I need line of that's the freaking moving.

So I was talking to I was like, you know, we'll we'll talk tomorrow when it's not as Mike at the time.

Well they just moved into the district.

So I guess you got a roll and uh you can walk on like football football's the one sport where you can.

Yeah, there's not we don't really turn anybody away.

Unless you're not over there to Matt.

They're small.

Everything is different like what they do for the variance process is actually genius.

Because if you file state variants, if it's basically they have someone so it'll be similar to like you would first and they will kick it out to the members.

They sign off on a lot of stuff before it even goes in front of the commission.

Yeah, I heard that you change that whole process.

Yeah.

So now we'll in front of the whole stuff.

Yeah, so sometimes we only have to go up.

You're required to put spring words about the pool.

Seriously.

So any time we have something like that for that.

That stuff gets approved.

We don't like we don't have to make the trip to that.

I took a shower before I got this.

Trying to vote.

Sign law is uh we say that if the others can have a roll at all.

Uh show her located on the step to the next one.

So yes, we've got the Using Steve basically received the sign that you're song.

So yes, it's a simple service access.

We have a system processing first thing.

So we got the sheet as part of the key.

Again, that's definitely the exception, not the rule.

I'd like to call the July 16, 2026 meeting of the Board of Zoning Appeals to order.

Will the secretary please call the role?

Miss Cabill, here.

Miss Kasha.

Here.

Miss Payne.

Here.

Mr.

Rudolph?

Here.

Mr.

Shetler.

Here.

Mr.

Zayner.

Here.

Mr.

Petke.

Here.

Whoa, full house.

All right.

Must be a blue moon out there.

Yeah.

All right.

May I have a motion to approve the memorandum of the May meeting, please.

So move.

Second.

We have a motion and a second.

Will the secretary please call the roll?

Ms.

Cavill?

Yes.

Ms.

Kasha?

Yes.

Miss Payne.

Yes.

Mr.

Rudolph?

Yes.

Mr.

Shetler.

Yes.

Mr.

Zaner?

Yes.

Mr.

Petke.

I vote yes, and I want to thank Joy for running that meeting.

Thank you very much.

I was on a trip, and so uh really appreciate the sub in.

Okay, now we'll play a recording that describes how we proceed, please.

I'd like to welcome you on behalf of the Board of Zoning Appeals and the staff of the Area Plan Commission.

The Board of Zoning Appeals is an appointed seven member board established by state legislature.

It's given the responsibility to hear an act on all appeals, requests for variance from the zoning code, and establishment of special uses.

Since there are seven members of the Board of Zoning Appeals, to establish a quorum, we must have four members present in order for a petition to be approved or denied.

If you do not have four votes to either approve or deny the request, you have the opportunity to go before the board the next month and be heard again.

The denial of a petition for variance, special use, or an appeal by the Board of Zoning Appeals, or the withdrawal of such a petition by the petitioner shall prohibit the Board of Zoning Appeals from hearing the petition for a variance, special use, or an appeal for the subject property or a part thereof for twelve months from the date of the denial or withdrawal.

An exception may be made upon unanimous vote of the Board of Zoning Appeals.

In granting a variance or special use, the Board may set any conditions, requirements, or limitations it deems necessary and which are appropriate to implement the principles and purposes of the zoning ordinance.

The board keeps minutes of official actions of its proceedings.

These minutes and files are public record and are kept in the Area Plan Commission office in room 312 of the Civic Center Complex.

When you come before us, we ask that you state your name and address into the microphone since everything is recorded and kept as record.

This board, which by state law is a quasi judicial body that cannot be contacted by the public prior to the board of zoning appeals hearings, has jurisdiction over two types of petitions.

One is special use and the other is variance.

Neither of these categories is a rezoning.

Their special waivers or special conditions that this board has authorization to grant to the petitioner.

A variance is an application to waive or modify certain requirements of the zoning ordinance.

It's not a rezoning of the property.

The four conditions necessary to grant a variance are summarized as follows.

One, the approval will not be injurious to the public health, safety, morals, and general welfare of the community.

Two, the use and value of the area adjacent to the property included in the variance will not be affected in a substantially adverse manner.

Three, the strict application of the terms of the zoning ordinance will result in practical difficulties in the use of the property.

Four, the variance is not a variance of the use of the property.

In our review of variance requests, the zoning code establishes the criteria that must be applied to each petition.

The code specific specifically requires that these criteria must all be met for a variance to be granted.

The second category that we have before this board would be special uses.

Certain uses that are necessary to the life and economic health of the community, but they have characteristics of the operation that do not readily permit classification and usual residential, commercial, or industrial districts.

Special uses or secondary classifications.

They're not rezonings.

One, whether the specific site is the appropriate location for the use.

Two, whether the use as developed will adversely affect the surrounding area.

Three, whether there will be a nuisance or a serious hazard to vehicles, pedestrians, or residences.

Four, whether adequate and appropriate facilities will be provided for proper operation of the use.

Five, whether the use is in harmony with the Evansville and Vanderburgh County comprehensive plan.

And six, whether the use is essential or desirable to the public convenience and welfare.

The Board of Zoning Appeals approval or modification of a special use classification may include whatever reasonable conditions, limitations, or temporary uses necessary for the protection of the public interest.

To protect public interest and to ensure compliance with requirements to be included in the site plan, the Board of Zoning Appeals may require whatever evidence and guarantees are necessary to assure compliance with conditions, limitations, and temporary uses.

There will be a 10 minute time limit for petitioners and a 10 minute opportunity for remonstrators.

Following that, the petitioner will have five minutes before rebuttal.

Okay.

The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of Zoning Appeals will be Thursday, August 20, 2026, at 3 o'clock PM in room 301 of the Civic Center Complex.

The following petitions will not be heard this evening.

They are docket number SPU-2026-003 at 4100 Covert Avenue.

That project or that application has been withdrawn.

Also, docket number VAR dash 2026-030 at 3300 Edgewood Drive and Docket number VAR-2026-041 at 1113 West Columbia Street.

