VANDERBURGH COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FEBRUARY 2, 2016

Transcription

1 The Vanderburgh County Board of Commissioners met in session this 2 nd day of February, 2016 at 4:01 p.m. in Room 301 of the Civic Center Complex with President Bruce Ungethiem presiding. Call to Order President Ungethiem: Good afternoon. I would like to call the Vanderburgh County Board of Commissioners February 2, 2016 meeting to order. Attendance Roll Call President Ungethiem: Madelyn, will you please do roll call? Commissioner Melcher: Here. President Ungethiem: Here. Having two people here, Joe is out of town, but we do have a quorum. Pledge of Allegiance & Invocation President Ungethiem: Please stand and join us in the Pledge of Allegiance, and remain standing for the invocation. (The Pledge of Allegiance was given.) Commissioner Melcher: Father God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, be with us as we have this meeting tonight. Help guide us to lead our county forward. Please watch over us tonight and watch all of our families and all of our friends with the storms and everything that are heading. So, please give us safe travels. In Jesus Name we pray. Amen. Permission to Open Bids: V01-16: Tandem Truck President Ungethiem: Do we have any visitors with us? Students? I don t see any. Happy Groundhogs Day, we have good news from Pennsylvania. The groundhog did not see his shadow, so spring is on its way. Scot, you re ready. No more snow. The groundhog guaranteed it. Alright? The first item on the agenda is the permission to open bids for the County Highway truck, bid number BID-V I would entertain a motion to open the bids. Commissioner Melcher: So moved. President Ungethiem: I will second. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Commissioner Melcher: Aye. President Ungethiem: Aye. Those opposed? President Ungethiem: Okay, Joe, you can open the bids while we go ahead with the other action items.

2 Page 2 of 21 West Terrace 4K 4 Kids Road Closure Request President Ungethiem: First on the action items is a road closure request. West Terrace 4K 4 Kids on April 4, All of the paperwork has been submitted to the Sheriff s Department and reviewed and recommended for approval. Is anyone here to please come to the podium. William Stein: Can you check the date on that? It s actually April 2 nd. President Ungethiem: Oh, okay. It says the 4 th, okay. William Stein: So, we re having our fifth annual 4K 4 Kids. President Ungethiem: Can you state your name? William Stein: Sorry, William Stein. Shawn Wilzbacher: Shawn Wilzbacher. President Ungethiem: Okay, go ahead. William Stein: Okay, so, we re having our fifth annual 4K 4 Kids, it s a color run that kind of benefits West Terrace Elementary. We re going to have the run kind of around the school. So, we re asking for the road to be closed for safety concerns. President Ungethiem: Okay, and the 2 nd would be a Saturday? William Stein: Yes, sir. President Ungethiem: Okay. Alright, any questions? Commissioner Melcher: required And, I guess, we ve got the Sheriff s okay and all of the William Stein: Yes, we filled out the proper paperwork. Hopefully I put down the right date, but, yeah, we got the insurance covered and everything. Commissioner Melcher: Okay. President Ungethiem: Alright, I would entertain a motion. Commissioner Melcher: I make a motion to approve it. President Ungethiem: And I will second. Roll call please. President Ungethiem: Have fun. William Stein: Thank you, appreciate it. Shawn Wilzbacher: Appreciate it. President Ungethiem: Hope the weather is good. William Stein: Yeah.

3 Page 3 of 21 Resolution CO.R : Authorizing EMA Grant Execution President Ungethiem: The second action item is a resolution authorizing EMA grant execution. It s R , and Joe is going to explain to us what this is all about. Joe Harrison, Jr.: It s my understanding the State Homeland Security requested that, in the future, the county can sign off electronically on grants. Is that it, Cliff? Why don t you come up, if you want. This is a resolution authorizing Brian Gerth to sign off on behalf of the county for grant money that the county may awarded down the road. Cliff Weaver: Yes, I m Cliff Weaver, EMA Director. They ve required this for all 92 counties, and it will streamline the system for the grant paperwork. The Auditor will still get the notification. The resolution that you will sign will authorize him to electronically sign the paperwork. Joe Harrison, Jr.: This, it s my understanding those grants will probably still come to the Commissioners, but he can sign off electronically on those. Cliff Weaver: Yes, and we actually have three grants pending right now. President Ungethiem: So, we get notification, but we don t have to approve it? That s being approved by the Auditor? Joe Harrison, Jr.: Well, no, no. The Commissioners will approve grants, but he ll sign off, because it s got to be an electronic signature. They don t want a signature at the meeting. President Ungethiem: Okay. Cliff Weaver: That s correct. Commissioner Melcher: So, it s going to be the same procedure, except that he ll be able to sign off electronically? Cliff Weaver: Yes, that s my understanding. Joe Harrison, Jr.: And that s what the resolution states. Commissioner Melcher: As long as the computers are running and everything. Cliff Weaver: Yes, I agree with you. Commissioner Melcher: That s what we re coming to. President Ungethiem: Okay, I would entertain a motion. Commissioner Melcher: So moved. President Ungethiem: Second. Roll call please. Cliff Weaver: Thank you very much. President Ungethiem: We ll keep the.oops, be careful. Cliff Weaver: And I will take that off my foot. President Ungethiem: Cliff, keep the severe weather to the south this evening.

