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Area Plan Commission recommends rezoning at 118–120 E. Virginia for furniture and lawnmower business
Summary
The Area Plan Commission voted 8-0 to recommend rezoning two lots at 118 and 120 East Virginia Street from R-2 to C-2 to allow a used furniture store and lawn-mowing service; staff and neighbors discussed comprehensive-plan consistency, buffering, and parking.
The Area Plan Commission of Evansville and Vanderburgh County voted 8-0 Thursday to recommend that the City Council approve a zoning change for two lots at 118 and 120 East Virginia Street to allow a used furniture store and lawn-mowing business.
The petitioner, Christopher Corbin, asked the commission to rezone the properties from R-2 (residential) to C-2 (commercial) with a use-and-development commitment limiting permitted uses to lawnmower retail sales, lawnmower repair, lawnmowing service and furniture retail sales. "My entire life, I just inherited from my mother who passed away. My entire life, it's been a commercial property. It's never been residential," Corbin told the commission.
Staff report and plan consistency: staff said the 2035 future land use map and the Jacobsville redevelopment plan recommend residential use for the site and discourage new commercial “spot” rezonings in residential subareas. The staff memorandum noted the site formerly had legal nonconforming commercial status that lapsed when the property became vacant, and that no development commitments or neighborhood protections (for buffering, curb-cuts or parking) were included with the current application.
Why it mattered: commissioners and staff discussed how the proposed C-2 use conflicts with the comprehensive plan's priority for infill housing in the Evansville Promise neighborhood and Jacobsville Overlay Zone. Staff warned that "encroachment of commercial development into residential areas can often have a negative impact on the surrounding neighborhood," and that the small lot size could make providing adequate buffer and curb-cut spacing difficult.
Neighbor concerns and petitioner responses: Tom Gant, president of the congregation at the adjacent Lutheran church and school, said the congregation was "not really opposing the use of the property" but wanted assurance the church parking lot would not be used by the business. "As long as we have a kind of a clear understanding that that parking lot just can't be used for those purposes, then we don't have anything against the use of the property," Gant told the commission. Corbin said he was "not expecting that the traffic is going to be much of a problem" and that he would not use the church lot; he said he planned to convert the adjacent vacant lot to parking.
Vote and next steps: After questions and discussion, the commission voted 8-0 to recommend approval to the City Council. The case will move forward to the City Council with the commission's recommendation.
Context and background: The staff report said the site lies in the urban core and the Jacobsville Overlay Zone neighborhood residential subarea, where the comprehensive plan calls for eliminating isolated commercial spot zonings in favor of residential uses. The commission noted that variances could be required for development on the undersized lots and that the applicant did not include specific development commitments to protect adjacent residences.
A docket unrelated to tonight's hearings was continued to Feb. 26, 2025; city rezonings considered at this meeting are scheduled for the City Council on Jan. 27, 2025.
