Two businesses proposed during the most recent Jackson County Plan Commission meeting have been granted tentative approval.
The initial hearing for a Dollar General store to be located at State Road 235 and County Road 300S north of Medora was held Aug. 18.
At that time, the plan commission gave a favorable recommendation to rezone the property for the proposed store from residential to general business.
If approved during a public hearing at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 15 in front of the plan commission, county commissioners then would be asked to sign off an ordinance rezoning the property.
The proposed store being developed by Curt Rafferty of Bowling Green, Kentucky, would be approximately 9,100 square feet in size, which is the mid-level size of Dollar General stores. Comparatively, the Dollar General store recently built in Freetown is more than 10,000 square feet.
The Medora store also will include 30 parking spaces at the 2-acre site.
The application for the rezone states the store will help the community by creating job opportunities and providing goods to those in the area.
A special exception to allow for a car auction business, proposed by Carver Construction, also received a favorable recommendation from the plan commission during the Aug. 22 meeting.
That business would be built in the 1000 block of South County Road 1240E on 64 acres of agricultural land with no existing structures on it.
The land would be leased to Insurance Auto Auctions Inc., which operates more than 170 such businesses across the United States, United Kingdom and Canada. The vehicles auctioned would be those owned by insurance companies that have previously been damaged in wrecks or natural disasters such as floods or tornadoes.
Carver will be utilizing local businesses for building materials and some of the labor. Once operational, the business will employ 10 to 12 people in the area.
The special exception allowing for that business faces final approval during a public hearing in front of the county board of zoning and appeals, set for 7:30 p.m. Sept. 8.
The project was previously pitched for near the city of Seymour on 36.60 acres located at 10699 E. County Road 400N and 22.79 acres at 3760 N. U.S. 31.
Aaron Terry, senior project manager with Insurance Auto Auctions, told Seymour officials on average, IAA fits anywhere from 100 to 170 vehicles per acre.
That proposal was denied unanimously by the city council after some neighboring residents raised environmental safety concerns with the project. Those concerns included leaking oil and other fluids, increased stormwater runoff and flooding, aesthetic appeal and decreased values of surrounding properties.
IAA carries environmental insurance for all of its facilities and has been looking for a site in southern Indiana near Interstate 65.
Plan commission and board of zoning appeals meeting are held at the Jackson County Courthouse, 111 S. Main St., Brownstown. They are both open to the public and press.