject to the Board of Trustees.
But the student commercial apartment complexes are not. So we have to just understand what we're doing,
where we're going, and what shape
we want our community to be and with our planning departments and our building departments and people
like us in this room. We have to sit down and envision how to make our community better so that we can
all get on that same page. Now,
I don't really want to have to do this housing inventory again. So I have turned it over to the planning
department and I've created a prototype of what that data inventory should look like and how it should
be maintained and how it should be updated. So I recommend that we formalize data sharing between the
Monroe County Building Department, the Monroe County Planning Department, and the town of Ellitsville
that we set a standard
Update cycle. I recommend quarterly that we track absorption. We try to figure out how many units are
vacant and also how many how long a house is on
For sale on the market, you know because those figures are down as well and We need to close that Ellisville
gap in data sharing and if we if possible we should add price size and location to this data inventory
and We've already resolved the last item and that is to publish the data set because the Planning Department
has published
that and it's accessible for people, but it's a clean data set. Duplicates have been removed and they've
been validated. So with that, I'd just like to thank you. I'd like to thank everyone and I'd like everyone
to try to keep up the good work and try to come together a little bit more. So thank you. Thank you
so much. We really appreciate that.
questions. Let's see. We might need you back up if there are questions. Um, yep. Sorry. Do you have
any questions? Um. No. Um and I just had a question like what action are we taking today? Um we can
accept the report. Which
housing report presented today. Can we defer that until after the meeting tonight? I mean, we could,
but it doesn't change anything. The meeting tonight is about the CDO and it's the state mandated meeting,
which I'm going to talk about it at the end here. So it's not really connected except that
this report is part of it already. It's already in the packet. So whether we accept it today or next
week won't change that. So it's up to you. I have, I guess I have one question. What data do you contemplate
including in the future? Well, it would be, so for a building that is constructed, I recommend going
off the building departments
occupancy permit data. They issue permits and then they finalize it with an occupancy permit. So when
something is under construction, it would not have an occupancy permit. But when it goes online, it
has an occupancy permit. So what is built and ready for occupancy is in what is reported separately
from that that is currently under construction.
Now, as far as what has been approved, we go off of commissioner minutes, and we go off of plan commission
minutes, and we go off of city council minutes. Now, as far as what is deliberated and discussed, that's
just kind of out there, and it can change. For example, in my report, there are 11 units at North Dunn,
across from the IU football stadium, and a single family home
was going to be converted into 11 separate lots or separate units, and somebody purchased that home.
So it will remain a single-family home. So this is an interactive data set with incoming information
all the time, and that's why it's important to maintain it quarterly. So let's just say that 4,250 unit units
development at the summit district off of Weimar Road that that's the old Sudbury farm that if those
plans change we would update this record but right now it's planned in four phases and the first phase
is 1,000 units and that's already reflected in this report of what is about to be built and then there
are PUDs that are scattered across the county and we have sometimes
This is really surprising to me that here we are in the 21st century. You know, we didn't know that
these PUDs were laying out there and suddenly you've got a big huge development that comes online that
in somebody's backyard and it causes a lot of consternation. So, you know, I think that that's a different
question that needs to be reviewed. But we should at least know about them so that we don't consider
I don't know, we just better know about them if we're gonna do our job as planners, you know,
that's all. So I put them in there, they're approved BUDs, they haven't expired. There are others that
are not expired but that were not included in this report because there was a notation that they may
expire. So I don't know. So I don't know if that answers your question or not. Yeah, I think, thank
you so much. Sure, thank you. Thank you.
I think that I would say, from my perspective, it's premature to adopt this report. I think need is
measured by prices, vacancy, cost burden, overcrowding, and community. I think the report doesn't analyze
these factors. I think it concedes it doesn't analyze affordability, waging, or housing type, which
are the core questions in shortage studies.
I think it does count units built and compares them with older projects. And I think so it counts some
things that's offered as a correction to studies that say that Monroe County needs more housing, but
to succeed in that objective, it would have to actually show that housing demand is satisfied. And I'm
not sure that it shows that. To show that, it would have to incorporate more data about the demand side,
like MLS, et cetera.
question about when that sort of data could be incorporated. I would like to note that any housing that
is restricted by income or age or student enrollment is annotated. Now, the state legislature has rules
against us dictating prices, and I think that the job would be impossible to do that, to annotate prices,
because they're individual
It almost would be like anti-monopoly. It would be monopolistic sharing of price fixing that I don't
necessarily want to get involved with that. So I think that if it's possible in the future, that Monroe
County Apartment Association and the, I mean, I'm hearing different things from
renters across the community, for example, that even though they may have been given an incentive to
sign, they're being charged fees for renewal and the fee structures are getting pretty creative. So,
you know, there are a lot of questions on the table as far as prices are concerned and I think that
that's a very, that would be a
maybe a year or two worth of work to do. So, yeah. I think one of the things to keep in mind is that
this is just a count of units. That's all it says it is, and that's all it does. I do think that it
raises questions, as you note and as you've noted, Dr. Clements, about the importance of understanding wages
the job market, which seems to really be softening quite a bit locally for a number of reasons. And
to that alone, comparing those two things alone would be a big help. The issue that we continue to run
across is we have developers who come with petitions, as you know, before the Planning Commission, and they say,
you know, we don't have enough of this kind of housing. And now we can say, well, we have this many
units and, you know, there's 40 more coming online next year that are already planned and approved.
And so we can do the counts. And that's all we've needed, really, I think.
the economic development side in the community needs to really focus on these other elements. And there
are a lot of people who will come to me and say, I cannot believe how many student apartments there
are around town. I know. But we don't control that. That's the city. And the city even has a student
housing zone.
but they can't get the numbers. They cannot get the numbers in terms of vacancies. It's not something
you can get. You cannot get vacancy numbers because that impacts their ability to market. We can get
rental rates, but it's very gray because of those fees and the other things that may get
added on that we're not even going to be able to start to calculate. So I think that the economic development
side in our community should do what they can to figure out the vacancy rate in those student apartments
because it seems like if we have a shortage of housing, the question is what kind of housing are we
short on and what do people want? And I think this prompts
some sort of a really good community survey in the near future about that, about housing specifically
and desires for different types of housing. But all this is is account and we've not had this. So thank
you for providing this work. Yes, thank you. You're welcome. And I would just like to state that when
many of these student apartment complex
came online, they were, when they came before the plan commission of the city, they were touted as workforce
housing and affordable housing. So it's just interesting how things change. And the good news is we
have an 18% increase in enrollment, that's good. So, yeah.
