Tipton City planning panel approves Market Road office site plan, grants waiver on shade trees

The Tipton City Planning Commission approved a site plan for SP01-2026 — a proposed two-story, barn-style office building on a vacant Market Road parcel — and granted a waiver reducing the UDO requirement for shade trees per acre, the commission said at its meeting.

Roxana, the city’s planning staff member, told the commission the parcel is zoned I-1 (light industrial) and fronts Market Road and Industrial Drive. The application covers a first-phase office building of more than 5,000 square feet, with retention ponds sized to handle stormwater for both phases and a possible future second phase of indoor storage buildings. Roxana recommended approval of the site plan contingent on submittal of revised landscape and architectural plans and supported the waiver request after evaluating the five UDO findings required for a modification.

The applicant, Mr. Froelich, described the building as a two-story, barn-style office with a front two-story entry and a back second-story area that would include a conference room and a small recording studio. He said the business operating there provides training modules for agricultural companies and plans demonstration (“show crop”) areas on the southern half of the parcel. “It’s going to look like an old barn,” he said, estimating construction completion at about 18 months from groundbreaking.

During the public hearing, Deborah Brush asked whether the construction would disturb her on-site septic system. Roxana and commissioners responded that engineers and the county health department had reviewed drainage plans; staff said the proposed improvements were outside floodplain areas and that retention ponds and state and county regulations guide mitigation if development caused downstream impacts.

Commissioners discussed buffering and landscaping between the office and nearby residences and noted that strict application of the UDO’s planting requirements could force trees into regulated drainage easements. The commission agreed the waiver was appropriate because most of the lot will remain in agricultural use and the building’s agricultural aesthetic fits surrounding uses.

The commission approved SP01-2026 with conditions that include a revised landscape plan addressing street trees and front-yard landscaping and confirmation of updated frontage details, to be provided with the site-plan permit. The commission also approved the waiver to UDO 6.2 (eight shade trees per acre in open space) with two conditions: (1) the owner must submit a site plan showing the area devoted to agricultural use with the required ILP (infrastructure/land disturbance) permit; and (2) if the agricultural use ceases in the future the owner must apply for an ILP and provide landscaping that meets the UDO.

The motions were approved by roll-call vote.