And now let's move on to our first item on the agenda, please.

All right, as to all matters before the board today, do you swear or affirm the testimony you will give is true and accurate?

I do find you.

Okay.

First step, we're starting with docket number VAR dash 2026-017 at 11216 Walnut Road.

Petitioner is Jacob Hunt.

Applicant request relaxation of the zoning code to allow accessory structures to be larger in square footage than the main structure, the residence.

Relaxation of the minimum required front yard setback of an accessory structure located in front of the principal residential structure from 200 foot to 30 foot.

Relaxation of the minimum required front-yard green space from 25 foot to 5 foot.

Relaxation of the maximum allowed width of a residential access drive from 24 foot to 28 foot.

And relaxation of the minimum required road frontage, allowing two access drives from 200 foot to 100 foot to legally establish existing unpermitted conditions and allow construction of a new 1500 square foot pole barn.

Total accessory structures will exceed the size of the residence by 792 square foot.

All right.

Well, everyone who's here to speak on this petition for order against it, please raise your right hand.

You swear or affirm the testimony you will give is true and accurate, so hope you got it.

Yes, sir.

Thank you.

Please start with your name and your address, please.

My name is Jacob Hunt.

Address 11216 Walnut Road at Savensville, Indiana, 47725.

So this is your house and you own it and that's where you live.

Yes, sir.

Okay.

And uh you are uh proposing the barn in the back of the house?

Yes, sir.

Okay.

And is it for personal use only?

Yes.

You're not gonna run any business out of it kind of.

No, my father and I, we just restore old cars and stuff like that.

We need a shop big enough to do our fabrication and work and stuff in there.

Okay.

And did you go talk to your neighbors about this project?

I actually did.

I sent them certified letters as well, uh advised them of the meeting date and um you know spoke with each of them individually.

How'd that go?

It went great.

I actually grew up in the neighborhood.

It was my grandmother's house, it was my father's, and now it's mine.

So I'm pretty familiar with all the neighbors and everything.

Was there anybody opposed?

Not at all.

Okay.

Are there any other questions from board members?

Um Jacob.

Yes, ma'am.

So you've lived there for a while.

Yes.

Okay.

So when you got the permit, I don't know, was that 2022?

So did you understand when you pulled the building permit?

Did you understand that you had six months to get started?

So actually, um, my father owned the residence at that current time.

He pulled that permit and had a plan.

Um he did not follow through with it, and I started this as my new own project.

Um when did you buy it?

So I bought the house as of November last uh 2025.

Yes, ma'am.

So you inherited some of this.

Yes, unfortunately.

That happens.

And this is my first time doing any of this, so I'm kind of on the new fish in the water here.

It's most of it, not everybody, but most everybody's first time.

All right.

Anything else?

Anybody else?

Are there anyone?

I'm sorry, Mike, go ahead.

Yeah.

Uh are we talking about the building that's looks like it's partially under construction already in the middle of the year?

Is that in the backyard?

Um that would be the area, yes, sir.

So it's it's not the building is not currently under construction.

Well, there was a start on it, but we did a halt to to do everything properly with the permits and going through area planning and do you plan on um there's a note on here that says existing shed closer to front property line than residents.

Um is the gray shed gonna stay?

Uh as long as it's okay to stay, they they had me do a variance particularly for that shed.

Um my father, when he had it put on the property, he didn't realize that having it stick out past the house was not okay.

Um so it's just been sent like that since I mean the as far as the means of staying there permanently.

We're actually thinking of moving it back there into the backyard.

So I mean, as of right now, that's where the location will be, but eventually we'll be moved.

Do you contemplate much noise while uh in the process of restoring cars there?

No, sir.

No.

Okay.

Thank you.

Jacob, um the white uh I think it's a garage.

And there's two windows upstairs.

No one no one's living there.

So that's uh as far as the are you talking about attached to the house?

Yes.

Um yeah, I mean it's just part of the residence, it's considered a bedroom.

Okay.

So it is attached to the house.

Yes, yes.

Yeah.

Okay.

Is that a church?

What is that grace?

Yes.

Uh, there's a church right next door.

Uh-huh.

Yes.

Okay.

Thanks.

Okay.

Are there any remonstrators here today about this?

I see none.

Is there a motion?

So moved.

Second.

We have a motion to approve and a second.

Please call the roll.

Ms.

Casha?

Yes.

Ms.

Payne.

Yes.

Mr.

Rudolph?

Yes.

Mr.

Shetler?

Yes.

Mr.

Zayner?

Yes.

Ms.

Cavill?

Yes.

Mr.

Petke.

And I vote yes and show that it is approved with seven yes and zero no's.

Good luck.

Thank you, sir.

Yep.

All right.

Next up we have document number VAR-2026-038 at 9710 and 9800 middle Mount Vernon Road.

Petitioner is turning point co represented by Hust signs.

Applicant request relaxation of the maximum allowed number of on-premises signs from one to three.

Relaxation of the maximum allowed height of an on-premises pole sign from 12 foot to 18 foot.

Relaxation of the maximum allowed size of an on-premises electronic message sign from 24 square foot to 32 square foot.

And relaxation of the maximum total size of an on-premises or of on-premises signage from 100 square foot to 135 square foot to allow installation of updated signage, including a new electronic message unit for an existing church located in an AG and R1 zone.

Alright.

Well, everyone who's here to speak on this petition for it or against it, please raise your right hand.

You swear on affirm the testimony you will give is true and accurate, so if you got it.

I do.

Thank you.

Start with 530, Clercrest Lane, Evansville, Indiana.

I'm here representing uh Husk signs and the Turning Point Church.

All of these signs are existing currently.

I if I'm not mistaken, we installed these particular signs maybe 15 years ago or so.

They're wanting to modernize the sign and actually reduce the number of square footage on the uh pole sign that is actually out on the road currently.

Um the current uh electronic message center is um I believe a almost a five by twelve, if I'm not mistaken.

Um but uh we're taking it down to a uh four foot by eight foot digital sign.