4 Page 4 of 21 Cliff Weaver: Right now we re looking pretty good. President Ungethiem: Okay, good. First Reading of Ordinance CO : Amendment to Export Health Certificate Ordinance President Ungethiem: Action item number three is the first reading of ordinance CO , Health Department amendment to export health certificate ordinance. I think Mr. Gries has joined us to explain. Joe Gries: Good evening. Joe Gries, Vanderburgh County Health Department. The Health Department provides a service for entities that export, basically food, to other countries. Other countries require a certain level of certification by the local Health Officer. So, Dr. Spear is required to sign off on the status that the local manufacturer of the food has with the Food and Drug Administration with the federal government. This is a service that we provide. There s a fee involved, and the change for this ordinance that we re requesting is to increase this fee. In 2016 from ten dollars to 15 dollars, and then an additional dollar until it hits 20 dollars five years out. So, these funds are revenue that the Health Department brings in to help offset costs that we have. It s Miscellaneous Revenue, so, instead of taxpayer dollars we re able to do certain things that we need to do to provide services to the public. So, it helps us with that. President Ungethiem: How many companies within Vanderburgh County do we provide this service to? Joe Gries: Only one right now. That s Mead Johnson. President Ungethiem: I m aware of that one from a previous employment. Joe Gries: Yeah, others who would do it would have to go through the same process. We ve sent information to the folks at Mead Johnson that have collaborated with us in the past on this. I haven t received any return information from them or requests for discussion or anything. President Ungethiem: Okay, I would entertain a motion. Joe Harrison, Jr.: This is first reading. President Ungethiem: For first reading. Commissioner Melcher: Yes, I ll move to approve the first reading. President Ungethiem: I ll second. Madelyn, roll call. Joe Gries: Thank you. President Ungethiem: Thank you, Joe. Permission to Advertise 2015 Statement of Receipts & Expenditures President Ungethiem: Action item four is permission to advertise the 2015 statement of receipts and expenditures. It s a legal ad, I think this will be in The Courier on Friday, February 5, This is simply to advertise all of the financials, if you will, for the county in the paper. This is done annually. I would entertain a motion.

5 Page 5 of 21 Commissioner Melcher: So moved. President Ungethiem: Second. Roll call please. EWSU/County Interlocal Agreement: Heckel Road Sheriff: Amended FOP Collective Bargaining Agreement JE Shekell OCH Semi-Annual Preventative Maintenance Agreement Health Dept: Courier & Press Advertising Contract President Ungethiem: Under contracts, agreements and leases, Evansville Water and Sewer and the county interlocal agreement for the relocation of the water line on Heckel Road. This water line is being relocated as part of the reconstruction of Heckel Road between Green River Road and Oak Hill. It looks like John is going to give us a quick update. John Stoll: Yeah, this agreement is like what we ve done on prior projects where we ll have the water main relocation done in conjunction with the road project. Then we will request reimbursement from the Water Department upon completion of the project. This allows the county s road contractor to have a little better control on the scheduling of the relocation work. President Ungethiem: Makes sense. Okay Joe Harrison, Jr.: The Water and Sewer has already signed it. President Ungethiem: They ve already signed the agreement? Joe Harrison, Jr.: Yes. President Ungethiem: Okay. Commissioner Melcher: I would make a motion to approve it. President Ungethiem: I second that. Roll call please. President Ungethiem: Thanks, John. The next item is Sheriff s Office, I think there are two amendments here. The Sheriff s Office, Sheriff Deputy s amendment for collective bargaining agreement. The first agreement is new language in the agreement, and the second agreement is to change the contract date. Is there anyone here to speak to that? Are you Chris? Chris Roe: Yes. Thanks for putting us on the agenda tonight, Commissioners. Basically, this is an amendment to reflect the date change of when the contract actually went into effect, which was June the 1 st. Essentially it was supposed to go into effect in January, so, the amendment reflects the date change. The other amendment on Article XVI, Section 7 of the contract, which basically makes the language a little bit more clear

6 Page 6 of 21 when we do a retiree s buyout. It essentially is going to end up saving the county 72 hours per retiree whenever that person separates from our agency. President Ungethiem: Okay, as I m understanding this it will take two amendments, or two motions, or can we do them both at once? Joe Harrison, Jr.: No, it s just one vote. It s all in here, in the document. President Ungethiem: Okay, all in one document? Joe Harrison, Jr.: Yeah. President Ungethiem: Okay, so we need a motion to approve. Commissioner Melcher: So moved. President Ungethiem: Second. Roll call please. Commissioner Melcher: First, I would like to say that I m glad we re able to do this again. I m surprised nobody called me. Usually I m out there with you and we re talking about this for days. Chris Roe: Absolutely, yeah. Commissioner Melcher: So, this is the first time we ve gotten this far now. So, I m glad we finally are able to do this. So, I vote yes. Chris Roe: We will be calling you. Commissioner Melcher: I thought so. President Ungethiem: And, I vote yes. So, it s approved. Chris Roe: Thank you, Commissioners. President Ungethiem: Thank you. Next on the agenda is a semi-annual preventative maintenance agreement for the Old Courthouse with J.E. Shekell. The cost of this contract is $6,050, and will run from the date of signing through the end of This is a preventative maintenance contract for equipment in the Old Courthouse, the boilers, air conditioning, pumps, that kind of thing. Any questions? Commissioner Melcher: No, but Joe ought to be here. This is his thing. President Ungethiem: Anything you want to add, Kristin? Is Kristin good with this? Kristin Comer: Yes. President Ungethiem: Okay. Commissioner Melcher: I m fine. I ll move for approval. President Ungethiem: I ll second it. Roll call please.