Okay. Yeah. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Um, yeah. And, and I would, and I would note as well that, um,
when developers come to the planning commission, they often will say things like, well, we can build
houses and they'll be starting point 250,000. Well, that sounds good because that's a good price range
for people who are just entering the housing market. But when they're built, we find that they're often
that they're going to be able to advertise that a much higher price. Um and there's nothing we can do
about that. Absolutely nothing. We can't hold them to a certain price point. And the other thing is,
is it costs a certain amount to build a house? It anything a house, an apartment building anything it
costs a certain amount of money in terms of land, utilities,
cheaper housing is possible, although I still hope that we can have a tiny home community here somewhere,
but that we need to be more focused on the wage side to ensure that people can afford what can be produced
here based on the cost. Or that this is the idea they have for their own lives. And so every lot that
is not developed one way
May be developed another way so that their exclusionary choices and are we making the right ones from
a planning perspective and that's You know the goal of my understanding the inventory landscape for
serving as a citizen appointee to the Plan Commission and the Board of Zoning Appeals and the ordinance
committee and
you know, you know, you know, all of that, you know. So thank you very much. If there any other questions,
feel free to contact me privately or by phone. I think my numbers out there. Um and I'd be glad to talk
with you more about it. Thank you so much. We really appreciate it. Um. So um, so my motion failed for
one of a second. Um so I guess we will just
approval for the amendment to the MOU with the financial solutions group funds named county general
fund number 1000 in the amount of not to exceed $34,000. I will second that. Ms Turner King. Good morning.
Good morning. So the request before the commissioners today is to approve an amendment to the contract
or MOU between the county council and financial solutions group. The amendment does three specific things. One,
it's not the end of the year. It expands the scope of services provided by FSG to include services being
provided to the municipal unit strategic task force must, which happens to be meeting on Friday. It
increases the not the shall not exceed amount to $6000. So with the amendment, the new shall not exceed
amount is 34,000 and extends the term of the
any questions or comments? No, I think this is pretty straightforward. And so this will give us sorry.
So that that cost then runs through the end of twenty twenty seven. Correct. OK. OK. All right.
Thank you. All right. Let's see if there is any
public comment on this item. You can raise your hand on teams or come to the podium. Seeing none, all
those in favor of approving the amendment to the MOU with financial solutions group signify by saying
aye. Aye. Motion carries two zero. Thank you. Thank you so much. Next item please.
I'd like to move approval for the donation of the Jackson Creek Park from the Monroe County Parks and
Recreation Board. Second. Oh, she brings gifts. Good morning, Ms. Whitmer. Good morning. Justin from
County Legal wanted me to inform you that he has all the signed documents in his office. Yeah, got it.
So that is good. This is a
a park that's around 30, 35 years old. It's a pocket park as about 18 acres. It's near Mays Greenhouse
and the Limestone Greenway on Rogers. It's mainly grass, lots of trees, a little itty bitty shelter
that we don't rent out. So there's not a lot of maintenance that goes on there. We have been trying
to, the park board has been trying to donate this to the board of commissioners for
So Margie Rice started the process. Okay. And we just had a little glitches here and there. There's
a land and water conservation fund restriction on it.
for outdoor recreational restrictions. So we had to go through DNR, the National Park Service to make
sure everything, all the paperwork is, all the I's dotted and the T's crossed. And we have accomplished
that. And they would so graciously like to give it to you all. And this would bring us into alignment
with all of the other parks in the county. In other words, this is an outlier right now because
it specifically names the ownership
It is an outlier. Yes. Any questions? No. This is a wonderful gift again. So thank you. You're welcome.
We will send you a note, a handwritten note in the morning. Thank you so much. This is really,
it's good. It makes sense. And especially for things like insurance.
it makes a lot more sense for us to do this. Okay, so for that, with that, let's see if there's any
public comment on this item. You can raise your hand on Teams or come to the podium. There we go.
Seeing none, all those in favor of approving the donation of Jackson Creek Park from the Monroe County
Parks and Recreation Board signify by saying aye.
All right. Motion carries to zero. Thank you. All right. Next item. Yes, I'd like to move approval for
the young trucking incorporated service agreement funds named food and beverage fund number 49 32 in
the amount not to exceed $49,000. I will second that Ms Whitmer.
you. Yes we asked quotes from four vendors to just we just want to start the 88 trail at the Monroe
County Nature Preserve and young trucking came in with the best quote and we would like to accept it
and our staff who is the general contractor will prepare everything and young trucking will dump the
stone where we tell him to
will be publicly accessible. Say again, accessible, accessible when it will be accessible. Yes, we will
have one 80 a trail that is crushed and rolled with quarter minus. It won't be asphalt won't be concrete,
but it still is qualifies for 80 a will have its.
I'm not sure how many miles it'll be. It'll be kind of a straight shot and all the grass trails on the
southern end will connect back to it. So it'll be very difficult to get lost because every trail on
the south side leads back to the ADA trail. The dog park that we're building is 100% ADA. We will have
shelters, sidewalks, a nice trailhead, picnic tables. Everything will be accessible, parking. And if you,
can't manage the grass trails, which is some people cannot, there'll be plenty to see and plenty to
do out there. Yeah. And when is it thought that this will be open to the public? If the weather is good
to us and our staff level remains the same, we might be able to be open late 2027. Right now our staff
is out there planting grass for the dog park.
because it takes time for grass to grow. Awesome. Great. Excellent. Do you have any questions? No, I'm
just excited that things are happening so quickly. Yeah, people are really excited about this across
the community because it's on the east side and it's such a great location in terms of not duplicating,
not more west side
Southwest, Northwest, we've got something now on the east side, which is really great. And I'll be contacting
some of the neighbors in the next couple of weeks to get them up to speed. What's going on? That's really
good. And it's going to just be very serene and quiet and a place to reflect or go hiking or hang out
with your dog. Yeah. Yeah. Stanley is definitely looking forward to this. So I keep telling him about it.