It doesn't need to be as large uh in digital format uh because they can put uh more messages up there with a smaller space.

Um they're wanting to uh update their logo, which is one of the main reasons why we're doing this, and while they're doing it, they also want to modernize the sign so that they don't have to go out into this technically cornfield, uh which is not accessible at all times of the year to be able to change the message on the sign.

Uh just is also a very large property um which requires multiple signs for I'll call it entrance and directional.

That makes sense.

They have multiple buildings on the property which they need to identify and be able to allow direction to.

So, Kip, just so I'm I'm clear about it.

There's an electronic message board there now.

There's not an electronic, there's a an old copy board that's about five feet by twelve feet.

Okay, and we're reducing that to a four by eight electronic sign.

Oh, okay.

So modernizing the sign at the same time.

Yeah, okay.

And reducing the total square footage of it.

Okay.

Are there comments or questions from board members?

Are there I hear none?

Joe?

Yeah, I do want to ask Kid.

You may not know the answer to this, but with the new project out that way.

This sits right on the on the Lloyd, doesn't it?

It is.

Okay, so like on the north side.

Yes, technically northwest.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So is this going to be affected?

Have you got have they been notified of what they're going to do with the road out there?

They're going to do a J-turn and stuff.

I'm just thinking they're putting a lot of money inside.

There's a question as to the right-of-way and all the rest of that, and we are, I believe, out of that right-of-way.

Okay.

We double check that with Cassie.

I think there was a question as to that one on the fence line versus the actual placement of the sign.

We are probably six or eight feet inside of the fence line, which is the uh state uh right-of-way line.

So inside of that by a considerable amount.

Okay.

Are there any remonstrators about this?

Kip why don't you have a seat?

Why don't you come up, please?

Please start with your name and your address.

Hello.

I'm Stephanie Venard.

I'm at 9520 Farmington Drive, Evansville.

Um we live right across the road from the sign that is on the Lloyd that is currently on the Lloyd.

Um I have some pictures for reference.

I didn't know if anybody has been out there.

Um, and I'm specifically speaking about the sign that's on the Lloyd, not the ones that will be on Mount Vernon Road, middle Mount Vernon Road, correct?

Um so I don't know if you guys can I bring these up.

And I wrote on the back point of view.

And I would have taken some pictures the last few days at night, but um, you know, life, and then last night they did not have the lights on for some reason on the sign when I drove out.

But um when we relocated here in 2019 for my husband's career, um we were really wanted to live rural, but um we ended up settling um with a fixer there in the community on Farmington Drive.

And I do have to say that I am here for a couple reasons that are selfish and practical.

One, I don't want a new brighter sign there, and I'll try to be brief.

But um, number one, in my opinion and my neighbors, um, a new sign is not needed.

The current size and lighting is perfectly visible from the road, as you can see in the photos.

I did a going out westward and coming back toward the east.

Um if you approve this, the light will basically light up our neighborhood all night, and we truly don't want that to happen.

Um, it will be horribly intrusive and honestly ruin the appeal of you know our neighborhood out there.

Um we do enjoy seeing the stars and the wildlife out there, and um I do sort of understand how the church needs to have advertisement.

Um, but quite honestly, after 10 at night out there, um, traffic is extremely slow.

Um, so I'm not sure what who they're marketing that for.

And then there's currently, as was suggested earlier, there is currently not a magnetic sign out there.

And um that gets me into another one of my reasons um against it, and that is the safety.

If anybody has been out there on our new Lloyd with the new um dispersed left hand turns.

Um headed west, the sign is at the end of a documented dangerous curve of the Lloyd, and although they did try to straighten that out a little bit, it is still wonky, and now there is a displace left in the middle of it.

Um that's in one of the pictures.

I kind of put an arrow where that's at, but it's obviously not done yet.

It's still being done.

It is my um belief that adding another distraction in that area of a large bright lit up and changing LED sign will be dangerously distracting for the drivers on McDowell Drive.

And with that curve.

And one thing to keep in mind is that most of McDowell to the south is emergency and elderly driver traffic.

Um these individuals may already have delayed reaction time, and I'm not sure how many of you might have um difficulty driving at night.

But the extreme difficulty with the nighttime driving and the lights related to that.

Um obviously there'll be a learning curve, but they're gonna have a left-hand turn to navigate, which goes against you know what we've learned for years, and navigating the oncoming traffic coming from the west, and having to get all the way over into the right-hand lane in a very short distance to make their right hand turn on to McDowell.

That stuff is all in place and it's happening.

I feel like a huge sign flashing, you know, what current events are happening is going to be another distraction for drivers at that intersection, even going in the other direction for in some effect.

Um and the other part was really about the wildlife and light pollution.

There's something nice about that side of town that it gets dark.

And I just hate to see that darkness leave.

Um we can see the light from our house now and from our street um in the evenings because of the work they did at the Lloyd and all the things they took out.

But um trees might grow back.

Um a big huge light is never going away.

So thank you.

Anybody have a comment?

Stephanie, as I'm thinking this through, I am from the west side and familiar with all this.

If your your view now is seasonal because it's got all the trees along there, have we seen it?

Um they took all of that out last fall.

Um I was trying to look at your pictures along the highway they did.

Yeah, yeah.

So the trees that are left are the ones in our yard.

Um, but those are views from now.

So in the winter we can see even more.

That's what I was getting at.

Okay.

Anyone else?

Thank you for being Mike.

Um you show me uh using this existing shot where you live, which which piece of property is yours.

Um see that triangle.

You've got the cursor, that's my house where you have the cursor, and then we also own the lot right next to it on the Lloyd.

Yeah, those two.

Okay.

Yep.

All righty.

Um are you aware that these signs can be reduced in brightness uh during certain hours?

No, I would assume that, but yeah, that's why I I guess I should have finished at the end of my little speech that if you guys did vote yes to allow this, that you would be very specific on your rules regarding the LEDs and the brightness and maybe even the timing.

So we'll have the signed guy uh address that.

All right, thank you.

You make some good points.

Thank you for being here.

All right, I think that was it.

