MARTINSVILLE — The future Martinsville Dairy Queen location hit a snag Tuesday night after the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) denied a land use variance for the business.
Request history
The former Dairy Queen location in Martinsville closed about one year ago due to the I-69 Finish Line project.
In February, the Schwab Family Associates — represented by Ross Drapalik from Drapalik Survey and Engineering — came before the board to request that the restaurant’s lowest finished floor be built at just one foot above the base floor elevation.
The owner of the restaurant is planning on building the new Dairy Queen at 1810 Ohio Street.
According to the current city zoning codes, the structure would have to be built at two feet above the base flood elevation.
The current base flood elevation for the parcel of land is 603.5 feet above sea level, so under city ordinance the Dairy Queen would have to be built at 605.5 feet.
At the February meeting, Drapalik noted that the developers had been looking at the site for about six months.
He said that one reason the developers wanted to build at just one foot above base flood elevation was to make the Dairy Queen be at the same level as the neighboring Burger King restaurant.
Officials from the city, including interim planning and engineering director Gary Oakes who said that he was worried that if the BZA approved the variance, believes approval of the variance would set a precedent for future development.
During that meeting in February, members of the board took two votes on the variance request.
One vote was on a motion made by Tom Hacker to deny the request, which was seconded by Katy Barnard and the vote ended tied 2-2.
Subsequently, BZA member Marilyn Siderewicz made a motion to approve a variance for one and a half feet above the base flood level, which was seconded by Anna Elliott.
That motion also ended in a tied vote 2-2.
Board member Ann Marvel was not present at the meeting.
Because the motions both ended tied, Schwab Family Associates was given a second opportunity to present its case before the BZA on Tuesday night.
Tuesday’s meeting
All members of the BZA were in attendance during Tuesday’s meeting.
Marvel and Hacker were both at city hall — while Siderewicz, Elliott and Barnard were all present virtually due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
One thing that Marvel is concerned about is the explanation of the hardship the current zoning ordinance has on the developers.
“You have to prove a hardship,” Marvel said.
She added that in the minutes from the February meeting that Drapalik noted that the developers were planning on constructing the Dairy Queen regardless of the BZA approving its variance.
Marvel also expressed concerns that the BZA approving the variance could be setting a bad precedent.
Later in the meeting, Drapalik explained what he believes is a hardship and the precedent that some in the city have expressed concern about.
“The hardship was, is when they purchased the property (there was) no flood plains,” Drapalik said.
According to Drapalik, the Schwab Family Associates have owned the property since the 1970s.
Drapalik said that the Dairy Queen being built at just one foot above the flood elevation will not add any extra water in the area.
He also believes the BZA would not be setting a precedent because “each case is taken independently.”
“If that is the case, then the first time the board of zoning appeals allowed for a house to develop closer then the front-yard set back, that would meant that no other person would have to apply to the board of zoning appeals to ask for a variance for a front-yard set back,” Drapalik said.
By the end of the meeting, though, the board voted to deny the variance request 3-2 with Marvel, Hacker and Barnard voting against the request and Elliott and Siderewicz voting in favor.
The next meeting of the Martinsville Board of Zoning Appeals is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Tuesday, May 26, in Martinsville City Hall, 59 S. Jefferson St.
Mooresville removes election signs from public property
MOORESVILLE — Campaign signs are often found alongside local roads and streets during an election cycle, but Mooresvile Town Council President Shane Williams has put an end to that practice — at least on town property.
In recent weeks, candidates for office at the county and state level have been placing signs throughout Morgan County in anticipation of the Indiana primary.
Originally, the primary was set for May 5, but has been rescheduled for June 2 due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
While campaign signs can be found throughout Morgan County, residents in Mooresville may have noticed a few less signs in town.
Campaign signs were recently removed after Williams directed the town’s public works superintendent Dave Moore to have the signs taken down that were placed in town rights of way.
Signs on private property were not affected by the request.
On March 20, Moore sent an email to Morgan County’s political party chairmen requesting that the campaigns remove the signs.
