Columbus has amended its planning jurisdiction based on the recent sale of Otter Creek Golf Course.
The Columbus Plan Commission has approved revisions to its jurisdictional boundaries as a result of the sale.
“The sale of Otter Creek Golf Course to a private entity means that it will automatically be disannexed from the city of Columbus corporate limits,” said city/county planning director Jeff Bergman. “And a side effect to that is that this plan commission will need to redraw the boundary lines of its jurisdiction, because that island of city limits that is Otter Creek is no longer available as a basis upon which to draw those boundaries.”
This means that the commission’s eastern boundary line needs to recede. The jurisdiction will move from approximately half a mile east of State Road 46 to the vicinity of County Road 500 East. Areas that will become part of the county’s jurisdiction include Petersville, Clifty Farms, Highland Ridge and the Meadows at Otter Creek.
Additionally, planning officials have also decided to revise the commission’s north boundary line as well. Certain properties are bisected by the current jurisdiction line, so the commission is pulling back its jurisdiction so that the whole of those properties will be part of the county’s jurisdiction, Bergman told the commission. Heritage Heights, Harvest Meadows, Oakcrest and Colony Parke are among the areas that will be affected by the change.
As stated in the approved resolution, these revisions will either be effective one year from the closing date of the Otter Creek sale or upon the completion of certain steps by the county, whichever comes first.
These steps are to have the Bartholomew County Commissioners, upon recommendation from the Bartholomew County Plan Commission, revise the county’s comprehensive plan to include the areas that are now in its jurisdiction and revise the official zoning map as well.
The sale of Otter Creek Golf Course to Architerra, LLC, was completed in the fall of 2022. Bob Haddad Jr., the chief operating officer at Harrison Lake Country Club, is listed as Architerra’s registered agent.
According to Mayor Jim Lienhoop, the estimated total liabilities assumed by the buyer was $876,391, as of late October. Architerra has also committed to invest at least $5 million to address deferred capital and maintenance needs for the clubhouse and golf course.
Bergman said at a previous meeting that when the course was initially annexed into the city, local officials took advantage of a provision in state law that allows “disconnected areas” to be annexed remotely and included in city limits, so long as the area is a municipal facility of some kind. Now that the course no longer qualifies, it is being disannexed.
According to a memo from Bergman to commission members, the jurisdiction of the city’s plan commission includes all land within city limits plus a two-mile area beyond those limits, which is as far as Indiana law allows. This extended jurisdiction only applies to the city’s “land use planning and zoning authority” and not to other municipal powers such as property tax rate, police authority or fire protection.
The eastern boundary of this jurisdiction had been determined by the existence of Otter Creek as a part of the city. Its disannexation means that boundary line has to be redrawn, according to city officials.
