The Kokomo City Planning Commission voted July 8 to forward a request to rezone 1983 East Jefferson Street from C-2 (medium-to-large general commercial) to L-1 (low-intensity industrial/business park), recommending the change to the Kokomo City Common Council.

The rezoning petitioner, Thomas Hickman of Complete Commercial Roofing, told the commission he recently acquired the property and wants the parcel’s zoning to match adjacent L‑1 lots to simplify future consolidation and reuse. Commission staff recommended a favorable recommendation to the council, citing the City of Kokomo comprehensive plan designation for “office/high-tech/light industrial” and noting the parcel sits inside the Wellhead Overlay.

The matter drew opposition from Baylor Woolley, an attorney for Advanced Distribution, who asked the commission to delay action while a pending lawsuit over a drainage installation on a different nearby Hickman-owned parcel is resolved. Woolley said the litigation involves a drain installed in about 2017 that he contends directs water toward his client’s property and that both parties are seeking injunctive relief. “Until that’s been decided by a judge, we feel it’s appropriate that no further rezoning or changes are done to the area,” Woolley said.

Hickman told the commission he owns Complete Commercial Roofing at 615 Toby Pike and that he has no immediate development plan for the rezoned parcel; he said his goal is to simplify future uses by aligning zoning across adjacent lots. “I recently purchased… I own Complete Commercial Roofing,” Hickman said when presenting.

Staff answered Woolley and other commissioners that a favorable zoning recommendation would not itself authorize construction. Director Schullein explained that rezoning would move the matter to the council as an ordinance and that any future development would require a separate development-plan review, at which point drainage and site-specific stormwater measures must be submitted and approved. “If there was any development, drainage would come into play at that time,” Schullein said.

Commission members voted by voice to recommend approval; the motion carried and will be transmitted to the Common Council for ordinance consideration and the council’s two readings. The motion, mover and seconder were recorded in the meeting as a voice motion and were not named in the transcript. The commission’s action is a recommendation only; final zoning change requires council action.

The staff report noted adjacent zoning types (L-1 to the north, C-2 to the south, institutional to the east, AR and C-1 to the west) and cited a local traffic count of 2,323 cars per day on this section of East Jefferson Street. The parcel is inside the City of Kokomo comprehensive plan’s employment-area designation and within the Wellhead Overlay, which staff said informs land-use goals and development considerations for environmental and public‑health protections.

The record contains competing concerns: the applicant sought administrative simplicity in zoning across contiguous lots; a nearby business’s attorney sought a continuance until litigation over drainage on a separate parcel is resolved; staff and commissioners emphasized that drainage and stormwater controls are addressed during later development-review stages. The commission’s favorable recommendation will now be considered by the Common Council.