- Good morning. I'm going to call the order of this work session for the Monroe County Board of Commissioners.
- It is Thursday, October 9th, joined by Commissioner Madera and Commissioner Thomas. And we have one
- item. Thank you for waiting. It is the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute grant, Sergeant Muldin.
- Two items. We have two items.
- Oh, look at that. We do. Sorry, Mr. Smith, we'll get to you next. All right. Good morning. Good morning.
- Kyle Molden with the Sheriff's Office. I'm here to tell you about a grant that we've been awarded by
- the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute. It's a pass-through grant from the National Highway Traffic
- Safety Administration. The total grant funds amount to $43,900. That's going to cover overtime costs,
- some equipment,
- computer software and some continuing education for our deputies as well. And basically the gist of
- the grant is that it's to form a major crash investigation team that would respond to fatal and other
- very major traffic incidents all around the county as well as in the town of Ellisville and ensure that
- we're able to devote the appropriate resources
- those types of cases deserve and it's going to draw on already existing and highly trained deputies
- and just making sure that they're available 24-7. Do you have any questions? No, as someone whose father
- died in a car accident, I think this is something that's near and dear to my heart and something that's
- very sorely needed because these are very very special and unique circumstances. Thank you.
- Technology is amazing. It is amazing. These are difficult issues. I know we have a number of folks who
- are already well-trained and it would be nice to be able to have them call out. Thank you again for
- hosting the
- ride along last year. I'm going to come back and we'll do it again. Right out of year ago, I think.
- I learned a lot. I learned a lot. And that's something the Sheriff's Office offers to the community.
- So I thought I'd just throw that in there while you're here. Absolutely. You and the other commissioners
- are welcome. Yes. Anytime. Yes. Hopefully, you're in the front of the car and not the back when you
- do that. He took the handcuffs off and let me ride up and down.
- Uh, no, it was really, it was really, I learned so much and, um, and it's, it's a great service to the
- community as well, uh, to understand what our community faces and, and how our deputies respond. So
- thank you for that. Um, this is great. I'm really excited about it. I think we're going to have to take
- this under advisement, um, uh, and put it on our agenda for if that's not a,
- difficulty put on our agenda for the 23rd. Whatever you think you know we're ready and eager to get
- started now the grant period has already begun it runs through the state fiscal year so I got as soon
- as as soon as it is signed we're ready to start purchases and start operations but whatever you need
- to to review. Let me look at something here.
- We're at, at least we'll have to ratify it, but let me, I just need to look at something here real quick.
- And then I'll see what we need to do. Okay. It says Ms. Turner King did already review this.
- So I think we're OK to approve it and then ratify it. The only concern is she did speak with me. There's
- an MOU with Ellitsville that I think she recommends that you not sign that one at this time. But the
- grant itself is certainly acceptable. There's some issues, I guess, with the MOU in Ellitsville?
- Yeah. So, um, I know, sorry, Darla Brown needs to, Ellisville's attorney needs to look at this. Right.
- Yeah. So the, the grant is through the state and the, the county and the sheriff's office is,
- is the grantee. Right. Uh, we are going to partner with the town of Ellisville, their police department.
- They're going to provide a couple of officers to assist with the team, which will be operated by the
- sheriff's office though. Um, so before they would be able to participate.
- in any way, we want to have an interlocal agreement formally reviewed. So that is, but that's separate
- from ultimately separate, but it will be a consideration. It's obviously a top priority for them so
- they can join in on this, but the sheriff's office would at least be able to proceed as soon as the
- grant is signed. The state is looking for three signatories, the sheriff, the county auditor,
- and I think you as the president of the board through electronic delivery. I don't know if you've got
- it yet or if it will arrive soon but there was something yeah I get docu signs from non-county entities
- and I'm always like I wonder what this is for and then I try to match it with the agenda and I think
- it's for this.
- All right. I'm going to go ahead and make a motion to approve the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute
- grant in the grant amount of $43,900. And it will be up for ratification on the 23rd. You don't need
- to be here, but if any questions come up, we'll ask you to be here. If something comes up. Yeah. I'm
- sorry to bother you. And I second that motion. Thank you. All right. We have motion in a second. Anything
- else? Nope. Any public comment on this item?
- All right, all those in favor of approving the Indiana Criminal Justice II grant for $43,900, signify
- by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries, 2-0. Now you're ready. Good. Thank you. Thanks so much. Appreciate
- it. Thanks for waiting. No problem. All right. Sort of like a... This is what we do.
- Mr. Smith, thank you for waiting so patiently. We have ordinance 2025-38. And I didn't realize this
- was on our agenda, but there it is. It's on the back page. This hopefully won't take too much of your
- time. It should be relatively quick, I think. So we'll see how it goes.
- So let me go ahead and share my screen here. I can get that. Okay, are you able to see my screen?
- We can, thank you. Okay, perfect. So this concerns, so this is ordinance 2025-38. It concerns PUD-25-3,
- the Petra.