In his email to Republican chairman Daniel Elliott, Libertarian Party chairman Danny Lundy and Democrat chairman Tom Wallace, Moore gave the campaigns three days to remove the signs, saying they were in violation of the town’s unified development ordinance (UDO), specifically the section that addresses general signage in the town, as there’s no language that specifically addresses election signs.
Williams said that he has noticed during the last few campaign cycles that candidates have placed the signs on public property without seeking permission from the town.
The town council president noted that when he ran for is current spot on the council, he asked permission to place campaign signs on public property and was denied.
Williams sent text messages — which he later posted on social media — to all four other members of the council notifying them of his directive to have political signs removed.
“I’m having Dave Moore remove the political signs, following our UDO procedures, from public property. They didn’t let me put signs up in my campaign. I’ve consulted the attorney and he agreed with my position,” Williams said in text messages to councilmembers Jessica Hester, Dustin Stanley and Tom Warthen, adding the specific citation in the town’s ordinance.
He sent a similar text message to Jeff Cook, but made it plural.
“They didn’t let us put signs up,” Williams said in his text to Cook, as both ran for the respective spots on the town council in 2019.
According to Williams, the town cited the UDO when Williams was denied placing his campaign signs on public rights of way.
Now that he’s council president, he wants the town’s UDO to be applied across the board, including campaign signs.
“I want it to be fair to all campaigns, and for all campaigns to get the same answer from the town,” Williams said.
He pointed to a part of the UDO that allows Moore to remove signs “with the consent of the President of the legislative body.”
The town’s UDO does state that the town’s legislative body — in this case, the town council — does have the authority to allow signs in right-of-ways, but the council has yet to weigh in on the issue publicly.
“Signs may not be installed at any of the following locations: In public right-of-ways, unless specifically authorized by the legislative body or their designee,” the UDO states.
One particular area in question is an island near the intersection of Indianapolis Road and Samuel Moore Parkway, as well as the Ind. 67/144 intersection.
On Friday, Elliott, Wallace and Lundy met together to discuss some ideas they would present to the town council.
“What we are going to present to the town council is to allow candidates to put signs at Samuel Moore Parkway and State Road 67, Samuel Moore Parkway and Indianapolis Road, the (Mooresville) Government Center and State Road 67 and State Road 144,” Elliott said Friday.
At the Ind. 67/144 intersection, the three chairmen will request that larger campaign signs be installed with the smaller yard signs being allowed at the other locations.
State code
State Rep. Peggy Mayfield (R-60), who’s running for reelection this year, pushed back against Williams on social media, pointing to Indiana Code 36-1-3-11, which notes that a town or county’s sign ordinance “is unenforceable” 60 days prior to an election and six days after that election.
For Mayfield, that section of Indiana Code “supersedes local ordinance,” and she said she’d be putting her signs back up after April 2.
Elliott noted that most campaigns begin placing signs within about 60 days of any election.
“I’m pretty confident that if we wanted to argue the point that we could put signs up there, that would be our right to do,” Elliott said.
But, Elliott is hoping to find a middle ground with the proposal that the party chairmen will present during the town council’s April 7 meeting.
Until the Indiana Election Commission chose to move the primary election from May 5 to June 2 on Wednesday, March 25, campaigns were well within the 60-day time frame.
Now that the new date has been set, that 60-day time frame will begin again by the end of this week.
“If they hadn’t moved the date to June, we’re in the middle of the political season for that,” Lundy said Friday. “To change the rules mid-stream, it just does not feel right.”
While some believe that campaigns can place signs in Mooresville rights of way because of the Indiana Code, Beth Copeland from Taft Stettinius and Hollister LLP disagrees. Copeland practices with the same law firm as Mooresville’s town attorney Chou-il Lee, and Lee requested that she offer her opinion.
In an email sent to town officials, Copeland said that IC 36-1-3-11 does not require the town to allow political signs on public property.
That is because, according to Copeland’s email, Mooresville’s UDO prohibits all signs on public rights of way.