He keeps wanting to know more. So that's why I'm asking the questions I'm asking. He's demanding.
All right. Thank you. Let's see if there's any public comment on this item. You raise your hand on Teams
or come to the podium. Let's see. None. All those in favor of approving the Young Trucking Inc. Service
Agreement signify by saying aye.
All right, motion carries 2-0. All right, next item, please. Yes, I'd like to move approval for the
Trailhead Labs Incorporated Service Agreement, funds named County General and Perks and Honor Verding,
fund number 1,179 in the amount of $16,500. I will second that. Ms. Weber? We've been doing this. This
will be our second round with Outer Spatial. It's an app that you get on your phone.
And you can look at our parks, you can go on trails. And the reason why that it was chosen a few years
back is Bloomington Parks and Recreation also has the same app. So this way people can just seamlessly
go, oh, Cascades, oh, Harris Farm Park, oh. And we advertise it a lot. We have yard signs all over our
greenways to say, hey, get this app, it's great.
And the icon, I kept asking my staff, what do you think the icon looks like? And everyone had a different
reason to answer. But you know what? I don't know if you've ever watched South Park before. Yes. OK.
Yes. There's Kenny. Kenny who? Kenny. Yes. Right? It looks like Kenny. It's Kenny. Yes. It's kind of
like orange with a little white. Yeah. There you go. That's the icon. It's Kenny or something else.
Kenny's head, anyway. Right. Yeah. His head. Well, that's all there is on Kenny. Yeah.
So anyway, the park board would, they are purchasing, they would like you to approve it. It's a three
year agreement and we'll reassess every three years to see if it's working out for everybody. But this
is the future. Yeah, I like it. I have it. I have the app and I will say that the county parks department
has done a really good job using the app.
But I find the city side of it very frustrating because they have listed themselves multiple times for
the same park. It is absolutely it is absolutely the most annoying thing ever. I would have John on
our staff look into that. Yeah, maybe it's yeah, maybe we could help them. Yeah, maybe. Yeah, that would
be great. Thank you. Because it is really hard to use their side of it. But our side of it makes sense.
It's all, you know, one one of each and makes sense. So I like easy.
Yeah, I do too. Anything? No. Again, I just, I found this app by those very same roads, trail signs.
And so thank you so much. I think those signs are very effective and I would say that we need to continue
using them as well. Okay. All right. Let's see if there's any public comment on this site. You can raise
your hand on Teams or come to the podium.
I see none. All those in favor of approving the Trailhead Labs Inc. service agreement signify by saying
aye. Aye. Motion carries, 2-0. Thank you. Thank you so much. All right. Next item, please. Yes, I'd
like to move approval for the site improvement agreement, fund name, cumulative capital, fund number
1138 in the amount of $29,691. I will second that.
Good morning, everyone. Site improve is a company you probably recognize. We were partnering with them
before on our earlier website. When we moved over to the state's contract, site improve was baked into
that agreement with the state, but it actually hasn't quite worked out as we understood it was going
to work. Site improve, our initial use of site improve was to tell us when we have broken links,
misspellings, all those things on the website.
the state holds a licensing for site and proof for the website, we don't get the reports. We're having
to reach out to them. It's a cumbersome process than waiting on them to submit them. The other part
of this too is with the compliance standards being set that are due by August 20th or by 2027. We do
have over 10,000 PDFs that still need to be remediated. We've attempted to use Adobe tools to try to
remediate most of these. That's proved inadequate. It does part of the job. It doesn't do a complete
job, as well as the fact it's too cumbersome for one or two people to try to sort through tens of thousands
of documents to get these up to standard. So I brought this request to, again, partner with Site and
Prove, get it so that we can actually don't have to reach out to the state for those reports, and we
can get these ADA compliance issues streamed out. Yep. That's good. Thank you so much. Do you have anything?
I just am very grateful for programs like this because otherwise you're dealing with tons of staff hours.
So yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Unworkable. Yeah, and yeah, I appreciate this and it and it looks like
it's about the same or maybe even a little less than what we paid before we went latched onto the state
website. If I remember correctly, it is this whole ADA compliance standard site they have to it is new.
They didn't have these services.
but they've managed to get it baked in without getting the price tag. They recognize that they've got
to make it obtainable by the counties or it's no good to have the product. And I think they've done
that. That's good. That's good. While you're here and we're talking website, can you talk a little bit
about that? What's going on with our website and the state and all of that? Can you give us an update?
Yes. As a matter of fact, we just got an update from the state this morning. So it's good that you bring
that up. The state,
has two partners with their website one is Tyler incorporated which we have a lot of Tyler products
here at the county. Then they've also have what's called a CMS partner who's actually running that content
back in so it's a two person agreement there. At some point the state and Tyler separated from the group
they were working with the CMS editors and adopted a new
company. We weren't aware of that change. We were notified of it at zero hour and told, hey, you've
got to come to this mandatory meeting this afternoon and then do the training. So they have been in
the process of migrating over to this new content editor. They are not complete. The original anticipated
date was about the 15th, 16th. Now they're telling us it's going to be
to 28th before all migration is complete. So we recognize there may be some links to our website that
aren't accurate, things like that. That's because we're still in a state of transition for hopefully
no more than another 10 days. Okay. Well, I know it's been a lot to deal with and appreciate the hard
work of you and your staff to make it as painless as possible for
not only Monroe County employees, but our residents as well. So thank you for that. It's been a lot
to keep track of, but our webmaster has done an awesome job of staying on top of this and trying to
stay ahead of it as best as he can. You can't always second guess what the state's going to do ahead
of him. So that he does his best to do so. Right. Thank you, Venkat. Thank you so much. All right. Let's
see if there's any public comment on the site improve agreement.
you raise your hand on teams or come to the podium. All right. Seeing none, all those in favor of approving
the site improve agreement signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 2-0. Next item, please. Yes, I'd
like to move approval for Everbridge SNAP comms agreements. It's kind of a funny.
fund name cumulative capital fund number 1138 in the amount of $10,511. I will second that. And Mr.
