Plan commission forwards controversial rezoning at 1000 West Auburn Drive to council amid neighbor environmental concerns

The Auburn Plan Commission on June 9 voted to forward a zoning change application for 1000 West Auburn Drive (PC Zoning 2026-3) to the Common Council with a favorable recommendation, despite sustained opposition from nearby residents concerned about historical contamination and a recorded restrictive covenant.

Staff explained that Chris Horton (Horton Holdings LLC) requested reclassification of lots 1–12 of Block 9 from R3 (single-family, high-density) to I1 (light industrial/high-tech). Staff said the request aligns with the Auburn 2040 plan’s future land use for an employment center and would create a consistent zoning pattern adjacent to existing I1 districts.

"The request complies with the 2040 plan," the staff member said, noting that while the parcels are currently R3 and buildable under residential rules, the plan designates the site for industrial use and staff recommended forwarding a favorable recommendation to council.

Petitioner Chris told the commission that the property has a complicated title history, that some public ways were vacated decades ago, and that the change would "clean it up once and for all" and simplify financing and management of many small tax parcels.

Neighbors countered with health and traffic concerns. Mary Joe Levy, who said she lives at 702 Decal Avenue and circulated a petition with more than 60 neighborhood signatures, cited an Indiana Department of Environmental Management registration (VRP project number 69310001) and a recorded environmental restrictive covenant. "This neighborhood has serious concerns about its rezoning," Levy said, adding that past testing documented hazardous chemical contamination affecting surface soil, subsurface soil and groundwater.

Several residents asked whether the recorded covenant and IDEM remediation applied to the 12 lots under consideration. The assistant city attorney and staff reviewed the legal description recorded with the IDEM documents and stated that the VRP legal description and the restrictive covenant applied to the main industrial property (the existing manufacturing parcel) and did not include the twelve lots legally described in the rezoning request. The assistant city attorney said the covenant "runs with the property" where it’s recorded, but staff clarified the legal description does not include the 12 lots in the application.

Residents also raised concerns about vehicular traffic, truck routes and possible property-value impacts if the area is rezoned to industrial uses. One resident cited mitigation work previously performed on nearby homes for vapor intrusion and asked what testing has been done to guard against vapor intrusion should deeper excavation occur.

Staff noted that any future development on the rezoned parcels would require additional public review through a development plan process, engineering routing and state reviews as applicable, at which point neighbors would see specific building and storm-water plans.

After discussion the commission voted to forward a favorable recommendation to the Common Council. The vote passed by voice vote.

Next steps: the rezoning request will be considered by the Common Council; if the council approves, any future development proposals would return to the planning process with site-specific engineering, environmental routing and a public hearing where neighbors can comment.