An existing business and a new one have moved closer to receiving all of the city approval they need to get started.
Receiving 10-0 approval from the Seymour Plan Commission for land use variances during a virtual meeting Thursday were Andrew Stauffer and Luke Langellier with S and S Diesel Motorsport and Kyle and Trinity Wischmeier with a new dog grooming business. Member Dave Eggers was absent.
Both now move to the Seymour Board of Zoning Appeals for final approval during its meeting at 7 p.m. Aug. 24.
In June, Stauffer and Langellier received a 10-year tax abatement from the Seymour City Council to move their business from 3480 N. County Road 650W, Brownstown, to 1471 W. Tipton St., Seymour.
The owners said they plan to spend $350,000 to renovate the building, which previously housed FFO Home furniture store, on the far west side of the city.
S and S presently employs 10 and does not plan to hire anyone at this time, but that might change in the future, Jim Plump, executive director of Jackson County Industrial Development Corp., told the council while speaking on behalf of the company.
“They need to get into their new facility, get the building into the shape they need it and relocate their current equipment,” Plump said. “But there is very good potential for future growth with new personal property, and with that could possibly come some new employees.”
Tax abatements are granted to ease companies into paying property taxes on new investments. That means over the next 10 years, S and S will be increasingly less exempt from paying property taxes with exemptions decreasing by 10% each year.
In the first year of abatement, no property taxes or personal property taxes are due. The first full property tax and personal property tax payments will happen after the 10 years pass.
S and S then applied for the land use variance to allow it to move to Seymour. Stauffer and Langellier were hoping to move in faster by requesting a tax abatement before getting a variance.
The variance will allow the use of the property as a light manufacturing business to do small component assembly and testing. It’s currently zoned C-3 (heavy commercial) and would go to I-1 (light industrial).
“We need more space, and per code at C-3, it doesn’t look like we would be able to actually do what we do there, so that’s why we’re looking to have the variance go to I-1,” Stauffer told the plan commission.
The only question by the plan commission was by Rick Schleibaum, who asked if there would be any outside storage. Stauffer said there wouldn’t be any.
Plump submitted a letter of support to the plan commission, noting JCIDC had been working with the owners for nearly a year as they sought a new location that provided space for their growing business.
“We believe the requested variance from C-3 to I-1 is in line with other business in that area and would fit well with neighboring properties, some of which have previously been granted variances,” Plump wrote. “We also feel S and S Diesel will be a great addition to Seymour’s industrial base by providing jobs and tax base.”
For the dog grooming business, the Wischmeiers plan to run it from a portable building in the backyard of their home at 1053 Louise Court on the northwest side of Seymour. That’s currently zoned R-1 (single-family residential) and would go to C-2 (general commercial).
Kyle said his wife will be grooming no more than three to four dogs at a time per day.
Answering questions from plan commission members Dan Robison and Bret Cunningham, Kyle said there will be a chain-link fence around the building, and there will be no boarding of dogs, just grooming.
Kyle also said they made contact with all of the neighbors they were supposed to for the variance, and he wasn’t aware of any objection.