SHERIDAN, I NDIANA COMPREHENSIVE PLAN 2013 SHERIDAN COMPREHENSIVE PLAN Sheridan Plan Commission public hearing and adoption: 11/7/13 Sheridan Town Council adoption: 11/14/13 2 Sheridan Comprehensive Plan TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: Acknowledgements . 4 Chapter 2: Introduction . .6 Chapter 3: Vision and Plan Summary . .10 Chapter 4: Building Capacity . 16 Chapter 5: Community Character . 27 Chapter 6: Land Use . 36 Chapter 7: Economic Development . .58 Chapter 8: Housing . 70 Chapter 9: Natural Resources & Recreation . 82 Chapter 10: Transportation . 95 Chapter 11: Utilities . 109 Chapter 12: Implementation. 118 Chapter 13: Appendix . .138 Sheridan Comprehensive Plan 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 1 4 Sheridan Comprehensive Plan ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Community ownership is key to the success of any plan. For this reason, we wish to acknowledge the participation and hard work of Sheridan’s citizens. Residents who were interviewed, attended focus groups or took part in public meetings all made valuable contributions. Thanks also to the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA) for funding this planning project. Special thanks are extended to Town Councilwoman Brenda Bush for her tireless work on the plan and to the Stephenson Family Foundation and Bill and Ann Stone for their generous contributions. The steering committee was comprised of: Brenda Bush Town Council Tom Cain Building Commissioner Parvin Gillim Chamber of Commerce David Kinkead Town Council, President John Patrick Adams Township Trustee Ron Stone Community Member Craig Wallace Economic Development Commission President Members of the consulting team who facilitated the process are grateful for the opportunity to learn more about your community. Thank you! Scott Burgins, SDG Cory Daly, HWC Engineering Claire Linnemeier, SDG Rex Dillinger, HWC Engineering Sheridan Comprehensive Plan 5 INTRODUCTION 2 6 Sheridan Comprehensive Plan INTRODUCTION 2 The comprehensive plan is Sheridan’s guide to the The comprehensive plan is an advisory tool for future. It answers fundamental questions such as: the town council, plan commission, board of public works, board of zoning appeals, staff and interested What do we want to change? citizens when land use changes are proposed. These What do we want to protect? changes cover a wide range of topics such as new roads, subdivisions and commercial developments. How can a community change what it doesn’t like while protecting what it does? One method is land The plan also covers environmental issues such as use planning, which lays out the town’s priorities and sustainability and smart growth. sets goals on how to reach them. But the comprehensive plan is not the same as Decisions made without reference to a plan are zoning regulations. That more detailed level of frequently reactionary, responding only to specific guidance is reserved for ordinances adopted during short-term problems or proposals. But a long-term the zoning and subdivision control process. In many view is needed in order to keep the town from cases, though, the comprehensive plan builds the growing or shrinking simply by accident. It is vital foundation for zoning regulation changes. for decision-makers to have a shared reference point, or at least a collective set of facts. This document expresses general community agreement, as interpreted through a nine-month Other potential benefits of planning include process including steering committee meetings, directing development to areas with the capacity to interviews, visioning workshops, focus groups and support it, making sure adjacent uses are compatible public hearings. and protecting property values. The plan unfolded in stages, moving through baseline research, creating a vision for the future and setting community priorities before developing goals, strategies and ultimately an implementation plan. It is long-range in orientation – intended to reach out 15 to 20 years – but is specific enough to guide the day-to-day activities of the town’s elected and appointed officials. Sheridan Comprehensive Plan 7 2 INTRODUCTION THE PLANNING PROCESS Steering Committee Meetings: The committee In Indiana, comprehensive planning is permitted by met six times to set priorities and discuss options. the 500 Series of Title 36-7-4 of the Indiana Code. Review teams made up of committee members This law empowers towns, cities and counties to edited every chapter. adopt plans. Project Website: A website - www.sdg.us/Sheridan- Plans must be evaluated and updated as the comprehensive-plan - was used to post all of the community changes. These changes can be gradual minutes from steering committee meetings as well or sudden. Population numbers may steadily as draft chapters of the plan. increase