So, Kip.

Um first of all, I I would uh like to mention that I did have this conversation with the church about uh dimming it at certain times at night so that it did it was not intrusive to neighbors.

I can also assure you that the church has assured me that they want to be a good neighbor first.

Um so this isn't one something that they want to um uh become problematic, and they'll be happy to work with you on any timing issues or malfunction issues if they happen.

And I can also assure you that we can remote access into those signs because they're cell phone based as far as the communication.

And uh we if there's an issue, uh our number is publicly available as well as the church, and if there's ever an issue, we can actually remote in and shut the sign off.

So uh we do have uh photo control uh control on it on the control for the uh brightness, and we are restricted by the code to have it at a certain level that is just above ambient light.

So it would never be intrusively uh bright uh if it ever is, if there's some kind of lightning strike or any kind of malfunction to the computer or anything like that, we have the ability to be able to go in and shut it off even at night.

So uh I wanted to assure you of a couple of things there.

Um also if it's something that the elderly, I mean, like the neighbors would need to report like some of those drivers that they're having trouble seeing.

Normally we get that from the church, but if you have a concern, you can always call into our office or the church's office and they can remote into it as well and be able to control that.

But we do control the lighting of it.

In fact, in most cases, and if it's in a residential area, we shut it off at a certain time of night to where it's zero brightness.

So while we don't turn the sign off, it's controlled by taking it down to black, if it makes sense.

Thank you.

Yes, before you leave, would you give if you have a business card?

Would you give it to her or at least provide her with your cell number that's if she has an issue, she can call you direct.

Absolutely.

Okay, thank you.

So, Kip, um, I don't know what the speed limit is along the.

I'm gonna guess it's maybe 60.

So I never understand this.

How how is how they read?

Why do you need uh an electronic sign on a highway where people are going 60 mile an hour?

That's a great question.

And why I mean how I I can't I can't even read the church ones.

I tell you a good one is Bethel Temple on Lincoln Avenue.

That's one electronic sign that I think they were doing the right thing on that one.

Thank you.

Yeah, I do I like that one.

I like the size of it.

I like the content, even though I know Dirk, I'm not supposed to talk about content.

Today's date.

Joy.

But I'm just lights.

Yeah, you can make a note that I like the Bethel Temple one.

But out here, I mean I agree with Stephanie.

It's dark, it's country, there's deer, the roads have changed dramatically.

Why, why do you why is the church think they need a a lit up sign where people are going so fast they can't read it?

Great question.

I will tell you that the what's called a PUD sign, a push-up drop-down eight-inch letter that's in that sign right now, is even nearly impossible to read because of the size of the letter that's on that sign is limited.

On the digital side, we have the ability to be able to make the letters a little bit larger with a simpler, much, much simpler message.

We can also freeze that message for whatever time that's necessary to be able to make that what's called a six-second uh uh line of sight view and readability of it.

So we also coach our clients on the type of messages put up on that sign.

Now, we also reduced the size of this sign on purpose because it's not necessary to have a 12-foot wide sign, even though it's a pretty long view.

Uh a four by eight sign uh is necessary to be able to put reasonable messages up there.

So while we reduce the size of the sign, um, we can put larger letters up there in a simpler fashion.

We can also put what's called string messages up there.

Um I'm gonna give you I'm gonna oversimplify this, and if I if I step on it really hard, just bear with me.

Uh you could put eat at Joe's in three separate messages up there and be able to be have a roughly a three-foot letter on there.

And I'm not saying that that's what I recommend that they do, but you can control the size of those letters with the digital sign where you can't control that with the fixed copy board where it's it's almost dysfunctional as a copy board, as far as it is off of the road.

Okay, do you swear or affirm the testimony you will give is true and accurate something?

I do Matt Lane 8522 Esther Lane in Evansville.

Um I live very close to this sign as well.

Um and currently from the uh life pollution standpoint, and she can probably attest to that.

There's there they have two LED spotlights right now lighting this up so they could land a small aircraft in the cornfield um to light this sign up currently.

So the light pollution right now is is really bad.

Uh but Joy to answer your question, if you look on the aerial, all of that green right there is not grass, it's very, very rough farmland, it's very rough terrain.

Um so the reason that sign wasn't lit for probably 10 years because they couldn't get a truck out there to repair it.

Um so they finally, I guess, got enough guys together and and put the effort into getting those current LEDs up there to light it.

But um I know those folks at the church uh really well.

It that church is a pretty big staple in the West Side community.

Um but again that that that terrain to get to that sign is is very difficult.

Um so that's me speaking as a neighbor end on behalf of the sign.

But would the would those lights come down then?

Yeah.

Okay.

And then my other question is the sign that's uh above the message board, is that controlled in the same way as the message board?

Because and maybe it's just because of what you have on the signs and information that you gave us.

That looks a lot brighter than the sign, the LED sign.

So it can be uh controlled in the same fashion.

In other words, we can put a timer on it where it turns off and on at certain hours.

Yeah.

Okay.

Traditionally, most people are worried about the digital signs.

Uh the top and the bottom sign when it was built lit up, and it was much, much brighter than even what the digital sign will be, and we can control at what brightness that is, even at night, especially at night.

But after a certain period of time during sleeping hours and things like that, we we don't it's it's uh more intrusive than um than anything else where there's no traffic, you're basically burning the sign uh at no benefit with no traffic.

So when the traffic dies down, it's it's recommended that we actually uh take the sign down in brightness, if that makes sense.

So Kip, I kind of sense the preference here is here to do some sort of dimming.

Yes.

Have you got a proposal or do you want to hear George?

I've talked to them about uh after you have I've talked to them about after 8 p.m.

Uh the sign going to uh dim or dark.

Okay.

And then um if there's any other preference, I'll be happy to be happy to listen.

Are any comments about the other question?

Is that a common thing to do or no?

It is common.

Okay.

Well, the sign automatically dims.

Right.

The turning point church sign itself, not uh for the top sign.

It's not in comment for it.

Okay.

Anyone else?

Okay.