Lundy, though, believes that the Indiana Code allows candidates to put out campaign signs during the 60-day window around an election.
“That is supposed to trump local ordinance,” Lundy said. “And I believe there is precedent for that.”
Hamilton County case
In 2018, a judge in Hamilton County struck down a sign ordinance in that locale that attempted to ban signs along right-of-ways of roadways.
The judge believed that specific sign ordinance would have a negative effect on freedom of speech.
In his judgement from that 2018 case, Hamilton County Superior Court III Judge William Hughes wrote “The U.S. Supreme Court’s free speech jurisprudence establishes that government restrictions on speech like the ones at issue in this case must satisfy a very high bar to pass constitutional muster.”
Hughes based his ruling on a 2015 United States Supreme Court case which struck down a Gilbert, Arizona sign ordinance that targeted political signs.
Williams said he felt there are a number of differences between the Mooresville UDO and the ordinance from the Hamilton County case.
Based on what Williams read in newspaper coverage from the time, Hamilton County’s ordinance specifically targeted political signs, whereas Mooresville’s UDO limits all signs.
“Ours is signs in general,” Williams said on Friday.
During a trip through town on Sunday, however, the Reporter-Times noticed a number of signs still promoting local businesses in town rights of way, including at the intersection of Samuel Moore Parkway and Indianapolis Road.
The three party chairmen are expected to present their request during the next meeting of the town council.
That meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 7, at the Mooresville Government Center, 4 E. Harrison St.
The Libertarian Party of Morgan County condemns the removal of a citizen from a public hearing
For immediate release: 3/16/2020
Libertarians have a saying, “Good ideas don’t require force,” and it’s true. Persuasion is far more effective than forcing people to do what you want. It’s a guiding principle for us. On Thursday March 12th at a Public Hearing in Madison Township force was used to make a point. After several hours of hearing a presentation and listening to government officials dodge questions Mr Harrison had had enough. He spoke up expressing his displeasure with the board, their proposal, and their refusal to answer the public’s questions. Sure, it was not ‘his turn’ to speak. He was ‘out of order’, but he’s also a taxpayer. He deserves to be heard. Rather than rely on the merits of their arguments, or even using basic customer service skills, the board chose to have him forcibly removed from the meeting.
This use of force to silence a taxpaying citizen is very troubling. Whether intended or not, this action impresses on citizens that the board is not actually interested in the public’s input. It also serves the purpose of intimidation as every other taxpayer with an opposing view has seen what will happen if they don’t follow the rules to the board’s satisfaction. The premise behind such an act implies that the board does not believe their proposal is a ‘Good Idea’ or else they wouldn’t need force to sell it. At the end of the day government officials should always seek to resolve conflicts through civil discourse and good customer service. Force has no place in a public hearing where no one was being threatened by anything other than an opposing idea.
The Libertarian Party of Morgan County seeks a principled and innovative approach to local government, inclusive communication with the public, and accountability for our officials.
Madison, Harrison townships meeting draws public fire
MADISON TOWNSHIP — Normally, meetings of the Madison Township Advisory Board are held in the training room behind the Landersdale Fire Station.
For Thursday night’s combined meeting of the board and the Harrison Township Fire District Board, the public hearing was moved inside the fire station in the truck bay. The combined boards met to discuss the proposed formation of the Northern Morgan County Fire Territory.
It was a good thing the meeting was moved because more than 150 people packed the area to hear about the proposed establishment of a fire territory between the two townships.
The three Madison Township board members attended the meeting, along with three of the five Harrison Township Fire Board members.
And most people in the audience were not happy with what they heard during the three and a half hour meeting.
Most of the questions raised by the audience were about the costs of the territory and how it would affect them, how the territory would be administered, and what the future held. Other concerns raised by the audience included accusations of theft, conflict of interest, holding illegal meetings, immorality and not being transparent with the process.
The meeting began with a statement from the Madison board that members of the audience would each be given three minutes to address the board during public comment. Board members asked that questions be held until that time so the information they had could be presented to the audience.