- plan unit development outline plan amendment one. So this concerns a site that is just shy of 30 acres
- located in section 19 of Washington Township at 1392 West Didymore Road. So just a brief background
- on this petition. It was approved as a rezone to a PUD in June of 2001. And the purpose of the PUD was to
- allow for a research facility to be constructed on site. So the prior ordinance at the time did not
- have a research facility as a permitted use. So they opted to go through this PUD route. This is owned
- and operated by Friends of Craft. So that stands for the Center for Research into
- Anthropological Foundations of Technology. They otherwise call this research facility the Stone Age
- Institute for short. So I will get right into their request here and I'm gonna jump around here a little
- bit. So the primary issues with this site is that under their original PUD conditions,
- number two and number three states that the total developed area shall be limited to 15,000 square feet
- and that the driveway and parking areas shall remain gravel. So fast forward through the years, the
- gravel driveway has since been paved over. So that would be a direct violation of the PUD ordinance.
- So they're here to try to remedy that.
- and ultimately are hoping to strike that condition entirely. And then for number two, the developed
- area shall be limited to 15,000 square feet. They are hoping to increase that to 30,000 square feet
- so that they may be able to expand their research facility, believe they hope to add an additional library
- to their site. So let me jump here to their plan.
- On their plan set, they have outlined here just showing like the extent of the driveway. So the entire
- thing has been paved now, but they are hoping to strike that condition so that that driveway can remain
- in place as paved. And then this next slide I'll show you here, this shows the extent of their improvement. So,
- This addition down here, this planned addition of 1,688 square feet, that is what they are hoping to
- expand. Ultimately, right now, if they were to build this addition on site, it would put them over the
- 15,000 square foot limitation. So that's why they're hoping to increase that to 30,000 square feet,
- just in anticipation that
- If they wanted to do another addition in the future, they could do so. They would just need to submit
- a development plan to the planning department. But ultimately, they felt that that 30,000 square feet
- would allow enough wiggle room for them to expand in the future. I will have you note that if we just
- went by what this traditional PUD standards would be, they could
- have up to, I believe it's 324,000 square feet of developed area. So they're only asking for 30,000
- square feet. So that would put them well under that threshold. I'm going to jump here to believe this
- is the next slide. Yeah. So these next few slides will just be some site photos to give you a rough
- idea of what the site looks like. So it is gated. You cannot see it from the driveway.
- So I was able to get through the gate. And these are these photos that I have taken. So it does show
- the driveway here. Clearly it's paved. It's no longer gravel. And then this would be like the front
- entrance of the Stone Age Institute. They do have a parking area to the right-hand side, which I will
- show you in the next picture. And they do have a garage. It's accessory use.
- This photo right here, you'll notice the stakes out there. So they've already staked the area that they
- hope to expand. So this is where that library expansion will go. I think there's one more page here.
- So this is the extent of the Stone Age Institute. It's existed, I believe it's going on its 23rd or
- 24th year. So it has been there for a couple of decades. And then this photo is just, that's the same
- driveway, just looking at a different direction. So I will bring this back to,
- This page, so the plan commission did vote six to zero to forward a positive recommendation to the county
- commissioners for this PUD outline plan amendment request. And that will be subject to the Monroe County
- Highway Department and stormwater program reports with the following conditions. So the first condition,
- which is a condition that was part of their original outline plan statement,
- states that the uses shall be limited to the Friends of Craft Research Facility or a research facility
- of a similar nature and uses permitted in the Forest Reserve Zone in the Agricultural and Residential
- Uses subcategories of Table 2-1, permitted land uses from Ordinance 1997-36. So I'll just show you briefly
- what that ordinance looks like. So just for reference,
- each use in the category AG and FR would ultimately be a permitted use as it was permitted under the
- original outline plan amendment. So all of these uses could potentially be utilized, although the owners
- have no intention of utilizing any of these uses, but it was part of their initial approval. And then
- I'm going back up here. Condition number two, but the total developed area shall be limited to 30,000
- square feet. And that is as requested by the petitioner. And then of course, it shall comply with the
- requirements of Monroe County Highway and drainage engineer reports. And I can take any questions. Do
- you have any questions? Commissioner Madeira? No, thank you for the very detailed description. And it
- sounds actually like a very
- Um, good decision and one that I would support. All right. Um, let's see. So we could hear this on the
- 23rd or the 30th. Do you have a preference? Does the petitioner have a preference? Um, I believe the
- petitioner would prefer to have this heard as soon as possible. So I believe the 23rd, they would opt.
- to go to that meeting, if possible. That'll be great. If you could get that submitted in, we'll have
- that on our agenda for the 23rd. All right. Great. Thank you so much. Appreciate you. Thanks for waiting.
- Thank you. All right. Anything else? Like a third page I'm missing or anything? All right. With that,
- our work session is adjourned. Thanks, everyone.