So uh we've heard the application, we've heard remonstrator, and we've had discussion.

Uh is there more discussion or are we ready for a motion?

Okay, is there a motion motion to approve with the stipulation of going dim or dark after 8 p.m.?

Can you put a percentage on the dimming, please?

Five percent.

And then what time can it come back on?

What time do they need it back on?

So traditionally it would be around 5 30, 6 o'clock in the morning.

6 a.m.

When track 6 a.m.

6 to 8 work for you?

6 a.m.

to 8 p.m.

6.

Yeah.

Or 8 to 6.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yep.

That'd be fine.

So Sarita, is that agreeable to your motion?

Yes.

I'll second.

And we have a second.

Council, you're cool.

Please call the roll.

Ms.

Payne.

No.

Mr.

Rudolph.

I'll vote yes with the expectation that you will provide the demonstrators before you leave here with your personal information, cell phone, et cetera.

Okay.

So I'll say yes.

Thank you.

Mr.

Shatler?

Yes.

Mr.

Zayner?

Yes.

Ms.

Cabell?

Yes.

Ms.

Kasha?

No.

Mr.

Petkey.

I feel like it's a good compromise.

I vote yes and show it is approved with that condition with five yes and two no's.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Next item, please.

All right.

Next up we have document number VAR dash 2026-039.

At 308 and 312 South Woods Avenue.

Petitioner is David Holder.

Applicant requests relaxation of the zoning code to allow accessory structures to be larger in square footage than the main structure, the residents for construction of a new 384 square foot shed.

Total accessory structures will increase to 2,537 square foot, exceeding the size of the residence by 521 square foot.

All right.

Well, everyone who's here to speak on this petition for it or against it, please raise your right hand.

You swear or affirm the testimony you will give is true and accurate, so if you got I do.

Thank you.

Name and address, please.

David Holder, 312 Southwoods Avenue, Evansville, Indiana.

Great.

And so you're proposing an uh storage barn in the backyard, is that right?

Correct.

And is it for personal use only?

Yes.

No business run out of it.

Have you talked to any of your neighbors?

I have a few, yeah.

I would send out 11 sort of fun letters.

So if you talk to them, what how that go?

Everything's fine, yeah.

They don't have a problem with it.

Okay.

We're all pretty pretty close.

Yeah.

Comments or questions from board members.

Are there any remonstrators?

I have a question for Cassia and put myself a note here.

I'm trying to figure out why I didn't.

Where's the garage listed under existing conditions?

Yeah.

So there we have a house, pole barn, detached garage and a shed.

Mm-hmm.

I don't have a pole arm.

I have a garage and a house and a shed.

Is there a garage attached or detached?

It's detached.

And is there a dwelling?

Oh, and I didn't put garage, I put carport.

There's a detached carport where Joel's pointing that sits in front of the garage building that um is not attached to anything.

There's another carport on the house that's attached to the house, but no, in front of that.

Correct.

Yeah, right there.

Um but that other one is not attached to anything.

So where again, where is the garage?

Right there where Joel's cursor is.

It's the big white building.

Show me on here.

That's the garage.

Okay.

And you're saying there is a pole barn?

No.

It does not have a I put it as a pole barn because there's not a garage door on the front or back of that garage.

So the polls are that's why I called it a barn instead of a garage.

The 1480 comes from the 12280.

Yes.

Okay.

And that's a garage without an entrance.

Oh yes, there's like a door on the front.

There's the store.

Like a there's an accessory dwelling unit on top of it.

Um that's why there's like a porch on the side.

And is it someone living there?

I live there.

You live there.

Who lives in the house?

My sister.

Your sister lives in there.

Right.

So your sister lives in a house and you live in the structure.

Yes.

You know you have to get uh a permit for that.

I already get all that.

Yeah, that that's something that's going along with this.

Um I can tell you the whole story if you want, but it's not.

No, I just want to make sure that I'm I don't mind.

I don't mind that you're living there.

I just want to make sure that while you're going through all this that you got your primary.

Yeah, I've been there for 20 years.

It's and we did this 15 years ago.

And it spans about 30 years of um a mistake in determining a legal nonconforming and uh denial of another variance, and it's a thing.

So we're with this, we're wrapping it up and getting him an ADU permit to make it.

I just want to make sure you you knew you need to get an ADU permit while you're going through all this.

It sounds like Cassie is helping you.

Are there any remonstrators about this?

I see none.

Is there any more discussion from board members?

If not, is there a motion?

So move.

I'll send it.

We have a motion and a second to approve.

Please call the roll.

Mr.

Rudolph?

Yes.

Mr.

Shetler?

Yes.

Mr.

Zayner?

Yes.

Ms.

Cabill?

Yes.

Ms.

Kasha?

Yes.

Ms.

Payne?

Yes.

Mr.

Petke.

I vote yes and show it is approved with seven yes and zero no.

Thank you.

Next we have docket number VAR dash 2026-040 at 2335 North Green River Road.

Petitioner is C and S Inc.

represented by Custom Sign and Engineering.

Applicant request relaxation of the maximum allowed number of on-premises signs from three to seven to allow installation of updated signage for an existing gas station.

Alright.

Well, everyone who's here to speak on this petition forward or against it, please raise your right hand.

You swear or affirm the testimony you will give is true and accurate, so I'll pick up it.

I do.

Thank you.

Scott Elpers, uh 17027 Oak State Road.

Um just to give you a little additional information.

Since we filed this, the car wash has been closed.

So there are two signs on the car wash that we may not put up.

I tried to get hold of the owner when I walked out.

I couldn't get a hold of me.

He was on vacation.

But I'd like to keep the application the way it is if we could.

Because you might.

But we because he may redo it and keep it.

You know what I'm saying?

But I think those signs are going to be removed.

So we're really only going to have five signs versus seven.

But if we we just wouldn't permit the other two save a trip back.

That's correct.

Okay.

Any comments or questions from the board members?

Okay, so you're gonna leave signs E and F on your petition.

I'd like to leave them on, yes.

But no, as it stands right now, those are going to get removed.