Crone is joined by Ms. Nebel. So Jamie and I've been talking to different vendors for about the last
year, trying to come up with a solution to put out mass alert notifications in real time out to employees.
This product that we're we have just looked at here goes ties in with the Everbridge company that we
already use their notification system of so. This new system would put out desktop alerts. We could
run it on computer monitors, TV screens, anything tied to our accounting network. Those could
be notifications of any kind. They don't have to just be alert situations, but be notifications of power
outages, network outages and things like that. So Jamie, if you'd like to.
Sure. This has the potential to put it into more employee hands, rather than the traditional. Traditionally,
your today notifications are ran by Justin and myself, sending out the widespread cell phone, telephone,
and emails. If we go with this route, this could potentially put it into more people's hands to be able
to send out notifications.
and which could send it out quicker, rather than going through that phone tree of calling one of us,
and we may be at home, because I'm sure everybody's aware we are 24-7. So we could be driving. There
are daily life challenges that sometimes delay those messages, and that's just part of it. But yeah,
so this could make it easier to send out, easier to receive. And it's kind of a goal that we've had for
a while. Yeah, that would be good. Yep. Excellent. Thank you. Yep. I think this is necessary because
humans are not emergency management robots. So, yeah. Thank you so much for all your efforts trying
to find this solution. Yeah. I like that it's tied into our current system, which is great. I saw a lot of
folks when the city had their boil water advisory talking about, well, I didn't know about it. If the
landlord pays the bill, the landlord gets notified, but not the tenant, et cetera. And my recommendation
is get on the county alert system. You'll know what's going on. And that was an important, it really
helped a lot of people, but I also saw a lot of people that missed out on it.
because they weren't tied in. And it's a free service that we offer to all county residents. You just
go on our website and sign up and you can get text, email or phone notifications. It could be weather
emergencies, could be boil water advisories. It could be anything like that. And I do hope that more
of the water corporations outside the city will start using Everbridge and I'm
going to talk to mine again about it because they still apparently aren't. So literally life saving.
It can be. Yeah, for sure. For sure. Yeah. Thank you so much. All right. So let's see if there's any
public comments on this item. You raise your hand on teams or come to the podium.
All those in favor of approving the Everbridge SNAPCOMs agreements signify by saying aye. Aye.
Motion carries, 2-0. Thank you. Thank you for being here, emergency management director, Ms. Neivel.
Next item, please. Yes, I'd like to move approval for JustFoya public records request software agreement,
fund name, cumulative capital, fund number 1138 in the amount of $29,500. I will second that.
Mr. Krone, you've worked very hard on this. Tell us all about it. So we've been trying for quite a while
now to come up with a centralized system for the public to be able to make records requests. We had
tried an earlier product with another vendor, ran into a problem with that, citing security issues.
We did not go ahead and fully implement that program and deploy it to the public. So I've been talking
to several departments, especially the Sheriff's Department, who
a lot of requests. So there's been a lot of interest to get a program going. Additionally, this creates
a lot of overhead with these public records requests for the legal department having to go through the
documents, do any redactions and things like that, which this product does for us. So it's set up on
a system of workflows. If you have any knowledge of our open go permitting system, it's the same principle.
It's set up on workflows.
that everything could be notified through the department's county legal would be aware. And this will
get us into compliance with the tracking requirements that we now have with the state on having to report
these. Great. Thank you so much. And again, thank you for answering all the questions I sent to you
on email. It was interesting to watch the presentation. It was really helpful. Any questions? No, I
am very grateful for this.
we need to be mindful of the costs on staff as we have had more requests come in. We have a need for
a better way to deal with these requests and public transparency is a very important. Value so we need,
but we also need to generate these reports in a timely fashion and also be mindful of that cost on staff.
So. Thank you so very much.
It streamlines who's getting the information, and if it's not the right department, that it goes to
the right department, and that it won't accept these very generic, like, every email you sent from January
1st to December 31st of 2025. You know, you're like, whoa. So it helps the resident by keeping them
focused on what it is they're really looking for.
and that saves all of us time and it helps us serve them better. So I'm so happy that we're doing this
and I'm very grateful that you found this company. So this is a one year, are there any deals on multi-year
agreements if things work out well in the first year? So I brought that up to them.
That's not an offer at this time, but I think as they get more people on because just boy is picking
up more traction in the state. I anticipate at some point they're going to offer multi-year agreements.
Yeah. Is the city of Bloomington using this? No, they use another system. I actually, that was the company
I'd reached out to originally over a year ago and we'd started down that road. There was a.
Through their system, there was an upload option. So anyone from the public could simply upload any
file off of their computer. And there was no scanning of that provided by the vendor. So as soon as
we'd open it on our side, we just opened ourselves up to potential of malicious code, a virus, anything
being spread. They originally, when we went through it, said, oh, that's no problem. We'll take the
link out. When we got through the agreement and I actually built the system, that was the last step
to go live.
then they inform me, no, we won't remove the link. And we terminated the agreement with them. This option
does have an upload portal. We can turn that off, but the difference with this company is they're scanning
every single document that comes through before it gets passed on to us. Good, good, good. Good work
on your part. Great, great investigative work. All right, let's see if there's any public comment on
this item.
you raise your hand on teams or you can come to the podium. It looks like we do have a commenter. Ms.
Ford, you will have three minutes, please say your name and let us know your county of residence. We're
getting you up there. Okay, there we go.
My name is Jamie Ford. I'm a Monroe County resident. I've said it at the council meeting multiple times
that, you know, I've submitted multiple records requests in various departments. And some of those,
it feels like they've been straight up ignored. So if this system will help get those faster and be
able to have more transparency and, you know, have that communication and get those records in a timely
fashion, the way the Access to Public Records Act says that they're supposed to, then I'm all for it.
Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Ford. Appreciate that. Yeah, and I would not say that anybody's FOIA requests have been
ignored, but we go through a lot of steps to pull information together, and it can take a lot of time
from multiple people to pull all those records together. So that is just something that happens when
you're thorough. And I'd rather be thorough than just get something out quickly.
All right, thank you so much. Any other comments? Okay. All right, seeing none, all those in favor of
approving the JustFoya public records request software agreement, signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion
carries two zero. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Next item, please. Yes, I'd like to move approval
for the Delta Vision Plan Fund Name Self-Insurance Fund number 4,700.
Can I make a recommendation that you guys could just put I through L together? And she could then discuss
each one. I was wondering about that. Yes, I'd like to make a motion to consolidate I through L.
So the Delta Vision Plan, the Delta Dental Plan, Anthem Renewal for 2027, and the Reliance Standard
Renewal of Ancillary, all of which come out of self-insurance fund number 4,700. I will second that.
Good morning. Good morning.
All right, I am here today because I'm requesting the commissioners to approve the health and the ancillary
services that we receive for our benefits coverages. The submission packet that you received includes
the renewal information and new vendor contracts, including coverage plans and summaries for Anthem,
Delta Dental,
VSP vision and reliance standards. And that reliance standards covers group life, voluntary life,
AD and D, short and long-term disability, critical illness, accident and hospital indemnity coverages.
We have secured the continuation of the services and the policies that you have had before. So none
of the policies were caught in any way. And the comprehensive package
will be the same for 2027, and I respectfully request a vote to pass those services. Thank you so much.
Do you have any questions? None. Thank you so much for all of the diligent work you did. Thank you.
I know you worked with Angie and your staff and folks around employees from all around the county.
And it's really good to be able to offer the same. Consistency is really important to people. And so
that's really helpful. And then you've added some new group type insurance options, like pet insurance
and things like that for employees to buy into, which is a great thing. So I think it's
You did a super job, and you hit the ground running. I really appreciate it, because this is some squirrely
stuff. This is the kind of stuff where I'm like, OK, everybody be quiet. I have to just read this.
Same here. Yeah.
So it's great to have that same level of coverage. So thank you for that. You're welcome. All right.
Let's see if there's any public comment on this item. You can raise your hand on teams or come to the
podium. Wow. Okay. Seeing none. All those in favor of approving the Delta Vision Plan,
Delta Dental Plan, the Anthem Renewal for 2027, and the Reliance Standard Renewal of Ancillary signify
by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries to zero. Thank you. Thank you so much. All right. Next item, please.
Yes, I'd like to move approval for Gentry East Subdivision Phase number three, five, and six.
I will second that. Mr. Ayers, good morning. Good morning. Morning, commissioners. So this is for the
acceptance of phases 3A, 5 and 6 of Gentry East Subdivision. A little history here. The developer left
the burden of the HOA
get the project completed. They've done that and are requesting acceptance into inventory. We would
be through the erotic extensions and new roadways, we'd be accepting 1.37 mile, taking our total up
to 655.105 miles. The HOA is here if you have any questions for them or their contractor.
Thank you so much. Do you have any questions? No, I know how diligently people have worked on this.
And so thank you so much. I think this is a great example of partnership. And I thank everyone for their
patience. Yes, I agree. Yeah. And the residents there have been patient. But we didn't create the problem.
And we've just been trying to fix it. And I think that solution that we came up with is a good compromise,
because everybody receives what they thought they were going to receive.
Yeah, it's still something that's doable, that's going to get finished. So we thank the HOA for working
with Monroe County on this, and I'm sure they're going to be happy to have these roads in the county
inventory before the first snowflake falls this year. I agree. Yeah, excellent. I see nods of agreement.
Okay, good.
Thank you. Any public comment on this item? You can raise your hand on teams. You may come to the podium
if you wish to speak. Seeing none, all those in favor of approving the Gentry East subdivision phases
three, five and six and accepting those roadways into Monroe County inventory signify by saying aye.
second. I motion carries to zero. Next item, please. I would like to move approval for the Derby pine
subdivision. I will second that shares. Um this is for the acceptance of the Derby pine subdivision. Um the
So with this total, with the road extension of Holland Drive and the new roadway, we'd be adding 0.479
mile, taking our total up to 655.584 mile. The roadways were built to the construction plan and meet
chapter 755 as required. Excellent. Thank you so much. And any comments?
this is continues to have curb appeal. Yeah. So really, really glad to see that this is moving forward
as well. And I know that absolutely those residents are going to be glad as well for sure. Cause I've
talked to them. So, all right, let's see if there's any public comment on this item. You can raise your
hand on teams or come to the podium.
Seeing none, all those in favor of accepting the roadways into Monroe County inventory at the Derby
Pines subdivision signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries to zero. Next item, please. Thank you so
much, Mr. Ayers. I'd like to move approval for the new engagement letter with litigation council fund
named County General Fund number 1,000. I will second that. Ms. Purdy.
Yeah, this is just kind of housekeeping, if you will. The attorney that has been working with the board
of commissioners and the sheriff on the jail lawsuit litigation has changed firms. And this is just
allowing for her to continue to represent both entities under her new firm. And the rate is the same.
No changes. Yeah, which is really good. Yeah. Excellent. Anything?
Nope, just a pro forma. Let's see if there's any public comment on this item. You can raise your hand
on Teams or come to the podium. Seeing none, all those in favor of approving the new engagement letter
with litigation counsel signify by saying aye.
I motion carries to zero. I'd like to take a 10 minute recess at this moment, if we could, since we've
got still have two long items left. And so we'll be back at, well, we'll be back before 1130, 1128.
Thank you. We're in recess. I'm gonna call this Board of Commissioners meeting.
I would like to move approval for ordinance back to order. We're on item P ordinance. Um and if you
could make a motion, please. Um I would like to move approval for ordinance 2026-39 amendments to the
county development ordinance to align with state code changes. I will second that.