Due to the size of the room, several people said they had trouble hearing what was said. Also several people wanted to know where the Madison Township Trustee, Scott McDonough, was. Someone said he was at work and could not attend the meeting.
It was also said the combined boards would meet again March 27 to vote on the matter. According to attorney Jeffrey M. Bellamy, of the firm Thrasher, Buschmann, and Voeklel, PC, the state requests approval by April 1 for the territory to go into effect July 1.
Accountant’s presentation
Nichole A. Franklin, of Peters Municipal Consultants, LTD, gave the financial overview of the territory and how it would be funded. Franklin began with an explanation on the proposed three-year budget. She said the state would be the final authority on both the budget and the tax rate.
She tried to explain the process the state would use in their determinations on the tax rate and budget, but she was interrupted numerous times by residents. Her estimates on the possible tax increase were met with skepticism by numerous audience members.
Franklin said there would be two funds — an operating fund for the department’s day to day operations and an equipment replacement fund. Each fund would have its own tax rate, she said.
Several members of the audience were openly hostile to Franklin’s estimates on their tax increases. They felt her numbers did not reflect the reality of their property. As one member of the audience said several times during the meeting, his home is valued at $347,000 not the $100,000 value Franklin was using.
Fire chief speaks
Next up was Madison Township Fire Chief Mike Lang.
Lang explained that at this time, the township has two stations — the main station on Landersdale Road and a second smaller station on Kitchen Road. He said there are four people at the Landersdale Road station and three at the Kitchen Road station.
Lang said based on the National Fire Prevention Association guidelines, for low hazard fires, such as a single-family home, they need 15 firefighters there within eight minutes of the call. He said a medium hazard fire, such as a strip mall or three-story apartment fire, calls for 28 firefighters.
He said they are badly understaffed and need more firefighters. Lang said he has a problem keeping firefighters because they do not have benefits and their pay is lower than other departments. Lang said in the last couple of years, he has had a 200-percent turnover in staff. Lang said they have a new truck on order. He did not say when they would receive it.
The chief said the department equipment, with a couple of exceptions, had passed inspections. The one major exception is the department’s radios, which were purchased in 2008 by a grant. He said the radios are no longer being made or supported by the manufacturer and will have to be replaced.
Lang said in many cases, they cannot meet the standards for responding to emergencies. He said their response time is affected by dispatch. He said the “clock” begins when dispatch receives the call, not when they dispatch it for response. He said sometimes a full minute can go by before the call is dispatched.
Harrison Twp: no assets
The meeting Thursday night with the combined boards of Madison Township Advisory Board and Harrison Township Fire District drew more than 150 people, leaving many standing where they could, including the staircase.
Lang said Harrison Township does not own any fire department equipment. Land said the department, called The Harrison Township Volunteer Fire Department, is a privately owned company. All the equipment, including the fire station, is owned by the company.
Lang said the territory would have to negotiate a long-term lease with the company for the use of the fire station and its equipment.
Lang went on to say the fire station is not complete and will need work. He said the estimated cost to finish the station is around $200,000. (According to records from the Morgan County Plan Commission, the station has never received a certificate of occupancy, which is needed for the building to be used.)
Also, most of the company’s equipment — including the turnout gear, hose, ladders, trucks and air packs — is either out of date or has not passed reinspection.
Lang said the company’s hose is 35 years old. He said they tracked the age because Madison Township gave its hose to Harrison Township some years ago. He said Madison Township received that hose from a township fire department in Marion County years before that.
Lang said the turnout gear had expired in September 2019 and would have to be replaced. He said all vehicles and equipment would have to be tested to make sure they meet the standards. Lang said the air packs fire crews used to fight fires needed to be tested to make sure they met standards.
Lang said a new pumper was needed in Harrison Township. He said the company had taken out a loan and was having a new truck built. He did not know the extent of the loan or what the truck would be used for.
Lang said the territory would use the firefighters from Harrison Township for the first year or so to cover their area. He said until the tax rate comes into effect, there would be no funds available to pay for improvements for at least a year.