Okay.

But if they redo the car wash, we would like to.

That's correct.

Okay.

Anyone else?

Yeah.

Scott, is did you represent a marathon station uh a month ago?

Yes, okay.

Yeah.

So this is the same kind of thing where marathon says you gotta upgrade or possibly lose the that's correct.

Um normally petroleum contracts are about a 10-year contract.

After 10 years, you re-up your contract, and then you get an upgrade allowance to upgrade to a new image.

So that's the reason why you see filling stations about every 10 years bringing it.

Okay.

You know, I think last month we kind of expressed some concerns about companies coming in saying you're gonna lose this uh if you don't change the way things are.

Um I get gas there and business looks like it's pretty good.

What are what do you think is the um possibility if if this if we just said no, you got to stick with the regulations with business being good, is a marathon actually gonna pull out of there?

I guess there's a chance.

I I don't know that that would probably happen or not.

Um I know uh we're changing sign for sign.

Um and I know uh they've been existing for many times, you know, for a long time.

I think the package has been there for um it was a Phillips 66, and we changed it sign for sign to marathon, and now we're upgrading again.

So I can't say that they would or would not.

I I know you can't, which is just asking, but um I'm concerned about uh you know going forward if this becomes a trend of different companies coming in and saying you know, we'd like to build in Evansville uh, but uh you know we want all this all these exceptions, so um I mean I don't have any objection to this particular one.

I'm just concerned about what you know in the next couple of years going forward.

So I do sink in.

Yeah, I do know that um with the new ordinance only allowing three signs.

You know, used to we'd be three signs per street front.

Um a corner lot, uh obviously it's the most expensive piece of property, more exposure, and now you're limiting the number of signs.

Uh I think you're gonna have a lot of variances for that application, and for situations like this where you know you have basically two brands.

You know, you have the the front the convenience store brand that we're branding and the type of petroleum you're selling, so that's where we get into issues.

Yeah.

Okay, thanks.

Anyone else?

I wanted to tell Mike that's a great question.

That's one of the best questions anybody's ever asked regarding signs because I was just talking to Becky.

We had that issue last month.

Maybe it was last month with car dealerships who carry five different brands of cars and assist that all those brands of cars be on their signage.

So they're coming back asking for additional signage.

So what if we said no?

So thank you for asking that.

Great question.

Okay.

Any are there any remonstrators about this?

I see none.

Is there a motion?

So moved.

Second.

Motion and a second, please call the roll.

Mr.

Shetler.

Yes.

Mr.

Zayner?

Yes.

Ms.

Cavill?

Yes.

Ms.

Kasha?

Yes.

Ms.

Payne?

Yes.

Mr.

Rudolph?

Yes.

Mr.

Petke.

I vote yes and show it is approved with seven yes, zero no's.

Thank you, Scott.

Next we have doggy number V A R 2026-042 at 601 Southeast Martin Lizer King Junior Boulevard.

Petitioner is 601 MLK properties LLC, represented by Morley Corp.

Applicant request relaxation of the minimum required radar green space from five foot to two foot along the west property line.

And side drug green space from five foot to zero foot along the south property line to allow expansion of an existing commercial parking area.

All right.

Well, everyone who's here to speak on this petition for or please raise your right hand.

You swear or affirm the testimony you will give is true and accurate.

So I'll be got a question.

I do.

Thank you.

Sorry.

Uh Jim Morley Jr.

Project Engineer.

Uh and so on uh your handy to any pass out on the front page is kind of where in the world is this.

This is right down Martin Luther King from here, maybe five blocks on the right.

And on the back side shows what we're doing.

Uh I know this project well because this is the first office building that Morley and Associates ever had.

The first one we ever built.

And uh and so now it is an accounting uh company.

Uh but uh the as they have uh flourished and gotten bigger, they need more parking spaces.

And uh when Morley was there, we left this area back here kind of green, and uh now they need more parking spaces, and so they want to park in that area.

But as you can see on this exhibit, uh back in the day, you were able to park all the way up to the property line.

Uh so 34 years ago when a site plan was approved, you could park all the way up to the property line.

Now there are some green space setbacks uh that prevent you from going all the way to the property line.

And so uh we are seeking just to line these parking spaces up with all the other parking spaces that have been out there for 34 years.

And so um it is uh in my mind that's what makes sense out here to have all those parking spaces line up versus have all the new ones sitting five feet farther back into the drive aisle.

So you put green space there and the company grew.

Are there any c comments or questions from board members?

I've I've seen that the former Vowels and Shafts.

Yeah.

And I know they got bought out or something.

I think it's like ATA now.

Yeah, I think it makes perfect sense to continue the parking spaces along the way the always have been.

Yeah.

It looks like business is good there.

Anybody else?

Hey, Jim.

I talked to Rio.

Are they doing rolled curb just on the new parking spaces or for all of them?

We're going to do the existing parking spaces have roll curve.

Okay.

And the new part is going to match the roll curve also.

Okay.

Yeah.

And Joel, I did have a question on the staff or Cassie on the staff field report that mentions going from five to two feet and five to zero feet.

Is that we had had that one was 20 feet.

So in the parking code for if it's not the principal structure, so the 20 feet is for the principal structure, but in the parking code it says side and rear are five foot.

Can't be less than five foot.

Okay, I'm good with that.

I just want to make sure we were seeking the correct variance.

So anybody else?

Okay.

Uh remonstrator.

Good afternoon.

Uh Shona Jarbo, 822 East Powell.

Um I am currently the president of the Bellmute Beard Neighborhood Association, extending coverage to CCIA, and I've also been working on the Blackford Grove area.

So I'm also the United Neighborhoods of Evansville South Sector up, and so all of all of this center city area kind of falls into what I'm looking at on a day-to-day.

About two weeks ago we had some major storms at the end of June.

Evans in Blackford was about one foot deep in water, completely impassable.

Governor in Washington, same.

And it's a big looming problem as that EPA mandate comes closer.

And my big concern here is on the impervious surfaces that exist already through the area and the water runoff that happens.