7 Page 7 of 21 President Ungethiem: Next on the agenda is Health Department, Courier & Press contract for advertising smokeless classes. Joe will enlighten us again. Joe Gries: Alright, this is a contract with the Courier & Press to advertise the classes that we are offering for Stop Smoking and Weigh Down classes as well. Last year they advertised at the end of the year for three months. I believe the numbers are the same as the contract that we had with them last year. It really increased the participation rates that we had with these two classes to help folks quit smoking and also to lose weight. So, this is paid out of a grant. It s our Local Health Maintenance Fund grant, and is money that we get from State for that. President Ungethiem: How many different classes will there be over the course of a year? Joe Gries: It kind of depends on participation. The Weigh Down classes, we actually go out into the community. We go to churches, we go to businesses, we can do it at schools, for staff members, and we provide that. The smoking classes, I would have to get that information for you. I m not sure how many there are, but the more people we have, the more we can accommodate. President Ungethiem: Alright, I would entertain a motion. Commissioner Melcher: So moved. President Ungethiem: Second. Madelyn, roll call. Joe Gries: Thank you, gentlemen. President Ungethiem: Thanks, Joe. County Engineer President Ungethiem: We ll move into the next section of the meeting, department head reports. Which one of you guys would like to go first? John Stoll: I just have one thing this afternoon. It s the notice of termination for the Green River Road project. This is a form we have to file with IDEM to notify them that there s no more land disturbing activities going on on the project, and that it s closed out and stabilized. It s just a matter of some paperwork that has to be done to close out the project. It requires a Commissioner s signature. President Ungethiem: Okay, I just wanted to give you some feedback. I ve had numerous people who use that road who compliments us on the quality of the road and the smoothness of the road and the looks of the road. So, we apparently caught somebody s attention and we ve done a good job on that road. We should be proud of that structure. John Stoll: Yeah, it definitely is much better than the problems we had on the prior section. John Stoll: It looks better and it definitely rides better.

8 Page 8 of 21 Commissioner Melcher: I m glad to get this behind us, because some of us coming on inherited all of this. So, I m just glad that we was able to solve it all and get it done. So, I ll make a motion to approve it. President Ungethiem: And, I ll second. Roll call please. John Stoll: That s all I have, unless you ve got questions. President Ungethiem: (Inaudible). John Stoll: Thanks. County Highway President Ungethiem: Scot, anything? Scot Wichser: Not really. Just waiting for that bid. President Ungethiem: Joe, at this place in time do you want to give us some enlightenment on, since Scot is waiting, on the bids for the truck. Joe Harrison, Jr.: Well, there was only one bid that came in, and it was from, let me get the name of the outfit again here, Truck Centers well, let s see here, that s not right. It came from Truck Centers, Inc., and the manufacturer is Freightliner, Model 108SD 2017, supplier Truck Centers, Inc. of Evansville. The bid amount is $154,948. One fifty four nine forty eight. I would ask that this bid be taken under advisement and have the county folks look at it and make a determination at the next meeting what they want to do. Scot Wichser: Thank you. It came in better than what I thought. President Ungethiem: Good. Scot Wichser: Good. Madelyn, would it be alright if we send somebody down to pick that up tomorrow morning? Madelyn Grayson: Sure. Scot Wichser: Okay. Alright, other than that, cleaning trucks after the snow storms and getting ready for the thunder storms. President Ungethiem: Should we take this under advisement? Joe Harrison, Jr.: Yeah, I would just, motion made to take it under advisement and consider it thereafter. Commissioner Melcher: So moved. President Ungethiem: Second. Roll call.

9 Page 9 of 21 Scot Wichser: Alright, thank you. President Ungethiem: Take a look at it and make sure it s everything you need and let us know. Scot Wichser: Alright, thank you. President Ungethiem: Alright. Any other department heads? Board Appointments President Ungethiem: Board appointments, we have a re-appointment on the Homeless Commission of Stephen Ralph, and a re-appointments on the Board of Zoning Appeals; Mike Zehner and Jonathan Parkhurst, these are current members to be re-appointed. We still have a vacancy on the Legal Aid Board, so, if anybody is interested please let us know. We have that board yet to fill. Commissioner Melcher: I think we ve got another board to, MBE/WBE, or whatever that is that board still open? Kristin Comer: I ll have to look. Commissioner Melcher: I m sure that s still open. Okay. President Ungethiem: Is there a motion to approve the board appointments? Commissioner Melcher: So moved. President Ungethiem: I second. Roll call please. New Business/Old Business President Ungethiem: Okay, new business, any new business to discuss? Any old business? Public Comment President Ungethiem: Any public comment? Does anyone want to speak? Okay, it s going to go quick. You guys are worried about the weather or something here? Consent Items President Ungethiem: Madelyn, would you read the consent items please? Madelyn Grayson: The consent items for the February 2 nd meeting are as follows; we have approval of the January 19, 2016 Commission meeting minutes; employment changes for the Commissioners approval, we have one for the County Highway, and two for the Health Department; we have a request to waive Old National Events Plaza fees for the County Assessor for an International Association of Assessing Officers courses and Old National Bancorp Ignite It Creativity Forum and 100 Men Who Cook ; Weights and Measures has a monthly report; the County Auditor has approval of

