Area Planning Commission sends favorable recommendation for New Carlisle permitted-use table rewrite

The Saint Joseph County Area Planning Commission on July 15 voted 5-0 to send a favorable recommendation to the Town Council of New Carlisle for APC 3071-25, a proposed ordinance that would repeal and replace Appendix A (the permitted-use table) of the town’s zoning ordinance.

The change is an early implementation step of New Carlisle’s 2024 comprehensive plan and consolidates and reorganizes uses in the permitted-use table to make the ordinance easier to read and to better reflect the plan’s vision, planners said. "Staff has reviewed this as it's been coming along, and we recommend a favorable recommendation to the town council," Area Plan Commission staff member Fariel Sharif told the commission.

Donovan Smith, a principal planner with McKinnon Associates, said the update is the first phase of a broader unified development ordinance modernization project the town contracted for earlier this year. "We consolidated a lot of uses to make the ordinance more readable," Smith said. He told the commission the firm and town staff will return later in the year with a more fully developed unified development ordinance incorporating these use-table changes and other improvements.

No members of the public spoke for or against the text amendment during the public-comment portion. A member of the public addressed the commission after the hearing to applaud the town and consultant process: "It's been a really great process with McKenna, and I'm thankful our town is undertaking this," the speaker said.

Commissioner Molly Hannon moved to send APC 3071-25 to the New Carlisle Town Council with a favorable recommendation. Dr. Lauck seconded. The commission then voted by roll call with the five members present voting yes; the motion carried. The commission chair noted petitioners may ask staff to table items if they prefer hearing them with a larger membership present.

The commission packet included a redline of the new permitted-use table and the current table proposed for replacement so members could compare changes. Staff emphasized this text amendment does not itself adopt the full unified development ordinance; it updates one element (the permitted-use table) as a first step in a multi-phase ordinance update process. The Town Council of New Carlisle will consider the ordinance at its own meeting.

No formal amendments were made to APC 3071-25 at the July 15 meeting, and no additional conditions or follow-up directions were recorded.