New county zoning laws take effect Jan. 1

Set to take effect 32 years after zoning was first adopted for the community, a new set of laws regarding land use will be in place as of Jan. 1.

On Monday, the Putnam County Commissioners unanimously approved the unified development ordinance (UDO) for the county. The UDO will take the place of the current zoning ordinance, which has been in place largely unchanged since zoning was implemented in 1992, as well as the subdivision control ordinance and other land use ordinances.

The passage came on the heels of unanimous passage by the Putnam County Plan Commission last week.

In a process lasting two years, the county has worked with HWC Engineering to update its comprehensive plan, which was approved last month, and the UDO. HWC contracted with Civic Blueprint to write the new UDO.

Bryan Stumpf of Civic Blueprint made a brief presentation to the commissioners prior to passage.

One big change Stumpf highlighted is that the UDO will apply not simply to unincorporated areas of the county, but will also apply to the local municipalities that have opted in — Bainbridge, Cloverdale, Roachdale and Russellville. Fillmore will continue to not have zoning.

While Greencastle will retain its own, independent planning and zoning, the UDO also takes control of the two-mile fringe surrounding the city and puts it in the hands of the county.

Another major change will be the existence of five residential districts, rather than two. Stumpf explained that this will allow for more flexibility, ranging from the least populated areas all the way to the existence of apartments in places like the two-mile fringe.

Flexibility seems to be the name of the game in the new ordinance, as minimum lot sizes will no longer be the standard, with housing density taking its place. This should help avoid situations in which large lots are taken out of agricultural production in order to simply meet county development standards.

“One of the things that came out clearly is that you want to keep the agricultural character of the county,” Stumpf said.

There will also be a new natural resources district added to the ordinance, which will take decisions regarding solar farms and wind farms out of the hands of the board of zoning appeals and into the plan commission, whose decisions must ultimately be approved by the commissioners.

A fuller description of the UDO will be printed in an upcoming edition.

“This is something we’ve been talking about for years,” Commissioner Rick Woodall said. “We finally carved a path to update things from 1992. With the world we live in, we’re a donut (county) to a donut (county), the way things are going. This is sadly overdue and desperately needed.”

Commissioners David Berry and Tom Helmer joined Woodall in unanimously approving the UDO.

Passages of the ordinance received a round of applause from the public in attendance, a rare display at a county commissioners meeting.