10 Page 10 of 21 January 2016 A/P vouchers; the EPD has a Byrne Justice grant agreement; the Engineering Department has a department head report; we have Uniform Conflict of Interest Disclosure Statement for David Dunn, and a request to surplus from the Health Department for computer equipment, the County Assessor for computer equipment, and the Sheriff s Office for two vehicles. President Ungethiem: Okay, let me make a clarification on the Old National Event fees. As a part of the agreement for signage and naming rights for the Old National Events Plaza, Old National has in that contract two free uses of the facility. This is using those two free uses of the facility. So, it s not two additional, it s their two that they get as part of the contract. So, it s simply to note that they are using their two free uses of the facility for these two non-profit organizations. So, I would entertain a motion to approve. Commissioner Melcher: So moved. President Ungethiem: Second. Roll call. First Reading of Rezoning Ordinance VC Petitioner: Catholic Diocese of Evansville (Resurrection Church) Address: 5301 Harmony Way Request: Change from R-1 to C-1 Action: Sent to APC President Ungethiem: Okay, we ll move on to the rezoning part of the meeting this evening. The first is a first reading of rezoning ordinance VC The petitioner is the Catholic Diocese of Evansville, it s Resurrection Church, 5301 Harmony Way. They re requesting a changed from R-1 to C-1. I would like to entertain a motion to approve the first reading of this ordinance so it can go to the Area Plan Commission on March 10, Commissioner Melcher: Yes, I ll make that motion that we approve it, since it s first reading and to go to the Area Plan. President Ungethiem: I will second that. Any discussion on this? Anyone here wanting to speak on this rezoning? I m assuming this rezoning to C-1 is for a sign? As I read it, it would be rezoned to put a different sign out front. Roll call please. President Ungethiem: First reading is approved, and will move on to Area Plan.

11 Page 11 of 21 Final Reading of Rezoning Ordinance VC As Amended Petitioners: Charles & Carolyn Ann Farney Address: 728 E. Baseline Road Request: Change from Ag to R-4 with 2 nd Amended UDC Action: Denied 2-0 President Ungethiem: The second one is the final reading of rezoning ordinance VC as amended. The petitioners are Charles and Carolyn Ann Farney, address 728 E. Baseline Road, request to change from Ag to R-4 with a second amended use and development commitment. To get this started, I would like to entertain a motion to get this on the floor. Commissioner Melcher: So moved. President Ungethiem: And, I second. Any opening remarks from Area Plan? No? Okay. Joe Harrison, Jr.: I need to swear them in. President Ungethiem: wishes oh, you do that. We ll need to swear in the people who, anybody who Joe Harrison, Jr.: All those who wish to speak in connection with this rezoning petition please raise your right hand. Do you swear, affirm the testimony you re about to give is true and accurate so help you God? Chris Wischer: I do. Joe Harrison, Jr.: Thank you. Chris Wischer: Excuse me, I do. I m sorry, I m not feeling my best today, so, I m going to try to trudge through this thing. If I miss anything, Jim Morley, Jr. is here, he can fill in the holes. What I would like to do, we were here last meeting, as you will recall, so, what I would like to do rather than go through everything we presented that night is try to pick up where we left off that night. To remind you, we re here for the rezoning of this nine plus acre property from Agricultural to R-4 with a use and development commitment. It s property that s owned by Charles and Carolyn Farney. They were to be here, but they ve been held up, so, they re going to be here in a few minutes, but we ll, if we need them we can call them. When we left, in the last meeting, at the end we had a lengthy discussion about some things that we should consider, and potentially, and deal with, some issues. To kind of refresh you all, those issues were; height restrictions on the buildings that adjoin the residential subdivision to the east, more specifics on a tree buffer, types of trees, height of trees, etcetera; some specificity as to the exterior building materials, what those would be, perhaps a percentage; timing for when the fence and the trees would be constructed and planted. Our prior attempt was perhaps a little vague on those details. To provide a more detailed phasing plan, we had some discussion about when the buildings would be constructed and what time. We were asked to check with Evansville Water and Sewer and discuss sewer availability with them. We were tasked with coming up with a revised UDC to address those concerns that we felt like we could address to get that UDC to the neighbors, schedule a meeting, hold a meeting, and then make any further revisions and get that filed. That all did happen. There was a meeting held on the 22 nd of January. We ve heard of some complaint of a compressed time table as far as receiving a notice and then having the meeting, but I do want to explain that from your meeting of the 5 th, the deadline to file the UDC revised was the 25 th. So, we re working with 20 days from the meeting to the deadline. The letter that went out to the neighbors went out on the 15 th, so, we did take some days to review, discuss some issues, talk to Evansville Water and Sewer, see where we were, and then make revisions and get that out. Then the meeting was held a week later. Also, in that letter, Mr. Morley did ask if anybody couldn t make the meeting or if they had specific questions they were certainly free to call him. So, that was the process that we did to try to meet the neighbors. We did have a meeting, Jim handled the meeting, and there were some folks there, and it did result in some requests and

