Planning Commission grants two requests
Cathy May - Contributing Writer

Batesville Attorney Jack Kellerman, represented Kaleido Farm, owned by Andy and Eileen Weisenback at the June 1, Ripley County Area Planning Commission meeting. The Weisenback's requested a re-zone from Agricultural-2 to the Industrial-2 Zone District on 4.83 acres they own which abuts Interstate-74.

The land is located on County Road 525 East which is a major access to the Batesville Industrial Park. All utilities are located at the rest area which is 2/10 of a mile from the property. The land might be used for a commercial driving range, but the owners wanted the zone district with the greatest latitude for use. The Commission voted 11 to 1 to send the re-zone on to the Ripley County Commissioners with a favorable recommendation. The lone dissenting vote was made by Covell Mills.

Sylvester and Monica Honnert applied for a re-zone for land they own on Highway 101 in Penntown. This item was tabled at the January 2004 meeting due to a property line dispute with the Pipe Creek Freewill Baptist Church. Because of the dispute, the Honnerts asked to re-zone only 1.05 acres instead of the 2.32 acres originally requested. Sylvester Honnert said he would provide a quit claim deed to the church for the property in dispute.

The Honnerts want to provide a day care and pre-school on the property in question. They will hook on to the new sewer line from Sunman when it goes by their property. The Commission sent the re-zone request on to the Ripley County Commissioners with a favorable recommendation. The vote was unanimous.

The Commission spent the rest of their meeting discussing proposed changes to the Residential Zones and proposed amendments regarding procedures for tabling motions. The Commission asked Planning Director Tad Brinson to do some more research on both issues.

All twelve members of the planning Commission were present: Sam Row, Kaye Hunger, Roger Lang, Bob Gray, Owen Menchhofer, Sam Melton, Henry Nickell, James Negangard, Covell Mills, Jeff French, Steve Youngman and Dave Osborne. Executive Director Tad Brinson and Attorney John Ertel were present to advise the Commission. All three county commissioners were in attendance, John Little, Bob Reiners and Chuck Folz. The next meeting of the Ripley County Area Planning Commission will be Tuesday, July 6, at 7:00 p.m. at the Ripley County Courthouse Annex.