Looking at this particular space, there is currently no on-site drainage.

There are no sewer openings nearby to this.

And uh on top of that, we have the uh code on nonconforming uses.

I understand this was built in 1980.

Things have changed, things have hopefully moved towards the better to alleviate these problems moving into the future.

But um it's the intent of the title to permit these non-conforming uses to continue until they're removed, but not to encourage their survival.

It's further the intent of this title that non-conforming uses shall not be enlarged upon, expanded or extended.

Um, I spend on average one to three hours a week going and checking sewer grates, clearing away debris, making sure that things are not going too sour in that area.

So I spent a lot of time looking at the water flow.

Um during the June storms, I was out there knee deep in the water.

We were filming, we had several people clearing, trying to make sure that these sewers were actually getting the water out of and stopping these dangerous dangerous situations that we have.

And so for the community, already, you know, we're these neighborhoods can be surrounded by cement jungles.

And they're moving closer and closer.

I would simply like to see that there be a little bit um of responsible stewardship as we move forward that the storm water is managed as best as it can be, and that while there's a need for parking, there's also a need for the enhancement in that in-between area between the high commercial and the mostly residentials.

This is one little strip which is very combined section.

Um that's that's kind of where I'm at.

Okay.

Any questions or comments from Ms.

Darvo?

Thank you for being here.

And thank you for raking over those grades.

Well, I tell you, it's it can be interesting in there, all kinds of stuff.

I bet it can.

Okay.

Uh Jim, come back, please.

Uh Jim Morley Jr.

Uh we had gone through site review in the city engineer's office and M.

reviewed this and did not require any additional or any additional stormwater detention.

Uh the typically the threshold for stormwater detention is 10,000 square feet, and we are 2,950, so we're less than a third of what is required for that.

Um, and so I would and the city engineers and water and sewer were okay with what we have here.

Um additionally, I will say uh Joel, you had a picture up there a while ago that showed that whole block.

Um, relatively speaking, when this block was developed, all three all the three buildings that got built there, they all got put on the corners like that.

Relatively speaking, there's a fair amount of green space around those buildings.

They don't sit upright on those intersections, and so they give those intersections a bit of a green feel.

And that last quarter block, we don't own that quarter block anymore, but it's been green for a long time, and there's been nobody jumping up and down to turn that anything else but green.

Um but we think this is a we think this is a reasonable request to allow these accounts to have a place to park.

Um, and it's in keeping with what's been there for years and years and years and years.

Okay, I was just gonna state this is not a legal non-conforming use.

It's zone CO2, it's still a commercial office, and CO2 allows larger than 3,000 square foot, and I believe it's just a little bit over.

So it's not legal nonconforming, it's legal conforming.

And I was just gonna say exactly what Jim said.

There um I have a note that their erosion control plan was approved by a city engineer back in March.

Is there a motion to approve?

I want I'm gonna ask Jim something here.

And I'm sure you have covered this, but um in doing a lot line adjustment to maintain these spaces.

Do you have to get approval from the adjoining property owner?

Uh it was it was a lot line adjustment with the adjoining property owner.

Yeah.

So uh at some point, uh we've not owned this building or the building south of this building for quite some time.

But at some point in people selling to selling to whatever, there was uh there was a a uh an old alley that got vacated, but when it was vacated, it got transferred with the wrong property.

And so the property owner to the south ended up owning um half of the parking spaces to the north and never knew and so when we did the survey of the property, we found the air in the and the transfers, and so we met with uh it was a southwest Indiana title is on the south of them, and they're like, oh wow, we didn't know we owned it either.

And so and so uh they willingly did we did a lot line adjustment to get the property line to what was supposed to be.

Yeah, that's awesome.

That was title company, they can do that.

Yeah, you got a title company, an engineering company, and a county.

You'd think somewhere in there something would have figured that out.

I'm not sure what happened.

The guy that cuts the grass figured it out pretty much.

Yeah, so we got we got that sorted through.

That was a surprise to us also.

This is our motion to approve.

So move.

Second.

We have a motion and a second.

Please call the roll.

Mr.

Zayner?

Yes.

Ms.

Cabell.

Yes.

Ms.

Kasha?

Yes.

Ms.

Payne?

Yes.

Mr.

Rudolph?

Yes.

Mr.

Shetler?

Yes.

Mr.

Pedke.

I vote yes and show it's approved with seven yes, zero no's.

Thank you very much.

I appreciate it.

Okay.

Last up we have docket number VAR-2026-043 at 4519 Claremont Avenue.

Petitioner is Larry Cornett, represented by our layman and son consulting.

Applicant request relaxation of the zoning code to allow gravel parking in lieu of pay parking.

Relaxation of the requirement that the parking area be designed to eliminate vehicles backing out into street right-of-way, and relaxation of the minimum required number of parking spaces from four to zero to legally establish a parking area and change of use for a single family residence converted to a triplex without permits.

Alright.

Well, everyone who's here to speak on this petition for it or against it.

Please raise your right hand.

Do you swear affirm the testimony you will give is true and accurate?

So I hope you got it.

Thank you very much.

Matt Layman, our layman and son consulting in 8522 Aston Lane in Evansville.

It's always fun to learn new things, and as a born and raised with Sutter, I did not know Recton Avenue was a real thing.

So that's uh I learned a new street.

Yeah.

So I was brought into this.

Uh they had uh Mr.

Cornett had purchased this property.

Uh it was a good investment opportunity.

Um when they were attempting to close on it the I guess more the mortgage uh during that process.

They basically found out it wasn't zoned properly.

So he had the he had a property rezoned to get that corrected, and then that's what triggered um I guess the site review process.

They went through uh everybody in the site review uh processes sign off with the exception of APC and their uh awaiting the outcome of our meeting here today.

Um but basically he's just wanted to keep it the way it's been for a long time.

Um the neighbor across the street from Recton was actually one of my uh one of my football players, and they've that's been like that for as long as they can remember.

Um so it's not a very busy street at all, to say the least.