12 Page 12 of 21 some changes to the UDC. So, the revised UDC that I ve passed out, and was filed on the 25 th, does deal with these issues. I think what we end up with is a pretty robust use and development commitment, that I ll remind you can be enforced by the Area Plan Commission, as well as anyone within a mile of the development. The privacy fence would be six feet, as before, but we ve added that the fence would be sealed every five years, to make sure that it stays in good condition, and that all of the fence would be constructed prior to the certificate of occupancy being issued for the first building being built. That means that no, none of these buildings can be occupied until such time as the entire fence is built along the boundary line. Paragraph three in the UDC deals with trees, it adds more specificity to that requirement, a combination of pine and deciduous trees along the eastern boundary. We ll have a minimum height of eight feet. There was no height minimum in the original draft, and spacing between the trees would not exceed 20 feet. So, that provides some specificity to how those trees would be planted, and, again, like the fence, all of the trees would be planted prior to the C of O being issued on the first building. So, there was a lot of discussion last time about, we talked about grading and seeding the area of the fence, that we could potentially play games with that and build buildings in one area and never get around to building the fence. I think this makes it clear that the fence will have to be built and the trees planted prior to anybody occupying those buildings. Again, the parking lot lighting remains the same, shielded down to minimize spillage. We did add a provision for the exterior of all of the apartment dwelling buildings would be a minimum of 25 percent brick and stone veneer. So, we do have some specificity as to how the exterior of these buildings are going to look. I think one of the more important, most important requests that were made was dealing with the buildings along the adjoining subdivision, and whether they would be three feet or we could put some height restriction on those. So, the commitment is that those apartment buildings, within 110 feet of that line would be limited to two stories in height. So, we think that adequately addresses that concern. We did, Jim did discuss sewer availability with Evansville Water and Sewer, and there is some question about sewer, and some modeling may need to be done to find out whether any improvement needs to be made. Certainly that would need to be done, and if there are improvements that need to be made, that would need to be done before any building permit was issued. So, we continue to explore that with Evansville Water and Sewer. I think that s going to have to happen whether this property is developed as anything. As I understand it from Jim, and he can correct me if I m wrong, it s an issue that will need to be addressed for more properties on the north side out there, and that Evansville Water and Sewer is committed to look at and try to maybe put that closer to a time frame in their budget to perhaps this year or next. So, we would continue to work on that issue following a rezoning. Lastly, I do want to say, remind you that this is a mixed use area. There are single family residence subdivision, obviously, next door, we ve discussed. On the other side, on the west side, there s a commercial RV park, RV dealership. We have the school out there, a church, assisted living, Federal Express, all kinds of different uses, and, so, it s already a mixed use. There s not a consistent use and development pattern. Multi-family does provide some buffer between single family and commercial. That s why we think this is an appropriate zoning. Plan Commission, way back in November or October, it s been a while, November? They did recommend the rezoning, it was 7-2 with one abstention, Mr. Ungethiem, Commissioner Ungethiem did abstain, and that was with a less robust use and development commitment than we have today. So, we believe we ve addressed all of the concerns raised by the Commissioners. We ve addressed concerns that were raised by anyone that adjoined directly the property. We believe, through that process, we ve come up with what I said was a very robust use and development commitment that can be enforced by the neighbors, and anybody within a mile. Through that process of discussing it and making changes, we ve made it better than we started, and I think that s always good. So, we appreciate that. With that, I ll answer any questions, unless Jim has anything to add. President Ungethiem: Any questions? Commissioner Melcher: No. President Ungethiem: I had one question. You talked about the sewer needs to have some work, evaluation to determine, if it s determined that that sewer needs to be substantially upgraded or upsized, who pays for that?