over 25 years but a sudden loss of a major employer could cause a sharp drop within a USING THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN three-year span. Or the location of a new housing For the comprehensive plan to produce results, it subdivision or a highway improvement project could must be understandable and be put into practice. quickly increase the population. The following paragraphs will assist in understanding how to use the plan. The creation of the comprehensive plan was overseen by a steering committee comprised of Topic Chapters elected officials and residents. Community outreach Topic chapters include land use, economic efforts included: development, housing, natural resources and recreation, transportation and infrastructure, and Key Stakeholder Focus Groups: Focus groups utilities. The chapters are mostly self-contained were held to gather input from representatives from economic development, downtown, housing and neighborhoods, recreation and utilities. Key Stakeholder Interviews: Representatives from utility companies, officials from county-wide organizations and others were interviewed during the process. Public Meetings: Public meetings were held to gather input about local goals. 8 Sheridan Comprehensive Plan INTRODUCTION 2 examinations of specific issues. They include The plan also suggests changes to the zoning code research, goals and objectives. Besides making and subdivision regulations. the reader well versed in the topic, they outline years of projects for tackling problems. All of the Tips for Citizens recommendations are gathered together in the After finding your house on the future land use map, Implementation Plan. the next step is to read up on community issues that interest you. For example, consult the Land Tips for Plan Commissioners & Town Officials Use or Housing chapters. When properly applied, a comprehensive plan can make the life of the decision-maker easier. Changes to the Comprehensive Plan Community leaders can point to the research or The final word on the Town of Sheridan maps while explaining how they reached their Comprehensive Plan is that circumstances change, decision. They can refer to the input of the local and the plan should be modified to change along leaders and residents whose opinions helped shape with them. the plan’s goals. This may not mean a complete update, but every They can also ask themselves how they make year or so the plan commission, staff and others decisions without a plan. Certainly their experience should review the plan to make sure it is current. in Sheridan guides their judgment, but a group of people making decisions based on their individual It would be a poor use of the resources poured into perceptions may not lead to a shared vision of the creating a plan to let it slowly grow outdated, while town’s future. The comprehensive plan provides a the need for current planning does not. defensible, unified vision. Tips for Developers Developers typically ask for “more predictability” from decision makers in order to maximize their investments. This plan spells out the community’s preferred future; where it wants to extend infrastructure and where it wants housing, industrial and commercial development. Sheridan Comprehensive Plan 9 VISION & PLAN SUMMARY 3 10 Sheridan Comprehensive Plan VISION & PLAN SUMMARY 3 VISION AND PLAN SUMMARY Growth is coming. The third notable feature is tied to geography. Faster growth happened first in the towns closest to This chapter makes the case that Sheridan is Indianapolis, and has been moving northward. likely to experience some of the tremendous development that’s overtaking most of Hamilton Most likely Sheridan has been spared simply as County. It also spells out the town’s vision for a product of location; it is in the county’s far protecting its rural character from the downsides of northwest corner. But that is changing. While the growth. town isn’t physically closer to Indianapolis, high density urban development is moving closer to the The next chapter, Building Capacity, explains how town. Other changes, such as making U.S. 31 more the town can make investments now to prepare for streamlined, will make Sheridan seem closer to and steer opportunities as they arise. metropolitan Indianapolis. What is the evidence for growth? The following And there is no slowdown in sight. The Indiana chart is notable for a few things. The first is that Business Research Center projects that Hamilton Sheridan is one of the few Hamilton County County will continue to be the state’s fastest communities without explosive population growth. growing county until 2050, when the population will be double what it is today. So, growth is coming. How does the town want to prepare? In 2012, residents embarked on a visioning exercise to identify what they wanted