New plan would govern commercial growth in rural areas
Nov. 27—A new county land-use plan is expected to pass its first hurdle during a public meeting Dec. 6.
The Boone County Area Plan Commission (APC) will vote on whether to adopt a new overlay district. The overlay would guide and govern commercial projects expected in what is now agricultural land along the county's thoroughfares.
The overlay district is a guide for zoning and land related to new commercial growth. Property owners may still build agricultural structures or a home that is not part of a subdivision and need not worry. The land will still be zoned for residential and agricultural uses, APC Executive Director Stephen Elkins said.
Businesses would have to seek a zoning exception through the APC and Boone County Commissioners. And the overlay would require businesses to meet requirements for landscaping and other pre-determined standards.
The overlay is the commissioners' effort to protect rural landowners and agricultural ground after the Indiana Economic Development Commission's acquisition of about 9,000 acres north and west of Lebanon, and the rural public's organizing to oppose the development.
"The goal is to preserve as much agricultural land and people's rural lifestyle as we can, as the county continues to face pressures associated with growth," Elkins said.
The IEDC is developing the LEAP Lebanon Research and Innovation District, a hard-tech industrial park north and west of Lebanon.
After the announcement last year, commissioners hired a firm to develop a master land use plan for unincorporated areas of the county. They said it was the best way to protect property owners outside of Lebanon in the face of LEAP. The new master plan would have outlined permitted land uses and zoning classifications for land in the state's sights.
But the City of Lebanon subsequently annexed about 6,621 acres of it at the request of the landowners and IEDC, making a new master plan moot.
The county no longer had that land in its jurisdiction and pivoted focus to an overlay district for agricultural land along Interstates 65 and 74, U.S. 52, and Ind. 32, 39, 47 and 75, where residential and commercial growth are expected.
Those intersections may receive increased utilities services, such as water, electricity, and sewage, as they are made available to the LEAP district, but may never be annexed into a town, Elkins said. The services are expected to draw commercial growth, and authorities hope to keep the growth clustered at the intersections.
The overlay will court a good mix of services convenient for area residents. It limits the number of gas stations at one intersection, for instance. This was done in response to public input, which has been gathered at public meetings since the project's inception.
An intersection may include a gas station, a small strip mall with a restaurant and hair salon, or other services area residents may want to find in their own neighborhoods, Elkins said.
The APC meeting is open to the public and scheduled for 6 p.m. Dec. 6 in the Connie Lamar Meeting Room of the Boone County Courthouse Annex, 116 W. Washington St., Lebanon.
Boone County Commissioners must also approve the district for it to be adapted. Their first commissioners' meeting after the APC meeting will be at 9 a.m. Dec. 11 in the courthouse annex.
