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BZA approves Ditch Witch building addition with condition to preserve wooded buffer
Summary
The BZA approved a special exception allowing Ditch Witch Midwest to expand an existing facility at 1550 W. Northfield Drive by 4,500 square feet, with a staff condition preserving roughly 1.5 acres of wooded buffer to the north.
The Town of Brownsburg Board of Zoning Appeals on Sept. 8 approved a special exception (BZSE 25-1) permitting a 4,500-square-foot building addition for Ditch Witch Midwest at 1550 W. Northfield Drive. Staff recommended approval with conditions, and the board granted the request with a preservation condition.
Planning staff said the site is zoned C-3 (heavy commercial) and is approximately 5.12 acres. The applicant’s original proposal included outdoor storage that would have exceeded 25% of the principal building gross floor area; the designer removed that outdoor storage from the current submission to avoid a separate variance. With the proposed addition, staff said the building area would total about 16,778 square feet. Staff concluded the expanded use would not be injurious to public health or safety, would not significantly change the character of the area (which includes lumberyards, self-storage and an equipment rental business), and would not adversely affect neighboring Greystone PUD property values so long as a northern 1.5-acre wooded area is preserved as buffer.
Michael Ohlinger, the project engineer, said the addition is intended to expand enclosed operations and service space and that stormwater will be integrated into the existing detention facilities or expanded if required by stormwater design. The applicant confirmed they own the parcels that include the wooded area to the north and that they do not propose to disturb that tree area; staff made preservation of that area a condition of approval.
The board voted to approve the special exception with the staff condition that the roughly 1.5-acre wooded area on the north end of the site be preserved. The applicant will proceed to APC review and permitting, where construction drawings and final stormwater designs will be required.