Lang said Harrison Township had asked the county council several times for additional funds but had been refused.
Morgan County Councilman Daniel Elliott attended the meeting. After it concluded, Elliott said he had asked for information about department membership and other information about the department before he would vote for additional funding. Elliott said the council has yet to receive the information requested.
Lang said Harrison Township does have a drone that can be used in emergencies and also has a water rescue unit.
Lang said the Waverly/Harrison Township area will be affected by the development of I-69. A new sewer system is currently under construction, he said. That system, along with the interstate, will bring more development to that area.
Lang said he and his department want to “operate in a safe efficient manner and provide good service.”
Lang was continually interrupted by questions on who would be “in charge” of the new territory and what the salaries of the fire crews would be.
While Lang was able to answer some questions, there were a few that he could not answer.
Lang said he did not know any of the financial matters involving the Harrison Fire Co. He did now know the status of any loans or grants. He did say that Harrison was attempting to obtain some grants for some items. He did not say what those items were.
Harrison Township Fire District Board member Mike Jackson spoke about the matter. He said after hearing the tax impact on Madison residents, he could not support the territory. Jackson said he couldn’t impose those financial increases on his neighbors in Madison Township.
Lots of questions, few answers
Audience members peppered the board members with lots and lot of questions.
Some of them included:
Newley appointed Madison Township Board member Larry Ellis then spoke to the audience. He was selected by caucus, in February, to fill a vacancy on the board. He was not happy with the way this discussion came about. He felt the matter had not been discussed in public and was not in favor of it.
• Harrison Township pays the county emergency medical service tax rate while Madison Township does not. Will the rate be removed form Harrison Township residents tax bill or with they continue paying for it?
According to different people who are on the boards, Madison Township pays for its ambulance from the fire budget, which is in the tax rate. The state will not allow for double taxation for the same service.
There were some who felt it would be dropped with others felt the money would go to the new territory. There was discussion of the county taking over ambulance coverage in Madison Township.
• The meetings are illegal because they were not advertised correctly.
Madison Township resident Gregg Terhune told board members they failed to follow state law in advertising the meetings. He said the first meeting, which was held on Feb. 21, was advertised in the Feb. 12 edition of the Mooresville-Decatur Times. He said state law required the meetings to be advertised 10 days in advance and they only advertised nine days.
Terhune said, based on the law, the meetings are illegal and should not be taking place. Terhne also brought up at least two additional problems he said that did not allow the board to consider forming a territory. His words were drowned out by audience members who began shouting the meeting was illegal and should be stopped.
The board stopped long enough to ask its attorney, Bellamy, if the meetings were properly advertised. After briefly checking something, Bellamy said, in his opinion, the meetings were properly advertised. That brought several requests from the audience for him to provide the information he was using to come to his decision.
Bellamy said it was in the state law that Terhune had described.
• Wait until next year.
Many in the audience kept asking why the rush to install a fire territory. They felt with the number of unanswered questions, it would be wise to wait until they has answers. There were concerns about allegedly mismanagement of resources in the Harrison Township Fire Department. There were allegations of theft in the department and questions of the grant that was used to build the new station.
As for the Madison Township Department, there were questions about the actions of past board members, past trustees and fire officials. Several people brought up the past financial problems of the department and that one official was caught in his vehicle with a woman who was not his spouse.
There were multiple questions from many people about the cost to Madison residents. One person in the audience brought laughter and applause from nearly everyone when he yelled out, “Give us Bernie (Sanders) and it will be free!”
Several expressed concerns that “Madison Township adopts Harrison Township, and it will have to take care of it forever.”
There were questions on having the matter placed on the May or November election ballot. It was explained to them by the board that state law does not allow for people to vote on matters like that.
Near riot occurs
At one point, a person identified at Rick Harrison, became involved in an argument with a Madison Township board member, identified as Amy Russell.
Harrison never left his seat but continued to argue with Russell. Russell asked Harrison to either be quiet or leave the meeting. When he refused, Russell asked two Morgan County Sheriff’s Deputies to escort him from the meeting. When deputies asked him to leave, Harrison refused.