So I'm gonna go ahead and share my screen and go over some of the changes being proposed by today's
amendment. So in the Court and County Development Ordinance, we have a list of revisions that begin
on page 203 of the packet. So anytime that there's a revision made to the County Development Ordinance,
we list the ordinance number, the zoning ordinance amendment that goes through the plan commission,
list of revisions here as well. So I'm going to just go over some high-level changes, but if anyone
is wanting to go through these more thoroughly, I'm happy to answer any questions or you can follow
the red line as we go through. So the first change I wanted to discuss was on page 215 of the packet.
There is a note here for subdivision standards. It does say
This is tied to the fact that administrative subdivisions oftentimes are used to fix encroachments over
lot lines and they may begin with two properties that are what we would call nonconforming to what the
requirements are in the code. So in order to allow a nonconformity to proceed with an administrative
subdivision to become less nonconforming, we're hoping to
go ahead and amend the CDO to exclude them from the requirements of buildable area. Now this exclusion
would be, again, for lots that both do not contain already one acre of buildable area. So in an instance
of encroachment, you're making it better, but you cannot possibly come up with two acres of buildable
area if, for instance, each lot is only a half acre to begin with.
So that is that change there and it also aligns with the change and on page 532, which is under the
subdivision standards for administrative. So we're taking the language out of here. And then also on
the two pagers for each zoning district. The next change that I would like to discuss is
regarding the use table. So a lot of these changes are prompted by the state code changes as noted and
also some scrivener's error or staff changes that we continue to want to correct as we go through. So
this temporary or seasonal activity we are requesting that it be added permitted with standards to the
residential zoning district. This was something that when we consolidated two zones into the residential
district it was lost under the
prior code to this code. So we'd like to see that added back in. And of course, the standards will also
ensure that the lot is eligible for the use as well, or they would have to proceed with variances. The
next change is on page 253 of the packet. So under the state code changes that went into effect on July
1st of 2026, there's a requirement to add in now what's called a sporting goods store. And that's
small, medium, large, and big bucks, and it's a requirement that we add these to the limited business
and general business zone. We have done so with related standards that we are allowed to apply, similar
to retail sales. We're also adding a P, which means permitted use, to the bus terminal use, which is
the heavy industrial district.
We are aligning this with our comprehensive plan and also the staff here at the planning office has
knowledge of the Bloomington transit. They want to expand a bus terminal facility on West profile parkway,
which is zoned heavy industrial. So it aligns with the comprehensive plan and we also see this as a
needed change to make sure that this development can proceed.
And then indoor shooting range, this is another state code requirement that we permit it with standards
in the agricultural limited business general business light industrial heavy industrial and mineral
extraction zones. So the state has required us to make these uses permitted with standards. So we are
complying with that requirement. As
related to the sporting goods store. We've modeled the standards after our retail sales uses. So you'll
see the or sporting goods store of a similar scale. And then we're also changing the standards here
for the indoor shooting range that will align with the state code as well. So this is straight from
the state, this language that we're adding in here.
The next change I want to briefly touch on is related to the wireless communication facilities. We used
to be able to administer the wireless communication facilities, the new cell towers based on height.
The state has stated that we're not allowed to solely regulate height. And so now we are regulating
on things such as whether they're concealed in a residential or institutional zone.
or if they're in the airport zone which still has FAA regulations. Non-concealed towers are going to
be allowed to be allowed it's going to be permitted in the industrial business zones so that's not a
requirement that those are concealed and if someone wants to propose a non-concealed tower in say a
rural residential district
It's not that it's not permitted. It just requires conditional use approval, which means notice to neighbors
as well. And in their application, they will have to state how tall the structure should be. And we're
of the understanding that most cell tower companies will still probably proceed with 199 foot tall towers
because it triggers FAA review if they are 200 feet or taller.
Though we're not allowed to regulate based on height, FA is. And so we are hopeful that maybe that takes
care of some of the extremely tall towers that maybe wouldn't be fitting in some of these districts.
So then on page 326, this is still under the cell towers. We are also clarifying what the BZA is able
to ask for during a conditional use hearing.
So some of the things that the state put into the law is that we're not able to ask for additional
information on wireless coverage or speeds. This is proprietary information for the state. And so this
is just a reminder to our board zoning appeals that when we get to a hearing about a cell tower, this
is what we are and are not able to ask about certain facilities. And then we also,
made a image and clarified setbacks for what we call the equipment compound area. So this is a typical
cell tower with a lease area and a compound area, which is fenced in and gravel with what we call monopole
structure in the center. So their required setback is the fall zone. So if there were a wind or tornado
event, when that cell tower collapses, that would be considered the fall zone.
And then they also have to meet the zoning setback for the zoning district. And then we've clarified
as well that the generator has to be kind of the furthest point from the property lines as well. So
that is something that we've clarified in here. The next change is regarding the sidewalk applicability.
So we have made some clarifying changes because
D, part C here was a little bit duplicative with another section of our code. So we tried to narrow
in on mileage from another sidewalk to require a new sidewalk. And also we wanna make it clear when
there's language such as et cetera that creates some ambiguity for staff review and also for people
that are proposing a subdivision, well, is the sidewalk going to be needed or not?
So we're getting rid of et cetera because we feel like this list is pretty comprehensive as it is. And
then the last thing I wanna note is that we are just generally making definition changes to align again
with state code and those are throughout and you can find those in red line here. So with that, I can
take any questions you might have and anything else I can help with.
Thank you so much. It was a nice comprehensive review. Really appreciate it. And I know it's not always
easy getting state legislation into our CDO in a timely manner and also in a clear manner. So thank
you for that. Do you have any questions? No, I just appreciate, again, all of the detailed descriptions
and especially with the graphics.
I said this before, but I'm enthralled with sort of the fall zone of the towers. So thank you. Yeah.
