VANDERBURGH COUNTY

REZONING BOARD

JULY 15, 2008

The Vanderburgh County Rezoning Board met in session this 15^th day of July, 2008 at 5:41 p.m. in room 301 of the Civic Center Complex with Vice President Bill Nix presiding.

Commissioner Nix: Okay, Janet, we’ll go ahead and get started. I would like to call to order the Vanderburgh County Commissioners Rezoning meeting. It’s, July 15^th, it’s 5:41. Good afternoon.

Janet Greenwell: Good afternoon. I’m Janet Greenwell with the Area Plan Commission. I guess, first we would like approval of our minutes.

Commissioner Nix: I’ll entertain a motion.

Commissioner Tornatta: So moved.

Commissioner Nix: Second. All in favor?

Commissioner Tornatta: Aye.

Commissioner Nix: Aye. Opposed same sign. Thank you.

Janet Greenwell: Thank you.

Janet Greenwell: We have only one rezoning on your agenda tonight. It is Bill Engelbrecht’s Orchard and Farm Market, VC-2-2008. They’re requesting to rezone a part of the property at 16820 Petersburg Road from agricultural to C-4 with a use and development commitment, limiting uses to sales and services typically associated with the primary use of the acreage as an orchard. The C-4 classification will allow sales of incidental items such as novelties and bakery items, things that are outside the scope of a regular permitted roadside stand. The petition was continued from your April 15^th County Commission meeting to allow an amendment. It was a last minute amendment. It came back to Plan Commission. The legal has been amended to a larger size lot, 3.65 acres. The use and development commitment has stayed the same. They have increased the setback distance from the residence to the east. The Plan Commission recommended approval of the petition with eight affirmative votes.

Commissioner Nix: Thank you.

Commissioner Tornatta: Last time, what was the score?

Janet Greenwell: Plan Commission?

Commissioner Tornatta: Right.

Janet Greenwell: Plan Commission voted six, one and one abstention.

Commissioner Nix: Okay. Thank you, Janet. Are the petitioners here? Please step forward and state your name and address for the record please.

Joseph Engelbrecht: Joseph Engelbrecht, 7966 Andy Drive, Newburgh, Indiana, 47630.

Bill Engelbrecht: Bill Engelbrecht, 7999 Vann Road, Newburgh, Indiana, 47630.

Commissioner Nix: Gentlemen?

Bill Engelbrecht: Hi. We took to heart what you all told us at the last Commissioners meeting, and we tried other alternatives. We even tried to purchase ground up on 57 from some people that just didn’t want to sell. So, we did talk to my cousin, Steve Wheeler, the owner of the property, and he agreed to sell us more acreage. So, as you can see in the new drawing there, it looks quite a bit different than the other one. It puts us about 200-250 feet from his house. We sat down with the Donner’s and Mr. Hart at the Donner’s house one evening and discussed this with them. The Donner’s were very pleased with it. I think Mr. Hart still wasn’t happy with it. Okay? I notice that now he has his house up for sale. But, other than that, I haven’t heard any other feedback about it. I think it’s our only last alternative that we can do.

Commissioner Nix: Thank you. You can be seated now, if you’re through. I would like to call any remonstrators.

Ryan Hart: My name is Ryan Hart. I live at 16740 Petersburg Road, Evansville, Indiana, 47725. They did move it, and, apparently, the Donner’s were, I don’t know, okay with it, but I’m still not, just for the fact of, you know, the traffic it’s going to bring out there, the people, and just the commercial building. They have left their selves, you know, to sell pretty much anything they want to, I guess, and do anything they want with that property once it is rezoned. Just for the neighborhood fact, I don’t like it. I don’t like farm ground being destroyed myself, but I just grew up that way. The traffic on 57, the entrance there on Petersburg, you know, off of Petersburg Road, onto 57, it’s, you know, it’s a little tricky, because people are coming off of 164, if they’re heading south on 57, pretty quickly. You know, it’s right there, not, you know, not easily seen. Just, and our road, you know, it’s lightly traveled now, and there will just be too much traffic and too much going on. So, thank you.

Commissioner Nix: Thank you, Mr. Hart. Just for the record, too, you had said that once this is rezoned commercial, anything could be used for it. There is a use and development commitment. Janet, I don’t know if you want to speak to that, as far as the uses for the facility?

Janet Greenwell: The use and development commitment that the Engelbrecht’s entered into as part of this zoning, limits the uses to those, I believe they used the term “agritourism” type uses.

Commissioner Nix: Okay.

Janet Greenwell: Anything that would be typically associated with the operation of an orchard, but added to it the ability for them to sell bakery items, novelty items in their little store. Items produced on site, maybe a few incidental items brought off site and sold in their orchard market.