He was then grabbed by the arms and escorted from the meeting. Harrison was not charged, and he returned at the end of the meeting.
Many of the audience came to their feet to protect Harrison’s removal. For a short time, it appeared the audience was going to get out of control but several people in their group were able to get the group under control.
This came after a Madison board member, Angie Turley, left the meeting citing a family matter. That angered several people in the audience who felt she should stay and listen to them.
A request from an audience member for those who were against the merger brings a near unanimous response from the audience at the March 12 public hearing.
One person asked for a show of hands in the audience who were Madison Township residents and were for the merger. No one raised their hand.
When asked for a show of hands for those who were against the merger, nearly everyone raised their hand.
Several people continued to ask who began this discussion.
At one point, Lang’s name was brought up as one person who had begun discussion. A second person, Kelly Alcala, was also mentioned as a person who had begun the discussion. Alcala was not at the meeting. She is a former Madison Township Board member and is currently a county council member. She is currently working as the Madison Township clerk.
Many questioned the funding, expressing concerns about their property taxes going up. Several said they were retired and on fixed incomes. They felt they could not afford any increase.
At one point, a resident accused both boards with trying to “ramrod” the residents.”
“You don’t have answers,” they said.
There were some who were former firefighters who expressed their understanding of what Lang wanted to do. But they were concerned with the increase in taxes and a couple did not like working with the Harrison department.
At the end of the meeting, most people asked the boards to wait until next year and get more answers.
The next public hearing was scheduled for March 27, but trustee McDonough announced late Friday the hearing is canceled and the township will not be pursuing a fire territory this year.
~ By Lance Gideon | Reporter | Published March 13, 2020 in The Reporter Times
Millis picked as Libertarian’s ninth district nominee: Will run against Republican and Democratic nominees in November
Over the weekend, Lawrence County resident Tonya Millis was selected to serve as the Libertarian Party’s candidate in Indiana’s 9th Congressional District for the U.S. House of Representatives during the party’s state convention in Indianapolis.
Millis is a resident of Lawrence County and realtor with Suddarth and Company Real Estate in Mitchell.
“I am pleased to get the nomination from the Libertarian Party to represent Indiana’s 9th District as a U.S. Congressional candidate,” Millis said in a news release “I look forward to talking with the people and am excited about my message out to the community.”
Millis will face the Republican and Democratic nominee in the race during the General Election on Tuesday, Nov. 3.
Currently, there are five Democrats running for the party’s nomination during the May 5 Primary.
Incumbent Trey Hollingsworth (R-District 9), is the lone Republican running in the GOP’s Primary Election.
The state’s 9th Congressional District includes portions of Morgan County.
The state’s Libertarian Party also selected Don Rainwater as its nominee for governor and William Henry as Rainwater’s running mate.
The Libertarian Party of Morgan County was also honored at the state convention as the Bill Bean County Affiliate of the Year.
Dairy Queen seeks variance: Two votes on request end in ties
MARTINSVILLE — After two votes ended in ties during Tuesday’s meeting of the Martinsville Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA), the developers of the city’s future Dairy Queen site left with no clear answers for its future.
During the meeting, Ross Drapalik from Drapalik Surveying and Engineering represented Schwab Family Associates — the restaurant’s developer.
The request made at the meeting was to allow the restaurant’s lowest finished floor to be constructed one foot above the base flood elevation, as opposed to two feet above the base flood elevation.
The former Martinsville Dairy Queen closed in May 2019 because it needed to be relocated due to the I-69 project.
The new Dairy Queen is expected to be constructed at 1810 S. Ohio Street, which is directly north of the Martinsville Burger King.
According to Drapalik, when the developers started looking at the site about six months ago, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources said the restaurant could not be moved to that the parcel of land since it was designated as a floodway — as opposed to a flood plain.
“A floodway is where the water goes to a flood elevation, and then moves like a river,” Drapalik said.
A flood plain, though, is where water backs up and stands.
