Commercial business will be on the rise in Seymour if three rezones receive final approval.

During a recent meeting, the Seymour Plan Commission moved all three requests on to the Seymour Common Council with favorable recommendations, but they came on varied votes.

Banzai Properties LLC is requesting the property in the 1300 block of Colonial Drive, 641 and 639 Barnard Lane and 643 S. Airport Road to be rezoned from R-1 (single-family residential) and C-2 (general commercial) to I-2 (heavy industrial) to allow for an event center to operate in the former bowling alley building and the other pieces of property to be occupied by small businesses.

It was approved 8-1 with Bernie Hauersperger casting the lone nay vote and President Jeri Wells and Dave Earley absent.

Joaquin Almodova and Karina Alvarez are requesting to rezone the property at 923 E. Fourth Street Road from R-1 to C-3 (heavy commercial) to tear down the existing structure and rebuild a small commercial storefront with space for two or three stores.

That was approved 6-3 with Rick Schleibaum, Dave Eggers and Angie Klakamp voting no.

The Baxter Family Trust is requesting to rezone the property in the 1500 block of East Tipton Street and Burkart Boulevard from R-1 and C-3 to all be C-3.

It was approved 9-0.

The common council will have the final vote on these three petitions during its meeting at 7 p.m. Monday in the council chambers at Seymour City Hall.

J.D. Roberts with Banzai Properties initially made his request during the Dec. 14 plan commission meeting, but a continuance was granted after one of the members said he felt I-1 (light industrial) zoning would be better. Roberts said he was told I-2 would be a good fit, but he was fine with the continuance and needed to talk to his father, Jerry Roberts, to make sure he was on board with the zoning classification.

The item was put back on this month’s plan commission agenda and remained I-2.

“In I-2, it’s way more open,” Roberts said. “It has way greater oversight than I-1. There are a lot more restrictions, and by definition, I-2 allows more extensive outside storage, potentially including equipment, raw materials, products associated with sales, processing and distribution.”

However, he said due to the potential environmental and safety impacts associated with outside storage that have stricter regulations in I-2 than in I-1, this might include containment measures preventing spills and runoff, restrictions on hazardous materials, more rigorous screenings and buffering requirements to mitigate impacts on neighbors and properties.

“There’s a lot more that goes into it,” Roberts said. “The setbacks, distance to set buildings away from and property away from is double that of I-1 and the minimum acreage is 2 acres. With doing this I-2 and being 2 acres, we’re going to limit ourselves to maybe four potential building sites there.”

Roberts said he has potential leasers. One is for ground only, and another one wants something built to suit.

“These wholesale and retail businesses have reached out to lease a section of ground and for us to build to suit,” he said. “In both cases, they need to utilize the permit for outside storage, and they are both familiar with the rules and guidelines of I-2, so that’s not going to be an issue with these two.”

Another leaser is turning the bowling alley into a 22,000-square-foot event center that will house up to 1,000 people. He said their first event is in April.

“I think it’s going to be something really, really good for the city, something we don’t necessarily have,” Roberts said.

In the past couple of years working on the building, Roberts said it received a new roof, HVAC system, fire suppression, windows, doors and water supply.

“Unfortunately, with the decay in the building, the water damaged the floor beyond repair, and the equipment of the bowling alley just wasn’t going to be salvageable, and it was millions and millions of dollars to do that,” Roberts said.

In that area, Roberts said they cleared nearly 6 acres of woods and vegetation and hundreds of tons of concrete and construction debris.

“We’re pretty proud of what we’ve done in that area … to make it look really, really nice, and we keep it mowed and do all those kind of things, spent a lot of time with city officials helping us get that all done,” he said.

He also thanked Jackson County Industrial Development Corp. Executive Director Jim Plump for referring potential leasers to him.

“I’d just like to close by saying I think if you grant us this (rezone), we’re going to take some property that was an eyesore and not utilized for any kind of tax base or anything else and make it into a vibrant economic engine, if you will,” Roberts told the commission.

While no one attended the meeting to speak in favor of the petition, Aaron Delph spoke against it. He owns property that borders the area to the north and east.

“I just feel I-2 is a little extreme,” Delph said. “I just don’t like there are no limitations. It’s kind of like giving somebody a blank check. You fill in your own amount.”

Delph said before the trees were cut down, they blocked him from the Freeman Field Industrial Park.

“Now that those are all gone, you can hear some of the noise from Freeman Field now where you couldn’t really hear any of that before,” he said. “I mean, you couldn’t even see the bowling alley from my house before. I couldn’t hear any traffic.”

Delph said he’s not opposed to rezoning to industrial. He was just hoping Roberts would dial it back to light industrial.

“It has just been hard to swallow for me,” he said. “I built that house in 2018, and I built it myself. It took me about a year and a half. It has just been a bummer.”

Delph also said he’s concerned about traffic on Colonial Drive, which is a private drive he owns. Plus, there’s a home nearby that the Robertses rent out.

“We do own the residence there. It’s a $300,000 rental house. I have no plans on changing that. We’ve got great renters there,” Roberts said.

Roberts also said he would never do something that would not be conducive to the event center, so these won’t be large companies renting the buildings. They will be small businesses.

For the East Fourth Street Road property, Gray said when it was turned into a flower shop, that business received a variance to make the zoning commercial. Then when it closed, the zoning went back to residential.

John Ent, who lives nearby, and Steve Hyer, pastor of New Life Assembly of God, both shared concerns.

Ent said Almodova owns property on both sides of him, and while he has spent a lot of money on them and they look great, he’s not in favor of more than one business going on the property at the corner of East Fourth Street Road and Middle School Road.

“That is a horrible place to put what he wants to put there,” Ent said. “It’s right on Middle School Road, and we all know when school lets out and all of those moms are there to pick those kids up, they back up sometimes (on Fourth Street Road both ways).”

He also said Cummins employees leave work around the same time school dismisses.

“I was telling the mayor awhile ago we almost need a stoplight to get out of our driveway,” Ent said. “It’s terrible the traffic there, and with the kids walking through there all the time, I just think that’s a bad idea. It’s such a small area, so that’s my objection.”

Hyer said he and his congregation aren’t against the proposal. They are just concerned about what type of businesses will be on the property being that close to a school. Eggers said the city has guidelines of what businesses are allowed close to schools.

Gray said businesses along the city’s main thoroughfare, Tipton Street, are all zoned C-3, so anything you see there basically would be allowed on this property.

With the property at Tipton Street and Burkart Boulevard, a portion of it has two different zoning classifications, and the Baxter family wants it to all be C-3, said Rob Millman with Millman Realty Partners while speaking on behalf of the family.

One of the parcels contains a small wooden garage and a house that’s in great disrepair, and Millman said all of that will be removed and a new building will be constructed to attract a commercial business.

If you go

What: Seymour Common Council meeting

When: 7 p.m. Monday

Where: Council chambers at Seymour City Hall, 301-309 N. Chestnut St., Seymour

Who: Open to the public and press; enter through the door along Third Street