Commissioners give initial zoning approval for Taylorsville car dealership

The Bartholomew County Commissioners have given initial approval to an ordinance that could result in increased traffic at a Taylorsville area intersection where a high school basketball player was severely injured.

The proposal involves about 41 acres east of U.S. 31, northeast of the highway’s intersection with Bear Lane, where a Speedway convenience store and Burger King currently sit.

The most significant change being proposed involves an 11.44-acre parcel now zoned for multi-family use. If the ordinance is given final approval during the commissioners’ April 23 meeting, the zoning would be changed to commercial.

Columbus attorney Jeff Beck said his clients, applicants Franklin Snyder and Jim Ogilvie, want to put an automotive dealership on the rezoned acreage, as well as on an adjacent 11 acres already approved for commercial use. Beck did not specify what type of dealership it would be.

Regarding the remaining 18 acres furthest away from the highway now zoned for multi-family residential use, Beck said there are no current plans for development.

One condition that the Bartholomew County Plan Commission requested in March prior to giving its approval is that there should be no direct access to new developments from U.S. 31, which will likely increase traffic at the highway’s intersection with Bear Lane.

The Indiana Department of Transportation has stated that it does not want to put a traffic signal at U.S. 31 and Bear Road, however, Bartholomew County Highway engineer Danny Hollander said.

Commissioner Carl Lienhoop mentioned that this is the same intersection where Josh Speidel, a standout basketball player for Columbus North, was severely injured in a car accident Feb. 1, 2015.

Lienhoop said he did not like the limited number of access options for the area discussed at Monday’s commissioners meeting.

Alternatives suggested by the plan commission included extending Bear Lane to the east, as well as creating a north-south road that would connect Bear Lane with County Road 700N.

Concerns regarding water quality were also brought up during the meeting.

The plan commission stated that the development should be subject to the review and approval of Eastern Bartholomew Water Corp. with regard to storm water runoff control and groundwater pollution monitoring wells.

Noting that Eastern Bartholomew has a number of wells in that vicinity, “it is an area that is particularly sensitive to any pollutants getting into the groundwater,” city-county planner Jeff Bergman said.

The utility wants easements and agreements necessary for water monitoring, which is included in the ordinance, Bergman said.

A neighboring landowner to the north, David Tobias, expressed concerns about irrigation and water quality.

Tobias also noted that the plan commission originally asked for the extension of County Road 700N across the north line of the proposed development. Currently, the road comes to a dead end far from the highway, just west of County Road 200W.

Although Tobias has received assurances from the commission that none of his property would be involved in the extension, he expressed concern that the creation of new roads near his property might result in increased vandalism.

Commissioner Larry Kleinhenz said the extension of 700N may not be necessary until the residential area is developed.

“It could be three years, or it could be 10 years,” Kleinhenz said.

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Final appointments have been made by the Bartholomew County Commissioners to two new organizations that will handle funding requests to address the area’s opioid crisis.

Retired Columbus attorney Charles Wells was appointed to serve on the Substance Abuse Services Advisory and Accountability Committee. This group will first hear proposals for spending public funds on the opioid crisis as content experts and report its findings to the Substance Abuse Public Funding Board.

Commissioner Carl Lienhoop, an original sponsor of the Alliance for Substance Abuse Progress in Bartholomew County, will serve as a board member, the commissioners announced Monday.

The board would help decide which local government entity could fund projects or programs before they are implemented, as well as make budgetary recommendations to elected officials on what to fund.

Wells will serve on the committee until the end of this year before he needs to seek reappointment. Lienhoop will serve a two-year term on the board.

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