27 March 2023 Dearborn County Plan Commission Meeting Notes
Present: Dennis Kraus, Jr., Chairman, Russell Beiersdorfer, Mark Lehman, Jake Hoog, Dan Lansing, Jim Thatcher,Joe Vogel, and Eric Lang
ABSENT: Jeff Hermesch
Also Present: Nicole Daily, Zoning Administrator, and Andy Baudendistel, Attorney.
Baudendistel read the Title VI statement as legally required.
ACTION ON MINUTES- February 27th Minutes - Approved
OLD BUSINESS: none
NEW BUSINESS: none
ADMINISTRATIVE
DEARBORN COUNTY ZONING MAPS – To review and discuss proposed ordinance amendments and updates to the Dearborn County Zoning Ordinance and Zoning Map, specifically with respect to the text(s) of: Articles 9 and 10, regarding Agricultural and Residential Zoning Districts; Article 25, regarding General Standards and new Use Development Standards; Article 27, regarding Definitions.
This will be an overview of all changes to date for only the proposed zoning map changes, which will determine the final proposed zoning map that will be voted on a date yet to be determined.
Nicole Daily- Said she gave them in their packet the changes requested from surveys and emails per township.. She said the maps have some discrepancies with creeks for example. The 2 Ag districts are about 123,490 acres- which is what was Ag before. 21,780 acres are Residential which is approximately what it is now. The one PUD is not include in this. R3 uses at 95 acres. R 1 and R2 make up the rest.
We can talk about the specific townships that have people present tonight. Board agreed.
Lawrenceburg York and Hogan.
Lawrenceburg Township- Public discussion-
Steve Perrine- Scenic Drive- requesting about 38 acres to be Ag and not Ag homestead. His land is touching Ag. Mark Lehman said that they were using Ag Homestead if they were close to sewers. Discussion about being close to sewers but the land around him is steeper and he sees little chance of Residential there. Dennis- Kraus said the property across from him is going to be 3 total instead of 7 lots. Lehman- said Ag Homestead is to be a transition between Ag intensity and Residential. Your points are solid here.
Chris Mueller- Ag intensity uses on our farm- wish to have it changed to Ag to reflect what we are actually doing. Grandfathered uses need to be changed as this farm has not been anything but Ag use. Beiersdorfer asked if we had been harmed monetarily by being Residential. I told him that money is not the only way we can be harmed. There are other ways to be harmed besides monetarily. Having peace of mind concerning our operations requires that we are properly labeled as Ag. Our packet of materials is in the Plan Commission members packets, so I did not reiterate it for the 4th time now. Frank and Mary Ann Brauer also spoke to the board explaining how they were informed that they were buying Ag property back in 1980.
Terry Sawyer- from Carrie Lane off Pribble Road- They have recently inherited the property from her parents- problems with Carrie Rd having a platted subdivision that they are trying to get removed as they want it to be Agricultural like it has been for over 65 years. ( The proposed zoning map has it as Residential.
Jeff Lyness- supported what he was hearing from the previous speakers.
Mr Probst- Hogan Township- Ag Homestead-sees property in that area now that doesn’t meet the criteria for access to sewer. Also would like to see them make decision- Because if they don’t decide to change map- these people will not win on appeal by asking for zone change after it.
[NOTE: This is a significant point - and discussion followed up on this with the attorney also weighing in with how there was no judicial appeal available for people asking to have properties changed due to their current use etc.]
Jeff Lyness- has a piece of property on Burzelbach Rd- about 75 acres owned for 4- 5 years— wants it to be Ag Homestead so he can split it up into smaller parcels. It adjoins Ag Homestead.He wants to maintain his right to be able to do that- as it would have been legal as stated in the current Ag text - just not in the new version.
Center Township- Brett Fehrman- 4792 Park Avenue area of concern.12 acres in the city and 18 acres in the county.Wants to have the same density potential that he had when he bought it 13 years ago. There is some flood plain.
Washington Township- Jeff Meinders- wanted to keep his property Residential and not Ag (Homestead) as it had been changed to on the proposed map. He had provided the PZ office with the sewer availability to his land from the DC Sewer Board maps. He was surprised to see it was now listed as Ag Homestead and not Ag.
Caesar Creek- discussed with no citizens present . I left the room at this point briefly and they discussed Clay Township.
Nicole said she has to have a vote to let her know what properties are changing as she has to have a map for them to vote on. Text and map go together because they don’t want to have issues with text approved and no maps to refer to. Other 7 townships will be discussed at next meeting. Anticipates the June meeting to have it ready. This will go to first meeting in August for commissioners to have final approval,
Meeting adjourned at nearly 10 PM
Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township