13 Page 13 of 21 Chris Wischer: I think that s, I mean, honestly, it s an open question that we would probably have to discuss with Evansville Water and Sewer to determine what those upgrades are, how extensive they are, whether they would benefit solely this property or other properties, there s a lot of factors that go into that. I think, certainly, this developer goes into that with an open mind. It s certainly, you know, like a lot of these projects, those things are discussed and figured out, and that s what we do. President Ungethiem: (Inaudible)? Okay, so there s no agreement between the developer and Chris Wischer: No, we re not there yet. There s some, you know, there would be a lot more work that would need to be done. If the zoning is not going to be approved, then, you know, that s something we would prefer to take care of after. President Ungethiem: Okay. I don t know that we have any other questions. I think I understand, from my standpoint, I have been looking at this, obviously, for a couple of months. I have a lot of information accumulated. I have a pretty good idea of what you re planning here and what the end result will be. If you have nothing else, I would like to ask if there are any remonstrators in the audience who would like to speak on this rezoning? Please come up and state your name and address. We need name and address, right? Thomas Bentley: Thomas Bentley, Wrigley Drive. Before we get into my things that I wrote down, I just wanted to.well, I ll just get into it, last time I didn t. So, this development will permanently alter the character of our neighborhood and the surrounding land, which will lead to a change in the very quality of life that makes Scott Township and rural areas like this such an attractive place to live. Per the county code, it is said to provide adequate light, air, privacy and secure safely from fire, flood and other danger, and to prevent overcrowding of land and undue congestion of population. So, I just wanted to the apartment complex fires have been in the news lately, and I just, briefly just Googled and came up with, in the last year, that I found, there s been 12 apartment complex fires in the Evansville area, from January 1 st to current. That includes; Beaver Creek, Pavilion Lake, Sugar Mill Creek, Brooklyn Place, Brentwood Arms, the list goes on. My property being 50 feet and then another 50 feet of their property, it s very close, and especially when trees and a fence, it s very scary. I know that there are house fires and things like that, but when an apartment complex fire goes, it spreads. Most of these fires are three buildings, two buildings, three buildings, two buildings, three buildings, a death, three buildings, it s very scary. So, that s one major concern that I have. Then, along with that comes the overcrowding of land. So, we have that intersection, so we re going to add, if we do add 500 people into that complex, you have the school, you have the church, you have the big, huge assisted living area, you have the new, huge Fed Ex center coming in right there. It s going to bring a lot of undue congestion to that area, to that intersection, and it s going to put a lot of burden on everyone. Also, with the apartment complex, they re going to have children, they re going to have kids, and a fence, you know, with teenagers, with kids, a fence will not keep them out from exploring. So, they re going to be into the neighborhood, they re going to be riding their bikes, they re going to be fishing in the lake, they re going to be exploring the drainage ditches, they re going to be all over. That puts a lot of undue burden on the landowners with a bordering pond. It puts a lot of additional burden on the homeowners for traffic, bike traffic, foot traffic, kid traffic. Also, it s going to raise potential vandalism and theft to increase. Also in the county code it talks about having an enhancement and enjoyment of property, and to provide regulation of land for the community while preserving the rights of all of the property owners. So, for me, putting an apartment complex 100 feet from my house and against a subdivision is not a way of enhancing and enjoying my property. Being overshadowed by large apartment buildings, if I want to go out back and cook, or grill, or cook dinner, I m going to have people staring out the window or on the balcony of the two stories just looking down. It s not an ideal situation for me. I looked through the Plan Commission comprehensive plan, it talks about growth and development in a rural area shall not detract from the primary activities, and also protecting the rural identity and character. Having big, eleven, ten, eleven two or three story buildings in this area is going to detract from the identity and character of this area. In that plan it also talks about general land use and compatibility. It talks about compatibility questionable and incompatible, and by those

14 Page 14 of 21 definitions, we re pretty much incompatible. So, it says when adjacent land use neither benefits nor compliments each other, when they are anticipated negative impacts and includes emissions, odors, materials, loud noises, reduced property values and ability of landowners to enjoy their property. When differences in the land use is substantial and when it s obvious that a proposal does not fit the character of this area, it is not compatible. These conditions make economic barriers by discouraging adjacent landowners from investing in a property, so when my children move out and I try to sell my home, there s no one going to invest in buying my $187,000 home, and be butted up next to a huge apartment complex. It s just not going to happen. We do not complement each other, and that is why there is also everyone wanting a clear, distinct border, which is a fence and tree row. We do not want them over in our subdivision, and I m sure they don t us over there. An obvious apartment development in this area is not a character of this area. These build barriers for landowners and surrounding community. Loud noises are part of the complex mix-up, along with property values probably being reduced and the enjoyment of our property, as well as increased crime will be coming in with apartment complexes. So, I looked up the GIS Evansville Plan Commission crime map online, and I just picked ten apartment complexes, did it from January 1 st till current, those include The Timbers, Sugar Mill Creek, Delaware Trace, Lake Shore, Pavilion Lakes, North Park, Woodbridge Place, Brooklyn Place, The Arbors, Abbey Court, and on average, that brings for the year, 13 crimes per average were reported. The high being 29 for the year, the low being five. The most common was theft, vandalism and burglary. Then I said, well, let s look up Scott Township for the same time period, I looked it up and only four crimes were reported in the whole Scott Township area, and three of those were vandalism. Then on the map, if you look, they re in a row, so it looks, for me, I drive that way, and I noticed that there s been a lot of mailbox vandalism. So, it looks like that s what three of the four is mailbox vandalism, which happens in a rural setting. So, you have lots of crime coming to the area. Then, lastly, I just wanted to talk about the neighborhood meeting. I received the, on our letter it was postmarked on the 16 th, stamped by the Post Office, Monday was a holiday and then we received it on a Thursday. So, we received our letter on Thursday, the meeting was on a Friday at 5:00 p.m. I got off work at 5:00 p.m. and was not able to attend, but the alarming fact is that when I asked our neighborhood, did you guys receive any letters, 1/3 of them said, no, they never received any letter. So, they don t know about the meeting, they never were able to go to the meeting, they never were able to be contacted about the meeting, they never received letters. Then, the last little piece I would say is, in that letter it had their five year plan, which consisted of building one to two buildings a year for the next five years. We know a big project like that, they re probably not going to be on time, so most likely it will be six years from when that starts. Then I saw on there, year four is when they ll even build the office. So, and I know it s a concept plan, but if you re going to invest millions of dollars, I think you can invest another couple thousand and come up with a great plan to move forward. I know when I was little I wanted to always own my own golf course. So, I always had plans drawn up about my own golf course. I didn t have any money, but if I were to invest millions of dollars, I would have great plans and great building layouts and knowing exactly what I wanted to do. I have one daughter that s in the fourth grade right now, so when this is going to be complete, she ll be in the 10 th or 11 th grade, and I don t really want to see six years of construction in my backyard. It s just not something that I look forward to and want to deal with. So, I hope that you guys make the right decision and thank you for your time. President Ungethiem: Any questions? Commissioner Melcher: No. President Ungethiem: How do you spell your last name? Thomas Bentley: B-e-n-t-l-e-y. President Ungethiem: Thank you very much for your comments. Brandon Wagner: I m Brandon Wagner, Fenway Drive. Thomas covered most of it pretty well, I think. I was one of the ones that didn t get the letter. You know, they could have gave us a little more notice on that. I should have took some notes here. You know, I m not butted up against the property, but when I m in my front yard, I look to

