Parking variance allows old Marsh to become medical clinic

Marsh building

The old Marsh Supermarket store at 1033 Indianapolis Rd., vacant or only used for storage since the early 2000s, is expected to become a family practice medical clinic/physical therapy facility following action of the Greencastle Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA).

Hendricks County Hospital (HCH), in the process of acquiring the 2.12-acre site from Jeff Moe of Zionsville, received approval for a parking variance for only having 82 parking spaces on the property, the size of the parking spaces and only providing parking in front of the building.

According to building size and the number of clinic employees working the largest shift, the property would require 194 spaces, according to strict adherence of city code.

Rendering of Marsh building as a Hendricks medical clinic

The applicant points out that the property could not accommodate that number of parking spaces, City Planner Scott Zimmerman noted in his report.

“If we say no to this,” BZA Chairman Doug Wokoun suggested, “we’re going to say no to anybody.”

That’s because, he noted, the third BZA-approved finding of fact spells out that strict application of the ordinance results in a practical difficulty dealing with the property, which was developed in approximately 1985 before current zoning code and the site cannot accommodate the requirement to provide 60 percent of all parking in the rear yard. The applicant’s only other option to operate a medical clinic on the site, it was noted, would be to tear down the building and construct a significantly smaller one closer to the front boundary of the property.

“It’s a really unique property to make fit,” Zimmerman said. “There’s no side yard and very little rear yard. You’re just left with the front and only so many spots where cars can fit.”

Anybody who would want to use the property for anything other than a grocery store, which was grandfathered in, would be required to get the same variance, Zimmerman added.

A medical clinic is a permitted use there, the planner noted, as it is consistent with medical office uses in the General Business district.

Hendricks County Hospital, represented at the December BZA meeting Tuesday by attorney C. Addison Bradford, Indianapolis, and HCH Director of Plant Operations Troy Tucker, expects to renovate the old Marsh facility and be open by sometime late summer to the start of fall.

The petitioners were asked if HCH could acquire more parking spaces or an easement to the west from Moe, who retains ownership of the old karate studio, Rescued Treasures and Goodwill portions of the site.

“People are going to park where there’s an open spot,” Bradford allowed.

Tucker, who said he had the responsibility for the $3 million renovation the Danville campus of Hendricks County Hospital, said the Greencastle Marsh site will “see similar changes.” No price tag was revealed on the local renovation.

Told the site would involve mostly family medicine and physical therapy, BZA member Paul Champion responded with, “so it’s a consolidation of some of the uses Hendricks County Hospital has in town.”

“That’s my understanding, yes,” Bradford replied.

Moe bought the Marsh property at auction in 2008 about the time a sign there proclaimed the coming of a Greencastle Flea Market that never materialized. Moe also noted that Big Lots had twice held an option on the site but never moved forward with the project.

In recent years the Marsh building has either been vacant or used for product storage by some of the city’s industrial operations.

The BZA unanimously approved the HCH variance request.

In other business, the Zoning Board:

-- Approved a special exception variance for Quiz Properties LLC to allow a two-family dwelling in a Traditional Neighborhood at 11 Park St, adjacent to the DePauw University campus. Represented by local attorney Jeff Boggess, Amy and Dr. Troy Quiz are essentially making a duplex out of a single-family home that is bounded on three sides by university property.

The structure already has a garage addition that has been converted into an in-laws residence. No exterior changes are planned. More than adequate off-street parking is provided on the Lincoln Avenue side of the property.

City Planner Zimmerman stressed as part of the special exception that two separate entrances be maintained, “which is why it becomes a duplex.”

The request was unanimously approved on a motion by Champion.

-- Said goodbye to Chairman Wokoun, who with the change in two-mile fringe jurisdiction going to the county, will no longer be a member of the BZA or City Plan Commission. Wokoun, who resides on Edgelea Drive, lives within the two-mile fringe in Greencastle Township.

Joining Wokoun and Champion for the 30-minute meeting at City Hall were BZA member Jon Clark and alternate John Phillips as well as City Attorney Laurie Hardwick.