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OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD

Record of Proceedings

New Albany Board of Zoning Appeals Meeting Summary - September 1, 2026

City Council & Boards — Tuesday, September 1, 2026

BodyNew Albany, Indiana

SessionCity Council & Boards

DateTuesday, September 1, 2026

StatusFILED

Video Record

0:00 / 48:50

Transcript — VerbatimClick a timed line to jump · ⧉ to share it

0:00

Mr.

0:00

Norwood.

0:01

Here.

0:01

Mr.

0:02

Riggs.

0:02

Here.

0:03

Mr.

0:03

Vice Chairman, we have four members present.

0:06

It will take a minimum of three to carry any motion.

0:10

Tonight's meeting is being streamed.

0:13

It will be archived in a couple of days at New Albany City Hall.com.

0:18

Thank you.

0:20

Well, Tom, we've got a few um a few dockets to hear and then uh some approval to some minutes.

0:26

So the way that we kind of work these meetings is that we'll call the the docket up and then the representative of the docket can come up and then speak.

0:34

You'll tell us a little bit about um the project.

0:36

We've all have had the information.

0:38

If there is further information that you want to provide, please do so.

0:42

Um otherwise, and we may ask you a few questions there after that happens, and we'll um ask the public if there's anyone here to speak on behalf of that, they'll come up and um um let us know their thoughts, um, whether it's for or against, and then we will um have our discussions and hear the staff report and then um ultimately um take a motion and a vote.

1:06

Um so we'd like to hear the first docket.

1:09

It is docket B-20-26.

1:13

Jeff MacMahan for RD, let's say RDBI request the land use variance to permit a small concert venue in in the D downtown District at 416 East Spring Street.

1:27

Yeah, I'm nice and grabbed with Renazan Design Bill.

1:30

Apologize for my uh address today, but I was crawled under mold mods for home at this morning on Tisco.

1:36

So uh but anyway, I'm thankful that we can uh come before you for uh the project is pretty simple.

1:43

Uh long tail ventures, Mr.

1:46

Josh Rostalls here in the audience.

1:48

The owner has uh purchased the German uh American uh church on at the corner of Spring and Fifth Street.

1:57

He is once it was the uh stained glass place for I don't know how many years, and it's probably a church before that.

2:05

He wants to uh convert that into a uh recording studio.

2:12

It's a beautiful place.

2:14

Um got vaulted ceilings, the acoustics are perfect, and uh he also would like to hold uh maybe small concert venue within that space when they're doing these recordings, like you see music videos with people standing around the artist uh doing that.

2:32

That's how he wants to use a space.

2:34

Uh maybe uh once or twice a month do these venues.

2:38

Rest of the time is just for recording studios and some teaching about that type stuff.

2:43

So uh and it's uh going to be mainly uh bluegrass and acoustic type music ventures.

2:52

And uh the request today is for parking spaces.

2:56

There's uh in the uh parts stage on on Fifth Street.

3:01

Uh there's basically uh seven parking spaces.

3:04

We're gonna make one of those a handicapped space and do a little sidewalk to connect to the rear of the building for handicap accessibility, and there's 10 sparking parking spaces along uh Fifth Street and Spring Street.

3:20

Uh when he has these venues, uh he plans on doing kind of some kind of a shuttle from the parking garage downtown several blocks away and bringing people in before and taking them back home is kind of the parking plan for this.

3:34

Obviously, there's not enough parking for uh what do you would like to do?

3:39

So that's our request to uh get the parking berries.

3:43

I don't know if you guys have any questions about this or not, but that's what we'll like to do.

3:48

Repurpose in the buildings.

3:50

What are the normal days and hours of operation for the other activities outside of the concert venue?

3:56

I think it's going to be like eight to six, maybe one or two days a week.

4:00

This is very light.

4:01

We're not primarily doing this to generate revenue, we're doing it primarily to preserve the historic church and not have it turned into a Mexican restaurant or apartments or chopped up, and so that's why you purchased it from Kirk and Donna.

4:13

And so then we were thinking, what can we possibly do to be able to oh you want me to stand up?

4:17

Yeah, please please.

4:19

So then we were thinking what can we possibly do to invite the public into it.

4:22

So primarily it's a vinyl archive.

4:24

We have 10,000 records which we've gotten from a number of radio stations which are going to incinerate of them.

4:30

Most of them are publicly uh public domain and they don't have digital copies.

4:34

So we have a little program down there.

4:36

We'll open it up to the public, we'll be able to play vinyl stuff you can't hear on digital services, it's mainly 78s and schlacks.