The variance request presented Tuesday night is based on a future flood elevation, which is expected to be lowered because of the updates to Ind. 37 as it becomes I-69.
On that parcel of land, once the construction on I-69 is complete, the base flood elevation will be at 603.5 feet above sea level.
In order to obtain a federally-backed mortgage, the developers would have to follow city ordinance, which currently requires any new construction to have its lowest finished floor elevation be two feet above the base flood level, in this case 605.5 feet above sea level.
“The owners are not intending to get a mortgage, they will be paying for this with cash,” Drapalik said. “And so, we are looking at some relief from the city to lower this by a foot.”
He later noted that if the city were to approve a building to be constructed below the base-flood elevation, the city would be jeopardizing the participation with the national flood insurance program.
“We don’t feel that (the zoning request) jeopardizes the city’s participation in the national flood insurance program,” Drapalik said.
Drapalik said the Burger King’s finished floor elevation is at 601.01 feet above sea level, and the Dairy Queen would be built at a higher elevation.
Drapalik noted that the developers believe that lowering the Dairy Queen’s floor elevation closer to that of the Burger King’s would be a better aesthetics “transition.”
Martinsville’s Interim Planning and Engineering Director Gary Oakes pointed to the fact that the floor elevation for the Dairy Queen is based on the future base floor elevation of 603.5 feet above sea level.
“We have over 70 residents in the city that take part in the national flood insurance program,” Oakes said, adding that he does not want the city to endanger the city’s participation in the program.
The city’s contracted engineer Troy Swan, from HWC Engineering, said that typically when someone is requesting a variance, a hardship has to be presented.
“The question I have is what hardship is that, based on the request as it stands today?” Swan asked.
Drapalik responded that one hardship is that when the developers purchased the property, it was not part of a flood plain.
BZA attorney Dakota VanLeeuwen said that she had an issue with that hardship.
“That is not anything based on a statutory hardship that this board can grant,” VanLeeuwen said.
VanLeeuwen later said that even without the variance, the lot would not be uninhabitable.
Drapalik agreed with VanLeeuwen that the property would still be developable.
“In this case, like I said, we would like it,” Drapalik said. “Is it going to stop us it from happening, I seriously doubt it. But, we would just like to get some relief to help with the development cost.”
BZA member Tom Hacker made a motion to deny the request, with member Katy Barnard seconding.
That vote ended with a tied vote, 2-2.
Members Marilyn Siderewicz and Anna Elliott voted against Hacker’s motion.
BZA member Ann Marvel was not present at the meeting.
Siderewicz asked if there was a potential compromise, and offered the idea of constructing the lowest floor base elevation at one and a half feet above the flood level, as opposed to one foot.
Oakes responded that setting a floor elevation below what the city has set would establish a precedent.
Siderewicz made a motion to issue the variance for one and a half feet above the base flood elevation, which was seconded by Elliott.
That motion, like the previous motion, ended with a tied vote 2-2 with Hacker and Barnard voting against.
After the second tied vote, Martinsville Mayor Kenny Costin said that he agreed with Oakes, that the BZA could be setting a precedent by voting to approve the variance.
“If I was going to vote, I would vote no,” Costin said.
After the meeting, VanLeeuwen sent an email, which noted that she had spoken to one of her “advisors” to discuss the tie.
“What I have learned is that we must offer Mr. Drapalik and (Schwab) Family Assoc. the option to come back next month first,” VanLeeuwen wrote in the email. “This is an opportunity to have the full board present.”
The variance request has been added to the board’s March meeting.
That meeting is currently scheduled for 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 24, in council chambers at Martinsville City Hall, 59 S. Jefferson St.
Plan Commission
The Martinsville Plan Commission would normally have also met Tuesday night, but that meeting was cancelled due to a lack of agenda items.
The next scheduled meeting of the Martinsville Plan Commission is set for 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 24, in council chambers at Martinsville City Hall, 59 S. Jefferson St.
Lawrence County real estate broker running for Congress as Libertarian
A Lawrence County resident and real estate broker is running for Congress.