Commissioner Nix: Okay, thank you. So, are you clear on that then, Mr. Hart?

Ryan Hart: Yeah.

Commissioner Nix: Okay, thank you.

Darlene Welte: My name is Darlene Welte. I live at 16226 Petersburg Road. I live farther down, around the corner, but I have the same concerns that Ryan did, as far as turning the traffic off of 57. It’s not like a 90 degree turn. It’s more than that, if you’re going south. You would have to look at the map so you could see. So, you really have to be very careful. People coming off of 164, they’re picking up speed when they come off of that. So, you really, you have to pay attention, you know, anytime I drive down that, or 57, and I’m going to turn, I have to pay attention if there’s a semi or anybody behind me, because sometimes I won’t even turn there, I’ll go all the way down to Baseline and turn, because they are picking up speed, and you’ve really got to watch that. I had also called the attorney asking him if there, I mean, you’ve got 80 acres of ground there, it seems like instead of putting it in between houses, you know, right up on the road, you can put it back off the road farther, okay? When they come out and was putting up trees and everything, we always thought that was going to be a good thing, but we kind of expected, I guess, that when they did the, you know, where they’re going to sell everything at, that it would be down their lane towards the barn and everything like that, or up on the hill where their people live as far as that take care of the ground and everything like that. It would put it back off the road a little bit, because the people that live there would be in front of it, okay? You know, the last time you were talking about, you know, his dad’s acreage and everything like that, and people live right beside of that. That’s true, but I think a lot of times his dad’s farm was there a lot sooner than a lot of the houses that were built up around it. So, it was them coming in, saying, “Yes, I’ll build up around this.”, you know. At his dad’s place, it wasn’t a commercial building, per se. I mean, it was included in the barn and everything like that. So, you know, it looked more like a home place when you drove into it, you know. So, you know, I’m just concerned with all the traffic on it and everything like that. Yes, you know, they pleased the Donner’s by moving it farther away, but as they moved it farther away, of course, they went closer to Ryan and Brooke’s house, you know. So, you’ve got a problem there, but it just seemed like, you know, Steve’s got 80 acres in through there, their orchard is back off the road and everything like that, it would have been nice if they would have put the commercial building off the road quite a bit farther.

Commissioner Nix: Okay, thank you. Are there any other remonstrators? Would you like to do a summation?

Bill Engelbrecht: Several things, a couple things that she stated, as far as where the orchard is, it’s where our first wishes was to put the market was back where the orchard was. But, talking to the Plan Commission people, you know, the new laws and the ordinance now when you have a commercial building C-4, you have to put a 24 foot road back through there, we would have had to put a new bridge across there. It wouldn’t, to do it for them, it wouldn’t be cost effective to be able to do that. That’s why we didn’t go back there. As far as where one of my employees live on the hill there, we did try to acquire that ground, and they will not sell it to us, okay? They wanted to keep it as all one tract. As far as the commercial building, as far as my dad’s place, it’s going to be pretty much the same. We’re going to have a big barn with a packing shed, a cold storage facility, a grating facility, and that’s what we’re going to start selling out of at first, until we can get enough money together to build the market in front. It will be a farm market type look. It will not be one of those commercial type buildings you see up and down the highway. That’s all I need to say.

Commissioner Nix: Thank you.

Bill Engelbrecht: Thank you.

Commissioner Nix: Commissioner, do you have any questions? I’ll entertain a motion.

Commissioner Tornatta: I thank all three groups for coming out tonight. I think that before we had an issue where we were crowding, and we did ask this individual to move it away from the one existing house. We appreciate that happening. So, looking at what’s here, I don’t see any reason why we can’t go with this. So, I make a motion to approve.

Commissioner Nix: I second. All in favor?

Commissioner Tornatta: Aye.

Commissioner Nix: Aye. Opposed same sign. Thank you.

Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.: Roll call.

Commissioner Nix: Excuse me. Roll call vote. Commissioner Tornatta?

Commissioner Tornatta: Yes.

Commissioner Nix: And I vote yes. It passes. Janet, do you have anything else?

Janet Greenwell: No.

Commissioner Nix: We stand adjourned.

(The meeting was adjourned at 5:52 p.m.)

Those in Attendance:

Bill Nix                                      Troy Tornatta                            Ted C. Ziemer, Jr.

Madelyn Grayson                     Janet Greenwell                       Bill Engelbrecht

Joe Engelbrecht                       Ryan Hart                                 Darlene Welte

Others Unidentified                   Members of Media

VANDERBURGH COUNTY

REZONING BOARD

Bill Nix, Vice President

Troy Tornatta, Member

(Recorded and transcribed by Madelyn Grayson.)