22 March 2021 Dearborn County Plan Commission Meeting Notes
Present: Dennis Kraus, Jr., Chairman, Russell Beiersdorfer, John Hawley, Mark Lehman, Joe Vogel, Jake Hoog, Dan Lansing, Jim Thatcher, and Eric Lang.
Also Present: Mark McCormack, Plan Director, Nicole Daily Zoning Administrator, and Andy Baudendistel, Attorney.
ACTION ON MINUTES- no action on any minutes
OLD BUSINESS: none
NEW BUSINESS: none
ADMINISTRATIVE To review and discuss proposed ordinance amendments the Dearborn County Zoning Ordinance and the Subdivision Control Ordinance, and to discuss other administrative items—including updates related to Planning & Zoning staff activities and projects.
McCormack said they were not going to discuss any ordinances tonight. He presented maps of the existing land use map. He showed the few PUDs in the county. He did a conversion map that took the existing land uses and and various other iterations using TSW’s (the consultant) maps also and the other straight conversion from cmm plan text. They show a lot of GREEN on the maps. He used existing zones and the existing land use maps. He used Beacon to see where the infrastructure was - such as sewer layer. He has all the sewers mapped except for LMH and Moores Hill. Prime farmland is in the NW area and the western part of the county. There is typically no sewer there. There are some areas there with a string of houses along the road. He pulled up city and town zoning information layers also. Moores Hill is still incomplete. McCormack showed the various layers for drained primed farmland, wetlands etc. Looking at this map for the western part of county.
Areas without sewer went to rural residential because the sewer is in some cases miles away. Around Moores Hill they are showing some residential because there is sewer in the area. On SR 148 they are still wanting to see where the sewer is going to be and who will bring it. Baudendistel said in the 7 years he has been SDRSD attorney, they have not discussed these areas.
The draft conversion map - called Conversion 2.0- was shown. There is more R1 in St Leon. there are fill in areas from Logan to Sawdon Ridge. Georgetown Road is Residential More residential is shown around Lawrenceburg. Most of the lines were drawn with the parcels in mind. Prime farmland is considered. Some areas look like named subdivisions.
McCormack asked- How important is the prime farmland designation? Beiersdorfer also brought up that farming also includes livestock. Hawley said we are 3rd in the state for cattle- with 6,000 head of cattle.When it comes to corn and soybean we are 6th lowest in the state. Our average farm size is 108 acres.
Much discussion on how to decide where Rural Residential should be versus encouraging residential where sewers are. Other issues include the hay production in the rural residential areas, which does support the cattle and other livestock operations. Majority of farmland - over 2/3 is rented out. On 3 acres or so they can make a lot of money using a hoop house and other ways for u-pick farms and orchards etc.
There is still a lot of green on the map- but different shades of green now to reflect the two ag districts.Similarly for the residential areas. I mentioned to the PC board that we originally thought of rural residential as inviting people who want to live in an ag area to live among the farms. NOT trying to worry about the farms encroaching on the large lot homes in rural areas.
Mark said he has lost hair over the future land use map… <Laughter>
An idea to break down the map into smaller areas enlarged. This would be easier to tell what is really in the area - especially for the public. McCormack said he thinks the 2.0 map makes more sense. You can do a lot more with it. How much R1-3 should we project. You can see the path when you look at the current uses. Not sure that you need an air traffic controller for the developers. They can see where to go seeing where the current uses are- and the infrastructure.
Planning office is seeing subdivisions going in where R is already zoned. Also on subdivisions that are in phases and now the phases are going in faster. Wilmington has opportunity in areas if the sewer gets extended and it’s near the school. Sunman has sewer that could extend into North Dearborn Rd. This could go ahead then. Etc Etc.
Mark will email board members maps etc.
McCormack will be on vacation in early April.
Code enforcement officer quit after 3 weeks. Hired someone else who starts in mid April. New person has law enforcement background.
Meeting adjourned at 8:33 PM
Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township