And normally I would go to the petitioner and whatnot, but that's us.
the state legislature and ask questions because I'd love to do that. Um but let's just go ahead and
open this up for public comment and see if anyone has any. Comments pro or con on the
you did such a great job explaining them is Nestor Jelen that look at that. We're good. All right. Um,
and with that, I will come back to the board. Um, do you have any other comments? Nope. Okay. Um, then
I will call the roll on, um, I'm sorry. I will call for a vote on ordinance 2026-39. All those in favor
signify by saying aye.
second. I motion carries to zero. Um, next, please. Next item, please. Yes, I'd like to move approval
forward. It's 2026-40. The Western estates zoning error rezone to the community development or to community
development. Sorry. That's all right. It's a strange word. It's a strange phrase. I will second that.
Um and once again, the.
residents. Thank you. Absolutely. So this is a Plan Commission author rezone. We have been contacted
by the owners of the property in regards to the allowable uses at these two parcel sites. There's address
is 1530 and 1540 South Curry Pike.
And in reviewing the research for the PUD, which is Western Estates, something that was approved by
the city of Bloomington. And then once the extraterritorial jurisdiction lapsed, something that the
county has taken administration duties over for, we noticed that this was incorrectly zoned PUD. So
in order to facilitate the request, which is what are my allowable uses on the property,
The Plan Commission is authoring a rezone of the property from PUD, and what is being requested today
is to rezone it to what's called community development. I'll go through some of the report here for
you, but I also want to note that in consideration of the zoning for this property, the Plan Commission
cited that it was within the Sinking Creek Critical Watershed, there was a difference in impervious cover
area for what was considered the two zones that they were between, which was community development and
then high development. The community development allows lesser impervious cover than the high development.
And then there's also Ludway that's on part of the Western portion of the property. So I'm going to
go ahead and go down to the packet now. So the property owner is online. They may have some comments.
Um, as it regards to this petition, but the plan commission is the author, so they would be under either
supporters or demonstrators to request. I want to note that the owners do oppose the community development
zoning district, so they may be here to speak and ask to instead be zone high development. So this.
We did have some questions back and forth for them and it recorded what's the current use of the property,
what are potential buyers wanting to use it for all this in consideration of what site constraints are.
1530 South Curry Pike has a single family residence and a swimming pool. 1540 South Curry Pike has a
single family residence plus a garage with what we're understanding as an apartment above. The acreage
for both sites combined is 2.96 acres and they do currently have access to sewer and water.
And like I said, we did talk with the property owner about what buyers are saying and
There was one buyer that wanted to rent the property and remodel, do it just as is. And then another
buyer who wanted to knock down structures and rebuild as multifamily. So I've included information about
the community development zone here on the screen, as well as high development. The property is located
nearest the Carrs Farm Greenway. And then also there's a manufactured home park on the western side
as you go back on Sierra dry.
And the highway department, including the stormwater program did not have any comments, but they did
know, you know, if this does go through a development review, they would highway would like to continue
to see the access for the driveways off of era. And then stormwater was going to consider any drainage
easements, cars, conservancy areas, or anything related upon review of a development plan, if applicable,
or if proceeded to go that direction.
Here's a zoning map of the surrounding area. The site to the north is zoned community development. I
will note that some of these lots are a little bit smaller than the community development minimum lot
size, which is 0.21 acres. And then you also have to the east here, the BMV has across the street. You
have heavy industrial, light industrial to the south.
high development and then southwest conservation residential. So you have quite a bit of mixture of
zones here, as well as being close to the city jurisdiction. Here's a site conditions map showing the
water and sewer lines connecting the properties. And there are multifamily developments, as I mentioned,
to the south and then a manufactured home park to the west of this.
Zooming out, you can really see the floodway here. There's a bridge that crosses the floodway, but it
is mapped DNR floodway. And then also the property in relation to the Sinking Creek watershed. It's
totally within the red, which is Sinking Creek here.
I wanted to pull up on the screen to the use table differences for community development and
high development. There are some uses that are allowable, such as multifamily dwelling three to four
units would be permitted with standards for both zones. And five plus units would only be permitted
with standards in the high development zone. But I did want to note that under either multifamily three
to four units or five plus, it does say that the site shall have access to sewer.
In our workings with the owner, we were not able to obtain or they did not obtain the sewer capacity
increase letter from CBU. So we do not yet know if CBU would have even authorized an increase of capacity
to allow for such
intense development to occur on the property. That's something that's not in our control, but it is
a standard. Also in the state code, you cannot have an apartment building on a commercial septic. So
they would have to have access to sewer to redevelop this at a high density. I've also included the
comprehensive plan for the area, which meets both the community development and high development zoning
districts. And then as well, for your review,
findings as associated with the rezone itself. So in our review, working with the owner, you know, the
site conditions here, community development will accommodate what is there and also give them
some permissions to move forward with different development if they, if a buyer does decide to
say knock down structures and do something different here. This is some site photos of the current property.
So 1530 South Curry Pike, as well as the swimming pool. And then just some street view images of the
site. So you get a sense of Sierra Drive, what's to the south. And then this is the 1540 South Curry
Pike as well. And then just an overview of House Pool 1530.
house garage with apartment over top 1540. So that is basically the summary that we have of these two
petitions or two parcels being rezoned to community development. And I'd be happy to take any questions
you might have. All right, thank you so much. Do you have any questions for Ms. Nestergallen? No, again,
thank you for that detailed presentation.
I appreciate it. Um and, um, the planning department is petitioner, but I will go ahead and open this
up to see if anybody. Wishes to speak in favor or against this petition, and it looks like we have. Um
name together. DC is how it's coming up on the screen. If you could please give us your name, county
of residence, and you'll have three minutes. Hi, this is Shelley and Deb Clark. Deborah is the owner
of the property. We have been working with CBU to try to get some response from them in order to see
what their opinion is of the sewage.
