Board approves reduced building-separation variance for proposed garden-home development at 1450 Crossing Boulevard

The zoning board approved a variance allowing reduced separation between proposed garden-home buildings at 1450 Crossing Boulevard in Terre Haute, a development proposed by Residential Care LLC and represented at the hearing by Adam D. Hart of Kessler Keller / Keeler Webb and Associates.

Staff summarized the proposal for a garden-home development composed of multiple single-story, multi-unit buildings (most garden homes to include a one-car attached garage, one building with five units and a clubhouse). The petitioner requested relief from the standard 30-foot separation between multi-family buildings, proposing a 16-foot separation in part to preserve buildable area that is limited by a 50-foot abandoned pipeline easement and the site’s location in an AO flood zone. Staff and the petitioner said the structures will be sprinklered to NFPA-13R standards and will comply with the IBC and Indiana fire-code requirements, which petitioner’s representative said mitigates life-safety concerns tied to reduced separation.

Staff recommended approval with standard conditions: obtain an improvement-location permit, meet all Vigo County building codes and state releases, comply with federal/state/local special-flood-hazard requirements, and secure a demolition permit for an existing garage before development begins. The petitioner described landscape and screening plans, parking, a detention pond and a lease area intended for a future cell tower.

No remonstrators appeared and the board approved the variance. Conditions noted in staff findings will need to be satisfied before permits are issued.