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Zionsville council continues comprehensive plan, asks for targeted edits and a workshop
Summary
After an hour-plus presentation by HWC and sustained council debate on density, village footprint, and calls to action, the Town Council continued Resolution 2026-02 and directed staff to compile tracked edits and consider a workshop to resolve contested map and policy language.
The Town Council continued consideration of Resolution 2026-02, the draft comprehensive plan, after an extended presentation by Adam Peeper, senior project manager with HWC Engineering, and detailed discussion among council members about specific land-use designations and policy language.
Peeper summarized the plan’s goals—balancing community character with opportunities for employment growth and fiscal resilience—and walked through the future land use and thoroughfare maps. He said the plan was the product of years of community engagement and steering‑committee work and emphasized the plan should serve as a flexible guidebook, not a parcel-by-parcel decree.
Councilors queried several topics in depth: whether apartments and multifamily uses were appropriately flagged in neighborhood or regional activity centers; the insertion or removal of several neighborhood activity centers north of SR‑32 and along US‑421; whether density ranges in the plan should be numerically listed or left to zoning; how to handle gross versus net density where undevelopable areas (floodplain, easements) exist; and whether specific items listed as “calls to action” should instead be phrased as options or goals.
Councilor comments ranged from seeking removal or limits on multifamily uses in village-adjacent areas to requesting clearer guardrails for PUDs versus base districts. Several members asked staff to provide tracked changes and a single consolidated list of edits; councilors signaled interest in a work session to complete focused, technical revisions rather than restarting the entire process.
The council voted to continue Resolution 2026-02 (motion passed 6-0) and instructed staff to collect submitted edits, prepare a marked-up list and, if needed, convene a workshop or special meeting to finalize language before returning the amended plan to the Planning Commission and council for adoption.
What’s next: Staff will compile the council’s edits and track changes, circulate them to council members and planning staff, and aim to bring a revised draft and recommended amendments back to the council and planning commission at subsequent meetings.
