By James Feichtner
At the Sept. 15 meeting of the Zionsville Plan Commission, the first petition was an approval to construct a new Zionsville Community Schools storage facility at 4700 South 975 East near Pleasant View Elementary. The building would be exclusively used for storage purposes. The new space would allow several Zionsville schools to free up space such as classrooms that are currently occupied by various items. Objects to be stored would include school supplies like computer paper and ink, desks and minor off-season landscape equipment.
Concern over the added traffic and noise generated by the new building had nearby neighbors of Colony Woods uneasy. Several residents voiced their apprehension at the meeting.
“We have too much traffic as is. There’s no way we can tell how many vehicles will be up and down the road. This is our neighborhood. We don’t want the congestion, we don’t want the noise,” said Colony Woods resident Loretta Thompson.
ZCS Director of Operations Ron Wright at the meeting and assured the residents that this facility would be used for storage purposes only. ZCS employees will rarely be visiting the facility and no business would be operating out of the building.
“This facility is a storage facility and its only going to be used as a storage facility,” Wright said. “It’s not going to be used on a daily basis for working on equipment. It does not have any offices in it. It doesn’t even have bathrooms in it.”
An order of continuance was ultimately decided, as the four commission members in attendance could not agree on a decision to make. This item of discussion will be considered at next month’s meeting.
Other items discussed at the meeting included a 350-square-foot expansion to an existing building at 11622 N. Michigan Rd. near Village Music. A financial advising firm hopes to occupy the building. The development plan was unanimously approved.
The final development plan petition concerned the construction of a 33,000-square foot building for Marten Transport at 10364 Bennett Parkway including a 379,843-square foot parking lot. The building would potentially be used as a maintenance and dispatch facility for the company.
Representatives of Marten said they were willing to work with neighboring establishments to make sure minimal impact was made to their properties.
A waiver to approve was issued pending the presentation of building materials and further resolve of possible drainage issues.
