RICHMOND, Ind. — Dustin Purvis, director of Infrastructure and Development, told the Richmond Common Council on July 21 that the department has seen a rise in development activity in 2025, including permit counts and measured investment downtown and across the city.

Purvis said the city issued 77 improvement-location permits in the first half of 2025 — the most zoning permits since 2020 — and 18 improvement-location permits for new signs. He said the city’s unified development ordinance is the primary regulatory framework for planning and zoning (chapter 158 of the city code), and that the planning staff includes a three-person planning team: Purvis, Joanne Barroker (zoning administrator), and Monica Young (planning technician).

Purvis reported that the Board of Zoning Appeals held hearings since January on one special exception, four variances of use and 21 variances of development standards. Notable recent projects he listed include Sixth & Main apartments, the Chester Heights apartment expansion, a proposed hotel on West Eaton Pike, a proposed 7-Eleven and Speedway on Williamsburg Pike, and a proposed Wawa on Williamsburg Pike. Planning staff also facilitated 10 administrative subdivisions, six minor subdivisions, four rezonings, one primary plat, three secondary plats and one phase of a planned development over the past year.

On the building and inspections side, Purvis said the city issued 683 building permits and Aaron Jordan and Terry Ford conducted over 800 inspections in 2025 so far. He said those permits accounted for roughly $32.5 million in commercial investment and about $6.5 million in residential investment through the first two quarters — a combined near-$40 million pace that Purvis said is likely to exceed recent totals except for 2023, when three large industrial projects in the Midwest Industrial Park (expansions by Blue Buffalo, Anchor Ingredients and Liberation Bio Industries) drove an unusually large number.

Purvis highlighted downtown East Main Street (between Fifth and Thirteenth streets) as seeing more than $14 million in investment this year, with the Sixth & Main project accounting for a large share. He said the Historic Preservation Commission considered three demolition requests in the past year — two were approved and one denied — and that the commission is researching the possibility of establishing a downtown conservation district and is reaching out to property owners.

Thomas Hill, the city’s GIS coordinator, described upgrades to a publicly accessible planning and zoning dashboard that shows upcoming public hearings, case documents and maps. Purvis said Hill’s GIS work also supported the city’s community and urban forestry grant application and mapping for heat-vulnerability and priority tree-planting areas.

Purvis described Infrastructure and Development as a seven-person operation that was fully staffed as of the previous year after a long vacancy period and said staff expect development activity to continue in the coming years. Councilors thanked Purvis and asked questions about the possible downtown historic conservation district; Purvis said such a proposal would come before the council if the commission moves forward.