Residents press water, traffic and zoning concerns as Boone County staff recommends favorably on 47 Commons PUD

The Boone County Area Plan Commission on May 7 heard a lengthy public hearing on petition 25W‑23‑044, the proposed 47 Commons Planned Unit Development (PUD), a roughly 190‑acre mixed‑use project at the southwest corner of the I‑65 and State Road 47 interchange in Washington Township.

Staff recommended that the APC give a favorable recommendation to the PUD and the PUD district ordinance, subject to conditions including review and approval of redline edits, inclusion of Boone County stormwater ordinance requirements, completion of a transportation plan and traffic impact study addressing highway department concerns, and resolution of health department comments for individual sites. Deborah Luzier, area plan commission director, summarized the application and the technical advisory comments, including requirements that sewer and water may start as well and septic but must be abandoned within 18 months of availability of sewer and water, that commercial septic approval will require state approval, and that wells must be at least 100 feet from septic systems.

The applicant team — represented by attorney Kath Branson and developers and operators including Tom Merritt and his son Jake Merritt of Merritt Contracting and Matt Hale of Shelby Materials — described the PUD as a three‑block master plan with a…