The Bartholomew County commissioners have approved a scaled-back ordinance for small, neighborhood-based commercial areas.
The new regulations still maintain that certain retailers or services like business centers, nightclubs, bars, athletic complexes and liquor stores are inconsistent with these districts, which are essentially an area containing no more than one or two businesses surrounded by residences.
Another provision that was left intact reduces the maximum size and number of wall signs was also kept in the county ordinance. The Columbus City Council approved an almost identical ordinance on Aug. 18 that also includes buffers.
But the commissioners did remove three provisions that they felt are not needed in unincorporated areas. Regulations for neighborhood-based commercial areas now intact for the city, but not the county, include:
Prohibiting businesses with drive-up windows.
Requiring a minimum of four bicycle rack spaces.
Requiring that a sidewalk be provided from any road-side public sidewalk to the building entrance.
After the ordinance received preliminary first-reading approval on Sept. 14 from the commissioners, city/county planner Jeff Bergman said he received a number of concerns and questions that he felt needed to be addressed in public .
“With all things zoning, it is not legal to make existing businesses make changes based on revised zoning regulations,” Bergman said. “This (revised ordinance) just applies to new construction.”
Bergman said he also hear from property owners who want to know if their business or home is zoned neighborhood-based commercial outside of Columbus.
In response, Bergman said he can only name four specific areas outside Columbus that have this unique zoning. They include two lots in Waymansville, a couple of properties in Newbern, a few in the Grammer area and one located along State Road 58, he said.
Neighborhood-based commercial zoning is also not widely used in Columbus, Bergman said. Examples cited during discussions include QuickSigns at the corner of 16th and Union streets, as well as ZwanzigZ Pizza and Brewery at 11th and Lafayette streets.
The intent of the ordinance was not to place additional regulations on existing businesses, Bergman said. Instead, it was the work of city and county planners proactively trying to create circumstances where neighbors might not find a new business in their residential neighborhood objectionable.
One place where this zoning might work with minimal public opposition would be the Taylorsville area, where several new businesses and residences have either been built or are currently under construction.
Bergman and county assessor Ginny Whipple say efforts have always been made to keep city and county zoning ordinances as identical as possible for the benefit of those who work with them regularly including staff, surveyors, land developers and attorneys.
However, county commissioner Larry Kleinhenz, county councilman Jorge Morales and county commissioner-elect Tony London, who will succeed Rick Flohr in January, all said city and county zoning ordinances should not be identical.
If every ordinance in the city applies to rural areas, there would be little or no reason to have separate city and county plan commissions, Kleinhenz said.
Although changes were made,the commissioners said they agreed with most of the ordinance. Flohr says neighbors usually complain when the zoning is so broad that they don’t know what type of business would be going in there.
“Their objection was that it could be anything from a church to a pool hall,” Flohr said. “They want the business consistent with their neighborhood.”
Kleinhenz said it is often a tough balancing act to be both business-friendly and protect residents.
“Especially in the county, you can suddenly find a neighbor operating a business that is not compliant with a zoning district,” Kleinhenz said. “I can think of a dozen instances of that. But until a complaint is generated, we don’t usually deal with those.”
The commissioners did include some changes required by state or federal statutes. One follows Indiana law by making it easier to rebuild a home in an industrial or commercial district damaged by a tornado or other hazard, Bergman said. Another makes a reference to federal law when floodplain variances are being being considered. That reference was needed because there have been inconsistent interpretations of state regulations regarding the topic from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, Bergman said.