4:43

And then as Mr.

4:43

Crown's the same, it's uh it's an arts and crafts German church.

4:47

And if you're familiar with any of the recording that they do at like Chesky or Water Lily, they're Grammy winning artists, they do them in New York and Washington, DC.

4:54

It's designed for acoustic sacred, you know, bluegrass music.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting

Engineering And Infrastructure█████████████████████████25%

Historic Preservation████████████████████████24%

Public Safety██████████████14%

Transportation Safety██████████10%

Procedural█████████9%

Economic Development████████8%

Community Engagement█████5%

Environmental Protection███3%

Arts And Culture██2%

Summary of Proceedings

New Albany Board of Zoning Appeals Meeting Summary

The New Albany Board of Zoning Appeals met on September 1, 2026, with a recorded start time of 10:30:00 UTC. Four board members were present, so a minimum of three votes was required to carry motions. The meeting was streamed and was to be archived at New Albany CityHall.com. No agenda or minutes were provided in the source materials; this summary is based on the raw transcript.

Docket B-20-26 — Small Concert Venue at 416 East Spring Street

Jeff MacMahan presented the docket on behalf of the owner, Josh Rostalls, identified with Long Tail Ventures. The applicant requested approval to convert a former German American church into a recording studio, vinyl archive, and occasional small acoustic/bluegrass concert venue. The owner emphasized historic preservation and said concerts would likely occur about once or twice a month, with the space open perhaps one to two days a week.
Although the docket was listed as a land-use variance, staff clarified that the actual request was a development-standards variance for parking because the recording and concert uses are permitted in the Downtown District.
At a maximum occupancy of about 130 people, the venue would require 22 parking spaces. The applicant showed 17 available on-site and on-street parking spaces and proposed a shuttle to and from a downtown parking garage before and after live concerts.
No public comment was offered.
Staff recommended approval with conditions: shuttle service one hour before and after any live concerts, signage subject to approval by the Historic Preservation Commission and plan commission staff, and a six-month staff-level review.
The board approved the docket unanimously by voice vote.

Docket B-22-26 — Baptist Health Floyd Rooftop Helipad Special Exception

The applicant, Matthew Davis for Hagerman Group, requested a special exception to permit a helicopter pad on the roof of Baptist Health Floyd at 1850 State Street in the Institutional District.
Applicant representatives said the rooftop installation would exceed 70 feet above ground and helicopters would cross nearby homes at an optimum elevation of about 100 to 500 feet. They also cited a Bell helicopter noise level of roughly 83 decibels along the flight path, compared with about 71 decibels in the current meeting room.
Staff provided background: a helipad previously operated on the Professional Arts Building, and a ground-level helipad at 210 East Cotton Avenue operated without a special exception. A notice of violation was issued, and a September 2025 special-exception application was tabled. The proposed rooftop location is higher and uses the hospital parking lot as a buffer.
Public comment: Amanda Maier, a Martin Drive resident, said residents already hear and sometimes feel helicopter landings. She questioned the relocation, flight-path notification, safety, lack of an independent noise study, and the cumulative noise from the hospital's chiller units over the past five to six summers. Elaine Murphy, a New Albany city council member and resident of 3508 Joseph Court, said the city council is working on a sound ordinance related to the Baptist Health chiller incident and asked the hospital to remedy chiller noise and be a good neighbor as the helipad moves forward.
Staff found that the six statutory special-exception criteria were met, noting that the nearest residence to the proposed helipad is about 400 feet away and not on a flight path, compared with about 270 feet for the previous Professional Arts Building helipad. The nearest residence on the northern flight path is about 500 feet away, and on the eastern flight path about 580 feet away.
Staff recommended approval subject to a written commitment to obtain a favorable FAA airspace determination under 14 CFR Part 157 and an NDOT Office of Aviation certificate of site approval under 105 IAC 33, Rule 3. The board approved the special exception unanimously by voice vote.

Docket B-23-26 — E-Commerce Warehouse and Office at 1423 East Oak Street

Stephen Lunn requested a use variance to permit a warehousing and office use for his e-commerce sports cards and collectibles business in the Traditional Residential District at 1423 East Oak Street.
Lunn said the business has no retail storefront, no customer visits, and no events. He said USPS handles about 95 percent of shipments, with FedEx and UPS used periodically, and the business employs roughly three to five people. He currently rents warehouse space in Sellersburg and wants to purchase and use the Oak Street building.
Staff noted that the building is zoned residential but is not a residential building and will not become one, which establishes the unnecessary hardship needed for the variance. Staff recommended approval with stipulations that any future sign would require a permit and that the approval is personal to Mr. Lunn and is not transferable.
Staff also said it would check with the right-of-way coordinator about possible delivery or truck-crossing signage because the property had been vacant.
No public comment was offered. The board approved the variance unanimously by voice vote.

