FORTVILLE — The town of Fortville is now officially in charge of its own planning and zoning.
At its first meeting of the year on Monday, Jan. 6, the town council concluded a process that’s been about two years in the making to take on responsibilities Hancock County officials formerly held.
Council members kicked things off by unanimously passing an ordinance withdrawing the town as a participating jurisdiction in the Hancock County Area Plan Commission and establishing the seven-member Fortville Advisory Plan Commission. One of the main responsibilities of a plan commission is weighing requests to rezone areas of land to make a proposed development possible.
Town council president Fritz Fentz appointed Nathan Sturdevant, Jim Anderson, Amandia Stanfield and Brittney Layton to the town’s new plan commission.
The council unanimously appointed Lacey Willard, who served on the Fortville Division of the Hancock County Board of Zoning Appeals since it was created in June 2019 and also serves on Hancock County’s plan commission.
Council members were split on their remaining two appointments, however. Becky Davis, Tonya Davis, Fentz and Libby Wyatt voted in favor of Scott Meyer while Robert Holland voted against. Cheyenne Hoffa joined the plan commission after a 3-2 vote, with Holland and Wyatt opposing.
The council then recessed so that the new plan commission could hold a special meeting. Members took the oath of office before electing Willard president and Layton vice president. They also voted 6-0 (Willard was not present) to recommend that the council adopt a town zoning ordinance, subdivision control ordinance and stormwater ordinance, all of which the council later unanimously passed.
Adam Zaklikowski, Fortville’s planning administrator, said at the meeting that the ordinances are largely based off of Hancock County’s.
“We wanted to try to keep the transition from the county to the town as seamless as possible,” he said, adding he also didn’t want to leave the development community with any surprises.
One difference he pointed out was between both bodies’ subdivision ordinances. Hancock County’s is patterned for suburban development, Zaklikowski said. While that’s possible under Fortville’s, it’s not necessarily the goal.
“Under the objectives, we tightened that a little bit to say that we want to make sure that Fortville maintains its unique village appearance,” he said.
The plan commission also appointed Stanfield to be its representative on the five-member Fortville Advisory Board of Zoning Appeals. That board will entertain requests for conditional uses that are outside what’s permitted on a property.
Fentz, who got three appointments to the BZA, chose Zane Trueblood, Earl Bolander II and Lacey Willard.
Bolander told the Daily Reporter that he enjoyed being part of the Fortville division of the county’s BZA for the six months it operated and looks forward to serving on the newly created town BZA.
“Fortville has a bright future and I want to have a hand in the decision-making process,” he said.
It took the council a couple tries to settle on its sole BZA appointment. Holland moved to appoint Bob Hiday, a member of the former Fortville Division of the Hancock County Board of Zoning Appeals and a member of the Hancock County Board of Zoning Appeals, but Wyatt was the only other council member to agree. Tonya Davis then moved to appoint Rick Jacobs, whom the council approved 4-1, with Holland opposing.
Holland said during the meeting that leaving an experienced prospect like Hiday off the board was a mistake.
“If I voted no against you tonight, don’t take that personally,” Holland said. “I have confidence that the folks are going to make the right decisions, but I just think the BZA — they’ve got a tough job. They got a really tough job and we had an opportunity to make it easier on them and this council opted not to, and I’m just really discouraged and disappointed by that.”
Fentz said he wanted to see new faces on the board.
“This is a brand new start, a brand new year and everybody that we picked is more than qualified to do the job,” he said.
Zaklikowski told the Daily Reporter that 10 people applied for the plan commission and seven for the board of zoning appeals. Each applicant submitted a letter of interest and resume, which council members used to make their decisions.
The town council also set a construction fee schedule Monday, which Zaklikowski said was created after looking at fees in Fishers, Hancock County and McCordsville.
“The guiding principle was we really did want to eliminate as much bureaucracy as we could,” he continued. “Some communities have a lot of different fees that get very complicated, and in my opinion, unnecessarily complicated, so we wanted to keep it simple. We also wanted to keep it reasonable, especially for the residents in town.”
A single-family building permit fee for a 2,300 square-foot house, for instance, is $750, which Zaklikowski said is comparable to that in nearby municipalities.
Zaklikowski also said the town is working on hiring a building inspector.
When they have business, the town’s plan commission meets at 6:30 p.m. on the last Tuesday of each month, and the board of zoning appeals meets at 6:30 p.m. on the last Thursday of each month at the Town of Fortville Municipal Building, 714 E. Broadway St.
“We’re excited about the opportunity to have all of this in-house,” Zaklikowski told the Daily Reporter. “We think it’ll make it more convenient for the applicant and we also will truly have local control over these matters. We’ve had a great experience working with the staff of the county plan commission, but now that as we continue to grow, it’s very helpful to have this in-house.”
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Fortville Advisory Plan Commission” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
- Nathan Sturdevant
- Jim Anderson
- Amandia Stanfield
- Brittney Layton
- Lacey Willard
- Scott Meyer
- Cheyenne Hoffa
[sc:pullout-text-end][sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Fortville Advisory Board of Zoning Appeals” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
- Zane Trueblood
- Earl Bolander II
- Lacey Willard
- Rick Jacobs
- Amandia Stanfield
[sc:pullout-text-end]
