Area Plan Commission takes no action on town ordinance requests
JULIE POLLOCK ELLIOTT PHOTO
The Commissioner’s Room was full before the start of the meeting on Tuesday night, July 7.
The Ripley County Area Plan Commission met for their regular meeting on Tuesday, July 7 in the Commissioner’s Room in the Ripley County Annex Building. The room was full and several were left standing through the entirety of the meeting that lasted over three hours.
The controversial topic that filled the room was regarding the proposed ordinance that the towns of Milan, Osgood and Versailles are seeking to pass.
Part of the proposed ordinance reads, “The purpose of this ordinance is to help preserve downtown storefronts, highway corridor properties, and other commercially zoned buildings for business and economic development purposes. Maintaining active commercial spaces on the first floor of the buildings in these areas supports local businesses, encourages investment, and helps strengthen the long-term vitality of our communities.”
Within the legal notice it says, “if a dwelling unit that is non-conforming used is vacant for 60 days or more, it shall not again be used as non-conforming.” In other words, if a renter (residential) leaves an existing building, the owner would have to rent the space within 60 days or it could no longer be a residential rental, if the new ordinance passes.
There were several business and property owners that filled the room. White Rabbit owner Nick Blackburn shared, “To me this is pretty simple. I think we’re putting the cart before the horse a bit (…) I think the challenge facing our downtown isn’t that we don’t’ have enough commercial space. I think the demand for that space and opening the next business isn’t there and we can’t legislate demand. (…) I’d rather ask, how can we make someone excited to invest in Ripley County? How do we attract more visitors? How do we support the businesses already here so they can grow? How do we encourage young entrepreneurs to take a chance on our downtown? How do we make it easier to renovate old buildings instead of more expensive? Those are the questions that create thriving downtown.”
The Area Plan Commission provides an advisory opinion to the town councils who are seeking the proposed update. The advisory opinion is then sent to the town for consideration.
On Tuesday night, seven members of the board were present for the meeting including David Osborne, Steven Youngman, Todd Ault, Doug Rump, Doug Smith, Rick Shumate and Brent Bascom.
According to Ripley County Attorney John Ertel, a majority vote of the board’s total body is needed to send an advisory opinion back to the towns. The board includes eleven members. Majority vote out of eleven members would be six votes.
On Tuesday night, seven members of the board were present for the meeting including David Osborne, Steven Youngman, Todd Ault, Doug Rump, Doug Smith, Rick Shumate and Brent Bascom. To clarify, six votes out of the seven members present would signify majority.
Joe Jenner was hired to represent the towns of Milan, Versailles and Osgood. Area Plan Commission Vice-President David Osbourne questioned Jenner who was responsible for starting the 60-day time limit and also expressed his concerns with the short 60-day timeframe in general. Jenner responded stating that there are 60-day extensions available for extenuating circumstances and that each community would be responsible for how they handled when the clock started on the 60-day time periods.
Board Member Todd Ault questioned what would happen in the event that he deeded a property that he owned to his son that contained rentals. The answer was returned that due to the deed transfer, the property could no longer be used as rentals and would have to be converted to commercial space.
The towns of Milan and Versailles were represented at the meeting by their town council presidents, Deb Shumate and Roxanne Meyer. Shumate spoke to the board of the positive aspects this ordinance would bring to the town of Milan. Meyer read a statement on behalf of the Versailles Town Council in favor of the ordinance. There was no one present on behalf of the town of Osgood.
The members of the board could motion to send the ordinace back to the towns with favorable recommendation, unfavorable recommendation, or no recommendation.
Milan
One motion was made by Todd Ault to send to the town of Milan with an unfavorable recommendation. Resulting in a 4-3 vote (6 is majority)
Resulting in no official certification sent back to the town of Milan.
Versailles
One motion was made by Todd Ault to send to the town of Versailles with an unfavorable recommendation. Resulting in a 3-4 vote. (6 is majority)
One motion was made to send to the town to the town of Versailles with no recommendation. Resulting in a 2-5 vote.
One motion was made by Doug Rump to send to the town of Versailles with a favorable recommendation resulting in a 3-4 vote.
All voting resulted in no official certification sent back to the town of Versailles.
Osgood
A motion was made by Dave Osborne to send the ordinance back to Osgood for language revisions. Resulting in a 5-2 vote.
Resulting in no official certification sent back to the town of Osgood.
Upcoming Meeting
The next Area Plan Commission meeting will be held on August 4 at 7 p.m. and this topic will likely be on the agenda. Community members are strongly encouraged to attend. Call the Area Planning Office 812-689-6062 for information about the August 4 meeting.
