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Vigo County board amends enforcement section of UCO to allow director's designee to investigate complaints
Summary
The planning board approved UZA 1, No. 25, amending UCO section 6 to clarify that the director's designee may investigate zoning, subdivision or special flood-hazard complaints that are not viewable from public rights-of-way; the change preserves warrant requirements and does not confer special-deputy powers.
The Vigo County planning board approved an amendment to Section 6 of the Unified County Ordinance (UCO) that clarifies investigation authority for zoning complaints.
Jared (staff member) told the board the current ordinance text restricts the director or the director’s designee to entering property only with the property owner’s consent, which hampers the department’s ability to investigate complaints about structures or activities that cannot be seen from the road. Jared said staffing shortages and the geographic limits of visibility ‘‘often leave staff unable to determine properly and in the timing ... if the violation is ongoing or reported in error,’’ imposing potential unnecessary costs on the county and residents.
Jared described the amendment as limited in scope: ‘‘So this amendment does not change the need for a warrant to enter structures, not open to the public, and does not grant special deputy status or convey any rights outside of those already outlined in the UCO.’’ Unidentified Speaker 1 summarized the practical effect by saying, ‘‘This basically lets you, go to somebody's door and knock on the door.’’
The board moved and approved the amendment by voice vote. The transcript does not include roll-call tallies. The amendment, as presented, allows the director’s designee to investigate zoning, subdivision and special flood-hazard complaints while preserving existing legal limits on entering nonpublic structures.
