Old stockyards site getting new tenant

Thursday, July 23, 2020

The old Greencastle Stockyards at the north of town is getting new tenants. This time, however, they won’t have four legs and a curly tail.

The Greencastle Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) approved both a special exception for a contractor’s warehouse in the General Business district and a development standards variance to allow a storage structure to be built without a sewer or septic system.

The old stockyards property is zoned commercial.

Petitioners SCH Holdings, represented at the July BZA meeting by Dave Wyatt of Shamrock Mechanical, said he and his partners wanted to erect a building to house vehicles and equipment to keep them out of the weather and away from potential vandals.

“We’re not going to have anybody (staying) there,” Wyatt said, thus reasoning they will have no need for water or sewer, which he agreed seems ironic since Shamrock is a group of commercial plumbers.

“There will be no foot traffic,” he added.

City Planner Scott Zimmerman advised the BZA that the reason a special exception is appropriate is because “the site doesn’t lend itself to typical commercial use.”

The property is located up the hill east of U.S. 231 (North Jackson Street), just south of the so-called Mousehole at the railroad tracks. The property has access via a shared driveway with Jerry’s Wrecker and others, although turning out onto to the highway, especially to go south, can be difficult due to sight issues at the viaduct.

“One of my concerns is pulling out right there at the Mousehole,” BZA member Wayne Lewis said. “The stock trucks always tied up the road when they were pulling out of there, and traffic then was a lot less then now.”

Because of that limited visibility, Wyatt said he will recommend his drivers turn right and go north and then turn around if necessary.

“We’re not bringing in large pieces of equipment,” he added. “We’re plumbers.”

The existing building on the property will be taken down with the new structure to be built on the huge concrete slab that will remain. Outdoor lighting will be minimal, Wyatt said.

One audience member suggested that the lack of water and/or sewer facilities at the site would make resale of the property difficult.

BZA members, however, answered that would be the property owners’ issue in the future, not a requirement of the current special exception request.

In fact, hooking up to water and sewer might considered a hardship, it was noted, since the closest hook-ups are approximately 600 feet away along U.S. 231.

On a motion by Lewis, the BZA unanimously approved the development standards variance and special exception for the petitioners.

Joining Lewis in voting in favor of the request were BZA President Andrew Ranck, Doug Wokoun, Margaret Kenton (attending via Zoom) and Phillips who was serving as an alternate for BZA member Brian Cox.

In other business, the BZA:

-- Awarded a development standards variance to Steve and Kathy Jones, 14 E. CR 300 South, to allow an accessory structure (a one-car garage) in the front yard in a single-family residential district. The front yard in this case at their home along Jones Road really appears to be the side yard, City Attorney Laurie Hardwick said, noting a drop-off in the topography where a 16-x-20-foot garage would most likely be built. A septic field also comes into play on the property, Steve Jones said. With BZA alternate John Phillips noting that the garage site is really at the corner of the front and side yards, the request received unanimous approval.

-- Took action to officially move the board’s meeting time to 6 p.m. (from 7 p.m.) on the first Tuesday of the month.

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