Minutes Approval

Minutes from the July 7, 2026 meeting were approved by voice vote.
Minutes from the August 4, 2026 meeting were approved by voice vote.

Enforcement Case — Mr. Cardoso

The board discussed a lingering enforcement case involving Mr. Cardoso, who created a curb cut from a cul-de-sac without Board of Works approval and installed a gravel driveway and an accessory structure that appeared to violate side and rear setback requirements.
Mr. Cardoso subsequently received Board of Works approval for the curb cut, but he had not yet paved the driveway, and the accessory structure remained in the noncompliant location.
The board voted to direct Mr. Cardoso to appear at the October 2026 meeting to resolve the matter, or the case would be referred to the city attorney for enforcement.

Key Outcomes

Docket B-20-26 was approved unanimously with staff conditions.
Docket B-22-26 was approved unanimously with staff conditions, including the state and federal approval commitment.
Docket B-23-26 was approved unanimously with staff conditions.
July 7, 2026 and August 4, 2026 meeting minutes were approved.
Mr. Cardoso was directed to appear in October 2026 or face referral to the city attorney.

Meeting Transcript

Mr. Norwood. Here. Mr. Riggs. Here. Mr. Vice Chairman, we have four members present. It will take a minimum of three to carry any motion. Tonight's meeting is being streamed. It will be archived in a couple of days at New Albany City Hall.com. Thank you. Well, Tom, we've got a few um a few dockets to hear and then uh some approval to some minutes. So the way that we kind of work these meetings is that we'll call the the docket up and then the representative of the docket can come up and then speak. You'll tell us a little bit about um the project. We've all have had the information. If there is further information that you want to provide, please do so. Um otherwise, and we may ask you a few questions there after that happens, and we'll um ask the public if there's anyone here to speak on behalf of that, they'll come up and um um let us know their thoughts, um, whether it's for or against, and then we will um have our discussions and hear the staff report and then um ultimately um take a motion and a vote. Um so we'd like to hear the first docket. It is docket B-20-26. Jeff MacMahan for RD, let's say RDBI request the land use variance to permit a small concert venue in in the D downtown District at 416 East Spring Street. Yeah, I'm nice and grabbed with Renazan Design Bill. Apologize for my uh address today, but I was crawled under mold mods for home at this morning on Tisco. So uh but anyway, I'm thankful that we can uh come before you for uh the project is pretty simple. Uh long tail ventures, Mr. Josh Rostalls here in the audience. The owner has uh purchased the German uh American uh church on at the corner of Spring and Fifth Street. He is once it was the uh stained glass place for I don't know how many years, and it's probably a church before that. He wants to uh convert that into a uh recording studio. It's a beautiful place. Um got vaulted ceilings, the acoustics are perfect, and uh he also would like to hold uh maybe small concert venue within that space when they're doing these recordings, like you see music videos with people standing around the artist uh doing that. That's how he wants to use a space. Uh maybe uh once or twice a month do these venues. Rest of the time is just for recording studios and some teaching about that type stuff. So uh and it's uh going to be mainly uh bluegrass and acoustic type music ventures. And uh the request today is for parking spaces. There's uh in the uh parts stage on on Fifth Street. Uh there's basically uh seven parking spaces. We're gonna make one of those a handicapped space and do a little sidewalk to connect to the rear of the building for handicap accessibility, and there's 10 sparking parking spaces along uh Fifth Street and Spring Street. Uh when he has these venues, uh he plans on doing kind of some kind of a shuttle from the parking garage downtown several blocks away and bringing people in before and taking them back home is kind of the parking plan for this. Obviously, there's not enough parking for uh what do you would like to do? So that's our request to uh get the parking berries. I don't know if you guys have any questions about this or not, but that's what we'll like to do. Repurpose in the buildings. What are the normal days and hours of operation for the other activities outside of the concert venue? I think it's going to be like eight to six, maybe one or two days a week. This is very light. We're not primarily doing this to generate revenue, we're doing it primarily to preserve the historic church and not have it turned into a Mexican restaurant or apartments or chopped up, and so that's why you purchased it from Kirk and Donna. And so then we were thinking, what can we possibly do to be able to oh you want me to stand up? Yeah, please please.

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