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.