15 Page 15 of 21 the west, I ll be able to see these apartments. I just don t want to have to look at those and look at the big buildings. I moved out there to the county to get away from apartment complexes. The traffic coming, we ve got a lot happening out there. We ve got the Fed Ex facility, the nursing home, the church, and now we want to put apartments on top of this. We also already have some apartments that are going in in Darmstadt. So, you re going to have competing apartments in a new area. They seemed like they had a better plan. I attended that meeting at the Area Plan Commission. They had actual nice drawings of everything. Where we re just getting some sketches. So, we don t even know what these buildings are going to really look like, other than 25 percent brick or stone. It seems like they should be investing more money to get some more concrete plans. On top of it, building one building at a time, doesn t make sense to me. I mean, if they can t afford to build at least half of this complex all at once, it sounds like they ve got some money issues to me. That pretty much sums it up for me. So, I hope you guys do the right thing. Commissioner Melcher: Thank you. President Ungethiem: If you want to speak and you did not swear in, please come to the podium and we ll do that. Joe Harrison, Jr.: Are you guys going to speak together? Greg Hill: No separately. Valerie McClellan: Separately. Joe Harrison, Jr.: Okay, why don t I swear you in, and then whoever wants to go first can go first. Do you swear, affirm the testimony you re about to give is true and accurate so help you God? Greg Hill: Yes, I do. Valerie McClellan: I do. Joe Harrison, Jr.: Thank you. Valerie McClellan: I wasn t planning on speaking, but I also live in the subdivision. I just purchased the house six months ago. President Ungethiem: Can you give us your name and address? Valerie McClellan: Valerie McClellan, 818 Candlestick Court. I just purchased the house six months ago, and if I had known this was happening I wouldn t have purchased this home. So, it s a big disappointment to me. I own about ¾ of the lake that he is talking about. It s not owned by a subdivision, so it s private property. If somebody were to come over there and get hurt, they would be able to personally sue me. I mean, I think my biggest concern is as an educator I see how overpopulated our north side schools are, and I recognize they re building a new school, but if you take 500 people and only a quarter of those are kids, we re still back in the same situation of overpopulated north side schools. That s just not fair for our kids. That s all. President Ungethiem: Okay, thank you. Commissioner Melcher: Thank you. Greg Hill: My name is Greg Hill. I live at 1045 East Baseline Road. This subdivision you re wanting to put, let them have or whatever, apartment complex, the back part of it is in the floodplain. Pond Flats. We ve already got a flooding problem all the way from Korff all the way down towards the fire department that the county created when they raised the road, per, your County Engineer said you guys created the problem. We ve met with you ten to 12 times, the Engineer is out there, they re supposed to upgrade the culverts, this that and the other thing, and they haven t done it. If you let them block that ditch up down further, it s going to push the water back up on us. I m not in the floodplain. My property is not. It s within six foot of my garage door, and I m probably 150 feet off the road. So, if you elevate it a little bit more, it s going to run in my house. Besides that, the roads in front of my house, there s a six or eight inch drop off on each