Tonya Millis is seeking the Libertarian Party’s nomination to represent Indiana’s 9th Congressional District.
According to a news release, Millis knows the ins and outs of Hoosier life and as Indiana’s 9th District representative she would bring her voice and lifelong Hoosier experience to Washington, D.C. She added that the problems created in Washington are not helping people in the district who work hard to make ends meet.
“The rules, regulations and runaway debt placed on the citizenry is a hindrance and hardship for both individuals and small businesses,” Millis said in the release.
Millis currently works at Suddarth & Co. Real Estate in Mitchell. She said her job has allowed her to work with many individuals from different walks of life. She has served on state and local committees and boards including as president of the Bedford Board of Realtors in 2013.
Prior to getting her real estate license, she worked five years as an aid in the nurse’s office at Brown County High School. She also has experience working in the insurance industry at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Indianapolis.
“For most of my adult life, I considered myself a Republican,” Millis said in the release. “This party was considered to be the party of limited government, low taxes and low debt. It has not been this way for a long time now.”
Millis added after becoming an independent in May 2016, she began researching the Libertarian Party. She said while reading the party’s platform, she realized that she had been a Libertarian all along and didn’t even know it.
For more information about Millis, visit her website at www.tonyaforcongress.com
~ By Ernest Rollins | Reporter | Published January 13, 2020 in The Mooresville Times
MORGAN COUNTY — The Libertarian Party of Morgan County met at the Mooresville Public Library Thursday evening for the party’s 2020 convention.
At the meeting, they discussed the current state of the party, performed some housekeeping of their bylaws and heard from Libertarians running for state and national positions.
After the meeting was opened by party chair Danny Lundy, treasurer Anna Elliot provided the group with the year-end financial report.
“I feel like we are on the precipice of something really great here in Morgan County and really growing the Libertarian Party,” she said as she opened her report. “And I’m just really grateful for all of you who are here tonight, and it’s just essential to have your enthusiasm, your support and most importantly your participation.”
In her report, she noted that the party’s starting balance for 2019 was $144.64. During the year, they made $2,760.60 and spent $2,373.62, leaving them with an ending balance of $386.98.
“And guess what,” she said as she concluded the report, “we don’t owe anybody anything.”
The party discussed the various county positions with elections occurring this year and sorted out their delegates being sent to Indianapolis in March for the state convention.
The party also made changes to 10 of their bylaws at the end of the meeting. These amendments ranged from simple wording and grammatical changes to changes in title names and the frequency in which the party holds monthly business meetings and the quorum requirement for said meetings.
When the official meeting adjourned, the party also discussed various fundraising opportunities, including their annual poker tournament and even the possibility of hosting a murder-mystery dinner party game to raise money.
Following these bylaw changes, the party invited two guests to speak up front. The first of these speakers was Tonya Millis — the Libertarian congressional candidate who is running in District 9, which is currently held by Republican Rep. Trey Hollingsworth.
She congratulated the party for a well-run convention and encouraged them to visit her website. She said she’s running on the “roll-it-back” campaign against rules, regulations and runaway debt.
She said the current members of U.S. Congress are like pirates with rules and regulations.
“If we can, as Libertarians, get enough Libertarians elected into the U.S. House of Representatives, then we can work together and get these things rolled back,” she said.
Following her speech, Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Bill Levin took the floor. With pink sunglasses, pins bearing marijuana leaves and a cigar in hand, he spoke to the room.
“I’m running for governor, obviously,” he said. “And it scares the (expletive) out of them.”
The charismatic figure, who gained regional prominence when he ran for city council in Indianapolis in 2011 and subsequently founded the First Church of Cannabis, said it’s about time people in Indiana had a voice in politics. He also said he wants to find all the gambling money that was supposed to go to teachers and schools, especially given the recent go-ahead on sports betting.
“This is not the direction to take our state,” he said. “This is corrupting the foundation of our good morals. Hey, how screwed up is the situation if I’ve got to come up and talk about morals?”
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