We have yet to hear back from them. We're hoping that we can get something that can help the owner raise
the zoning to HD. Due to the price in the property, it's going to lower the value $140,000.
that's not a big deal to you. That might not be a big deal to you, but it is to a senior citizen who's
living on limited income right now. Um, so that's. What I have is an update right now. Or what we have
is a big day. Okay, I appreciate that. Thank you. Um so, um,
that happened. Um but. I would I would say that what the plant commission. Determined is that based on the
And I apologize that we didn't do it right the first time. Now. This does allow you to come back and
seek an HD zone. Um and I think.
the question of sewer is key. But you can come back and ask for an HD zone. It does not prevent you
from doing that at all. And I encourage you to do that if everything works out the way that you plan
and that you hope. I think that would be fine. And we'll, you know, the planning commission and
the commissioners will make a decision at that time, but it raises so many questions in terms of density
and neighboring properties and the sinking Creek watershed that that as a planning commission, we didn't
feel comfortable going ultra high density.
without knowing, for example, about sewer. But I do encourage you to do that, and that will get your
selling price back, I would assume. So let's see if there's anyone else that has any public comments,
either for or against this petition.
questions. So I have one more question. Okay We can't We can't really take questions here, but I do
recommend that you contact the planning department if you have questions. This is a This is a specifically
a public comment time. Um and um, but I know the planning staff. Is eager to help you and will help
you with whatever questions you
we have a petition in front of us that's enclosed and total and done. So that's the position we're in.
But again, I encourage you to come back with a petition for HD if that's something you want to pursue,
I think it's worth doing. All right. So did you, I'm sorry, did you have any comments? Oh no, I'm good. Okay.
public comment. All right, so, um. We'll go ahead and close out the public comment at this point,
and I will. Um call for a vote on ordinance 2026-40. The Western estates zoning error rezone to community
development.
property. Um and at least this gets you out of the P U D, where you really shouldn't have been and put
you on the path to doing what you want to do with the property. Um okay. Um, something that we did not
do, um. Um.
I would say that if we're not going to have a vote to accept it, which that's fine, I would say that
I would like to note that we have received it, and we appreciated the explanation by Dr. Clements. And
I will ask that it is published on the county's website.
as soon as it possibly can be. It is part of the packet for tonight's meeting, which is a Planning Commission
meeting, but it is a Planning Commission meeting with a very special purpose. We have, and so I'm gonna
leave it like that. Is that all right? Jeff, did I manage? Did I get anything? I think that works. I
think what we'll end up doing for the public's sake is we will look at the meeting packet for today.
you know, if you're looking for a place where you would look for the commissions and we'll just put
an exhibit one. This study as part of it's a link. It's a link, so it's easy. Yeah, that'd be great.
Thank you. All right. Um so we do have a plan commission me tonight. We have one short item at the beginning,
but then very soon after 5 30 when it begins right here in the
the county development ordinance. The city is doing likewise. They're doing some changes to their UDO,
and they're going to do their hearing at the same time, I guess. So under House Enrolled Act 1001, there
are specific questions that they want us to answer. And people are welcome to
that we're going to submit, um, responses. To the states. Um the state's going to. Post I guess all
of our reports, but we've asked is remember a few weeks ago. We asked the, um plan commissioned to hold
this hearing for us on our behalf, which I appreciate that they're doing that, but we both
questions. They're questions are all in the planning packets, which is available. If you go to the calendar
on our home page, you can go to the Planning Commission meeting. You can see the packet. You see the
questions. They're very specific questions that are being asked, um, for the public to consider. Um.
And, um, some of the things have absolutely nothing to do
of rules, you know, just for example. So, and what planning staff has done, and especially
Ms. Nestor-Gellant, is sort of addressed for each of the questions the state has posed, what is in the
CDO that relates to it. So you don't have to go flying through the CDO and try to find the relevant
sections. You're going to be
you're going to be right there. And you're going to see what the regulations are. And so we are looking
forward. It's not a back and forth tonight. It is going to be a hearing meeting. We're just going to
hear from residents. So we do invite, um, residents to attend and you can attend via teams or come here
to the Net, you know, room. At about 5 35. Um,
I just want to make sure we made the announcement. Great. Thank you so much. I really appreciate that.
So I do want to, as we go through announcements here, I do want to remind folks of a couple of important
things. And one of them is that October is hunger action month. And the Hoosierhills Food Bank and all
of the ancillary pantries
and food distribution sites around our county need your help. And we are all struggling with higher
food prices. So please do what you can. The book fair was amazing. It reminded me of working as a cashier
during holiday season. It was pretty crazy, but it was fun. Saw a lot of great friends and neighbors
and met new people, and it was really a good time.
for those who are less fortunate. But please keep those who are less fortunate in mind. Especially during
hunger action month. Um. The other thing I want to remind folks of I saw very. Pretty surprising statistic,
which is one in six U. S. Households are behind on utility bills.
in Texas and Oklahoma, their numbers must be much higher. Now, utility companies are barred
from disconnecting service during summer and during winter, but during the fall and during the spring,
they can and often do disconnect. So I just want you, if you know anybody,
If you yourself are behind, please reach out to your Township Trustee. In every packet, we have the
email address and the phone number to reach your Township Trustee, and they can help you. So please
don't wait. Please reach out. Don't let this become a critical situation.
Let's see, we have another blood drive in conjunction with Red Cross and Ivy Tech, and it is Friday,
October 30th, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., and that is at Ivy Tech, room C130A and B. Please make an appointment
at redcross.org if you can. We already talked about the alert system and how important it is to sign
up, whether it be a boil order or
we're heading into those times. Um road closures, anything like that gets put on Everbridge, and this
is for every county resident. No matter where you live, please sign up. We really encourage you to do
so. Be informed. Be prepared. We do continue to have office hours via teams each month. Um and there
are six office hours in
and check out the dates and times, and we encourage you to join us via Teams to offer your insight,
your criticism, your ideas, whatever it may be. So let's see, belated happy birthday to Commissioner
Madeira. Oh, thank you. I think that's all I have. Do you have anything else?
I'm sorry. Um no, I will apologize for my disruptive nose glowing. I had some kind of histamine reaction
up here. Um, where I just turned into a faucet for a second. Um I would say I echo all of your concerns
about the utility
you can actually pay so that people who don't have the funds can defer those. And so I try to do that
every month as well. That's important. Yes. But the township trustees, I think, are an underutilized
resource across the state. So I think that was an excellent point to bring up. Thank you. All right.
And with that,
Our next meeting is October 29th, right here in the NETU Hill Room at 10 a.m. And with that,
we are adjourned. Thanks, everyone.