16 Page 16 of 21 side. They re not wide enough for the traffic that s back and forth right now at North High School, you add that extra traffic out there, somebody s going to get killed. It s just a matter of time. The ditches along there, the road is not wide enough, the infrastructure is not there. It s just like on Peck Road, they won t let that guy have an entrance off the back unless he wanted to pay to upgrade the road. So, you guys are eventually going to upgrade it, we re going to pay for it, just like this place here. If the sewer is not big enough, if they don t have an exit on the back road, they don t want to do that because they would have to pay for the upgrade on Bayse Road 1. If the sewer, I don t know who said if the sewer is not big enough, which we ve known that for years out there when they put the subdivisions in around the school. So, when it gets to the point when it s not big enough, who s going to foot the bill for that, us? Because they put 500 people down there again. I think that they ought to look at the whole area, there s a lot that needs to be done before you just keep giving them permission to grow out there. Across the street is that big nursing home and 16 out buildings for it, what s the traffic going to be off like it? You don t even have an idea yet. North High School, coming off Husky Way, it s like trying to get on the freeway. When they come out they don t stop. It s just the amount of traffic you ve got there, and eventually.it s horrible. I mean, I have to wait to get out of my driveway to go to work in the morning. So, if you do this, they re not going to all come out of that subdivision, or that apartment complex and go to 41. They re going to be coming back down the other road, and there s a lot of stuff that needs to be done before you can even agree to any of this. Thank you. President Ungethiem: Thank you. Any other remonstrators that wish to speak on this? Chris, would you like to, Chris or Jim would you like to answer these (Inaudible) or do a rebuttal? Chris Wischer: Sure. So, at a base level, I mean, I understand, we do this enough you hear a lot of concerns about developments, and there s always, this is a speculation, concern, fear about what a development is going to do. The record of, in your case, the record doesn t support those fears. We ve provided evidence about property values, we ve provided information that suggests Beaver Creek, other apartments have single family subdivisions in the $100,000-$200,000-$300,000 range near them, and they hold their values. As far as fire, I think with the Beaver Creek fire we ve all heard about, I can understand it being on the front of folk s minds, as I told you before, this will be fully sprinkled, it has to be, based upon building code and fire code. I had conversations with the, with Mr. Farrar, the head of the fire department out there, and he expressed no concern whatsoever about this apartment going in. He just asked that we work with him in design and implementation to try to make as minimal an impact as possible, but as far as, you know, the fire concern, he expressed no concern about that. About undue congestion and traffic, the road has been improved for the school. It s been, you have evidence that the road, the timing of peak hours is different for this than for the school, and that this infrastructure will handle the traffic. I can also tell you that if it doesn t, we ll have to go through Site Review, and if there are additional, if the County Engineer or anyone else involved in that requires additional improvements, those will have to be made. So, those will be addressed. The comprehensive plan actually calls for this property to be industrial at the moment. That signifies that this has become a mixed use area that doesn t really match what the comprehensive plan said when it was adopted. So, I don t think industrial certainly is the right use for this property, it s something different, and we think multi-family is adequate. I m sorry, I m going through my notes here. As far as flooding and the ditch, there certainly won t be any building on or near the ditch. We ll have to go through Drainage Board approval and deal with any drainage issues. We ve committed in the use and development commitment to put in a swale along the eastern boundary. So, there shouldn t be any additional impact on drainage on this property. The five year plan, you asked for some specifics, and obviously that s going to depend on demand, lease demand. We think demand will be high. It s possible that it s faster, but, you know, we wanted to give you a realistic plan for how that would be developed. I don t think going out and building eight or nine buildings all at once makes sense. So, it s not a matter of money, it s a matter of common sense development. If you go too fast you end up in trouble, and you don t have them full, and we think they ll fill, but we want to be cautious about that. I think, as far as the plans, I 1 Should be Boyle Lane.

17 Page 17 of 21 think the plans, you know, the gentlemen that suggested that we had better plans at the Plan Commission, well those same plans at the Plan Commission were presented to you last month. I didn t bring them again this month, but you have those showing renderings, showing site plans. We ve submitted a new, more descriptive site plan with a building plan, but we ve got great plans. Jim does great work and he s put a lot of thought into this. We ve got great plans going forward. This will be a nice, high class apartment complex. There s a need in the area. There s no apartment complexes in Scott Township, and there s a need for this kind of housing. We think it s good zoning and ask for your approval. I ll answer any other questions you have. President Ungethiem: Steve, do you have any? Commissioner Melcher: No, I guess the only thing that, I think I said everything last time. The second exit in the back, is there going to be one or not one? Chris Wischer: Do you know yet, Jim, about the second exit? Commissioner Melcher: Remember we talked about maybe having one Chris Wischer: Right. Commissioner Melcher: -- and just gate it to where the fire department can cut the lock and get in to save somebody s life. Jim Morley, Jr.: Yeah, I spoke to John Stoll about it after our last I m sorry, Jim Morley, Jr., Morley and Associates, Project Engineer. I spoke to John Stoll about it last time and the exhibit that you should have gotten today, I think I labeled it as emergency exit. As long as John Stoll is okay with it, you know, I mean, there s no beef from the engineering side of it. When I had talked to John originally he had talked about not wanting to have access there, so that s why we didn t have it. If we hung a chain, so to speak, across it, or something like that and made it an emergency access only. Commissioner Melcher: I know other subdivisions do it in the city. Jim Morley, Jr.: Yeah, I mean, if that s something that the Commissioners and John are okay with, you know, then there would be no other engineering reason not to do it. Just with my initial conversation with John, he preferred that the traffic go out to Baseline. President Ungethiem: Any others? Commissioner Melcher: No, I m still kind of skeptical, if you re planning on building this many buildings, and you thought you were going to be able to fill them, or you wouldn t have had this many buildings planned. Chris Wischer: I think that s right. Commissioner Melcher: So, I get a little confused there when you re saying is what you re saying now. So, you know, it s like I said last time, if you re going in and you don t have enough money to do it, that s one thing. I would rather you be up front about it Chris Wischer: Yeah. Commissioner Melcher: -- and say, this is going to be Phase I, Phase II, Phase III, as we get money and move this along. Chris Wischer: Jim, do you want to address that? I mean, I don t it s not a matter of, I mean, Jim can tell you. He s involved, it s not a matter, in the engineering, it s not a matter of money. It s just a matter of common sense development. If they can be all built at one time, you know, they ll get built faster. Commissioner Melcher: It s cheaper to build them all at one time. It costs more to build them apart and everything goes up. Chris Wischer: There are competing considerations. Right, I think there are competing considerations, and I think, I mean, you make a good point. Commissioner Melcher: Okay.