Photo provided Area of annexation and rezoning is shown on this graphic.
Columbus City Council voted to unanimously pass the second reading of two ordinances to annex and rezone property for future industrial development, along with an accompanying fiscal plan for the property.
Votes on all three were 8-0. Since the two ordinances have been passed on a second reading, both are fully approved. Council member Jay Foyst, R-District 6, was absent.
Jeremy and Cyntha Thompson had asked the city to annex about 19 acres of their property on the west side of County Road 300W, generally between its intersections with State Road 58 and Tuttle Drive. They also asked that the property be rezoned from Agriculture: Preferred (AP) to Industrial: Heavy (I3).
I3 is the city’s heaviest industrial classification, city/county Planning Director Jeff Bergman said.
The requests include two of eight parcels in this area along 300W zoned for agriculture and used for residential. The eight properties are surrounded on all sides by property that has already been annexed and rezoned as industrial, according to the planning staff report.
“This is a property that, over recent years, has kind of become enveloped, if you will, by a series of annexation and rezonings on property that surrounds them,” Bergman said.
During the first reading of the annexation and rezoning ordinances on July 16, council member Grace Kestler, D-at-large, asked the Thompsons if their request had the objective of making sure potential industrial developers had a site that was already annexed and rezoned for resale purposes.
“Am I allowed to say? Absolutely, I’m not ashamed to say that,” Cynthia Thompson responded, prompting a chorus of laughter from members.
But as the matter had made its way through city government, the couple has made clear it isn’t necessarily their wish to sell their property, which has gone back in the family for many generations.
Instead, they have seen their neighbors slowly do the same in an area that’s one of the few in Bartholomew County palatable for commercial development, and feel as though it was inevitable.
“My family’s been here since the 1950s, my kids are the fifth generation to live on this land,” Jeremy Thompson said. “So yeah, we’re not real happy about having to move to begin with, we’re just trying to get our ducks in a row and get ready for what’s coming.”
The Columbus Plan Commission forwarded a favorable recommendation on the annexation and rezoning by a 10-0 vote during their June 27 meeting.
The rezoning includes commitments that require buffering and prohibits the most intense industrial uses, as has been done with other recent rezonings in the area “for the benefit of the remaining residents,” Bergman wrote in a memo to council members. There are also commitments that a right-of-way be dedicated along 300W at the time of development and the use of the road be restricted until needed improvements are made.
“I’d like to thank the Thompson’s, you guys have been incredibly graceful about this whole thing,” council member Kent Anderson, R-district 5, said. “…I hope the sale is a big blessing for you, and I also pray that some great employers shows up and your decision ends up gracing a bunch of families here.”
