Workers carry out construction work on a large industrial building east of County Road 700W north of Interstate 70 in October 2021.
Daily Reporter file photo
HANCOCK COUNTY — Officials plan to update county standards for future industrial developments with the hopes of lessening their impact on existing nearby residences.
The review will address rules for landscaping, buffering, screening and exterior lighting at industrial developments in Hancock County’s unincorporated areas. After hearing from many constituents living near the large buildings going up in the western part of the county, leaders agree requirements should be stronger.
Most of the new buildings span hundreds of thousands of square feet and are designed for warehousing and logistics purposes.
John Jessup, president of the Hancock County Board of Commissioners, said the biggest issue he’s been hearing about from those living near the industrial developments has to do with the height of the earthen mounds meant to screen the structures from neighboring properties. The county’s buffering requirements for such projects are low and lenient, he said.
“And none of the developers that we deal with have any problem at all meeting our standards, and they actually love our standards because they’re easy to comply with,” Jessup said.
Hancock County currently calls for industrial properties adjoining agricultural and residential properties to have a buffer yard with a setback of at least 25 feet. The buffer yard must also have a mound at least 3 feet high or a 6-foot fence. The buffer yard comes with requirements for trees and shrubs as well.
Jessup said he wants to avoid situations in which developers plan a project with the county’s requirements in mind, only to be asked to increase mound heights after site work has started due to concerns pouring in from neighbors. The minimum should be raised, he continued, adding that if a situation exists in which a lower mound height might be reasonable, developers could always seek a variance from the county’s board of zoning appeals.
“It’s just a matter of communicating what we expect up front, and I think we learned from all the phone calls what we need to expect,” Jessup said.
The county has hired Context Design, an Indianapolis-based landscape architecture firm, to assist in the review and update of the standards.
Mike Dale, executive director of the Hancock County Area Plan Commission, said the standards being examined have been in place since 2007.
Also on officials’ minds is ensuring exterior lighting at industrial developments isn’t intrusive to nearby residences. Dale noted county code doesn’t include standards for measuring light via foot-candles or lumens at property lines.
Alyssa Prazeau of Context Design said she’ll work with Dale to develop new criteria, then test it by applying it to different scenarios.
“I think there’s an opportunity to just make it a better overall environment for the county as a whole,” Prazeau said.
The tentative timeline moving forward is to present the changes during a plan commission public hearing in March, followed by the commissioners considering adoption in April.