Um we just asked that you would approve the existing conditions as is and let this chapter be closed for Mr.

Cornett.

Thank you, Matt.

Comments or questions from board members.

Yep.

Yep.

Mike.

Um why can't he add stone uh in front of that small garage and uh the area that's north of that garage.

There's I notice he's got a boat back in a garage, and there's a lot of grass there.

Uh there is a point going north with a property where the ground drops off dramatically, so I wouldn't want him to you know uh go off that little cliff there, but I saw plenty of room if he's willing to spend the money to do a little excavation and add stone in front of the carport and north of the carport.

And then also where uh I guess it be to the south.

There's a couple of cars that are already parking there, but there's room to go further south if he would do some excavation and add stone as well.

So I uh d just based on my cursory to look at the place, uh I can see where there's room to put stone in there to accommodate um three different apartments.

None of which would be on Claremont Avenue.

They'd all be accessed off of um said other street.

Recton?

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, because um yeah, currently there's no parking or access off of Claremont, everything is right there off of Recton.

Um that would be a question for Mr.

Cornett.

Um obviously his his desire to to keep it how it's how it's been, that gravel's been there for probably well older than I am.

Um so it's nice and compact as far as being a good parking service.

Um he's putting in three apartments now, correct?

They're existing.

They're existence.

That's this has been like this for a very long time.

I I don't know exactly when.

Cassie, do you have record?

Well, no, because it wasn't permitted.

I researched it when they did the rezoning in 2024, and I do not remember, but I think it was one unit was added in the 70s, and then the third unit came much later, like in the 90s or something like that.

And I don't recall when the parking got there.

There were several different setups, but there was always gravel in the right-of-way.

Like I said, Mr.

Cornette much.

I don't have a problem with the gravel, but uh again, I I I see a lot of room where he can add additional parking space.

So, Mike, I proposed that to him and I even drew it out on there, but he decided he wanted to go for the variance and gravel on the parking at that this location.

We gave him, we told him that option, one of the options.

Okay.

Again, I wasn't involved in the site review process.

Um, city engineer uh Joel, you didn't say city engineer signed off on this correct.

Yeah, I believe they got right of uh encroachment for the right-of-way for all the parking that is shown right there.

I put it in the report, they got the encroachment was approved and it had condition on it.

Turn the page.

Uh existing parking right-of-way encroachment, parking to be on Recton Avenue, 50 foot from Claremont travelway owner to return 50-foot area to grass.

So I highlighted that in green on the site plan that's on the screen there.

That any gravel that's within that 50 foot, they have to remove it and return that area to grass, and they can't have any parking in that area.

Correct.

But other than that, they did approve the encroachment.

Thank you, by the way, Jill.

All right.

Anything else?

Matt, uh, when did your client buy this?

Um of this stuff gets inherited.

All that's inherited.

Yeah, he he purchased this property as is.

I saw that, but when?

Um trying to remember.

They asked me to do uh legal non-conforming research in 2023, I believe.

Okay.

And that's when I found there was a plethora of things.

They had to do a rezoning and a subdivision because there's two mobile homes that were on their property that are part of the mobile home park to the north.

It was a whole thing.

It's kind of an obscure little road back in there.

It's my shortcut to go to Bob's.

I like go all around Claremont and Bossy and end up back in that little road back there.

That you don't have to look up when he bought it.

He's actually, I text him, he's responding to me right now.

2025.

April of 2025.

Okay.

But there's not a business plan that he's moving forward with something different.

No, he just wants to, he's trying to get everything approved just so we can have it.

Like so he he purchased this as an investment opportunity, and when he purchased it, he didn't realize that obviously nothing was that it wasn't permitted, and he didn't plan on having to do you know all of these things.

But obviously he he is.

He wants to be legal and correct and uh and I um I think I may have noted this in the report, but since it none of it had ever been permitted or inspected on the inside, they did do um a couple walkthroughs and he has updated things that he was asked by billing commission and fire department to update.

So they have done that work to get it into compliance with everybody.

All right.

Are there any remonstrators about this?

I see none.

Is there a motion?

Can I make a suggestion on the motion?

Sorry.

Condition that he still keeps the forest parking spaces in the right-of-way, because technically if you give them zero, he could get rid of those tomorrow and have no parking.

I'm I make a motion to approve variance 2026-043 with a condition that the um property owner maintain the four current parking spaces.

In the right-of-way.

In the right-of-way.

Okay.

Uh can you just be clear?

The green is going back for the 50 feet, right?

And so which where are the four spots?

Where in the yellow, I mean, basically.

Yeah.

Joel's.

I'm sorry, Bill, do it again.

I was looking down.

One, two, two, three.

Okay.

Okay, so he maintains those four.

And they're just the motion.

Well, some of them are not 9BA2.

Yeah, that's parallel line by 24.

Some you can just say.

You can just say as shown on the side plan.

I'm I'm cool with the motion.

I just want to make sure I understood it.

But you're good with it?

Okay, is there a second to that?

I'll say.

Okay, we have a second to that.

Any more discussion?

Please call the roll.

Ms.

Capital?

Yes.

Ms.

Kasha?

Yes.

This pain?

Yes.

Mr.

Rudolph.

Uh I'll vote no.

I'm in f I'm okay with variance requests one and two, but um variance requests number three.

Uh I can't support, so I'll vote no.

Mr.

Shetler?

Yes.

Mr.

Zayner?

Yes.

Mr.

Pedke.

I vote yes.

And show that the motion with that can with that condition is approved with six yes and one no.

Thank you.

All right.

Any other business staff?

Thank you very much.

Is meeting adjourned?

Okay with that.

It's not a good no you say that.

Say what?

Meeting is adjourned.

It is.

No, you say that.

Say what?

Meetings adjourned.

Yes, it is.

Where's Vernon's office?

Computer services.

Christian.

On the billboard to two HCCs.

Thank you.

I think it's on the second floor at this end of the hall.

I haven't been down there a long time.

I don't remember.

You mean where the new courtrooms are?

No.

Well, I haven't been down there since the court.