Sharp keeps rezone discussion open after public notice questions

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Last month, the Carmel City Council had a disagreement about proper public notice was followed regarding a request to rezone some land on Main Street from residential to commercial.

Brainard
Brainard

Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard said since proper notice procedures weren’t followed that the matter needed to be sent back to the Carmel Plan Commission, but city council president Rick Sharp disagreed and kept the public hearing open on the matter and sent it to committee.

Now, in the first meeting of March, Sharp said he feels confident that his decision was the right one and he’s keeping the matter in the council’s hands.

Sharp
Sharp

Soori Ardalan, owner of the Soori Gallery nearby, is looking to take 0.33 acres of land located at 321 W. Main St., across from the Beauty Lounge, and tear down the existing house to build a business structure similar to the size of the nearby Evan Lurie building. Some neighbors support her efforts and others oppose it.

Brainard said there should have been certified letters sent to houses two-deep from the property in order to notify them of the plan commission hearing.

After the February council meeting, certified mail was sent out to the proper neighbors to let them know they can come to any Carmel City Council meeting and share their opinions on the rezone during the public hearing portion of the meeting. Sharp said he will keep the public hearing open in order to provide people with plenty of opportunities to speak, but doesn’t feel the need to send it back to plan commission based on the legal advice he received.

“I don’t see anything in that statute that allows the plan commission to deal with this anymore because they voted this out and I have had that confirmed,” Sharp said. “I only see four actions that the council can take: We can vote it up, vote it down, we can amend it and we can do nothing and it automatically becomes law after a certain time. It would have been quite a mess if we sent it back to plan commission that night.”

Brainard disagrees with Sharp and he said the city could be out at risk of a lawsuit.

“I don’t think it legally resolves it at all,” he said. “I don’t think the council has jurisdiction to handle this matter.”

Sharp said he felt he handled the matter properly.

“I was kind of put off by how it was handled by others,” he said. “There was no need to rush. We can take the time to check it all out.”

Anyone who wants to speak about the matter is encouraged to attend the next Carmel City Council meeting at 6 p.m. on March 16.


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