Fishers zoning board allows home-occupation parking for landscaping company, approves driveway variance with engineering review

The Fishers Board of Zoning Appeals approved a land-use variance allowing a landscaping company to store five commercial vehicles and five trailers at a residence on East 120th Street and approved a related development-standards variance with conditions and an engineering review. The board also approved an administrative update to hearing rules.

The approval matters because the property sits adjacent to a planned roundabout and a neighborhood elementary school; neighbors and school staff said they want the business to continue if it can operate safely, while city engineering and planning staff expressed concerns about driveway width, sight lines and a septic field on the parcel.

Attorney Jeff Heintzeman, representing the property owner identified in the hearing materials as Nocturne (also referred to during the meeting by the name Nathan), told the board the owner seeks two variances: “a land use variance and a development standards variance.” He described the request as legalizing an existing in-home landscaping business and allowing five vehicles and five trailers to be stored behind an accessory structure rather than in front of the house. Heintzeman said the owner planned to pave the approved storage area and to preserve most of the trees along the southern property line.

City staff set out the legal framework and the staff recommendations. Christie Cashman, planner with the City of Fishers Planning Department, described the land-use request as seeking relief from section 5.7.0.2.c of…