Cliff Lambert, head of the Terre Haute Department of Redevelopment, urged the city council to take action on the Unified Development Ordinance at Thursday night's city council meeting. The proposed law currently rests with the Area Planning commission.
The first draft of the UDO was written seven years ago, and no body has moved on it in three years. The first body has 90 days after the approval of the final draft to pass it.. After the first approval, other Vigo County governmental bodies have 180 days to approve the ordinance.
“The problem is that government moves slowly,” said Todd Nation, addressing concerns about the lack of speed. Council President Norman Loudermilk proposed passing a resolution to ask the Area Planning Commission to act.
Other council members expressed reluctance to pass new zoning laws that reference something that does not exist. Lambert believes developers might not move into the Rural Health Innovation Collaborative District Overlay if they do not know what protections they have, and his comments mentioned strip clubs. The district overlay runs from 8th Avenue to ISU and from 3rd Street to 8th Street.
Stephanie Laws, the executive director of RHIC, compared the protections to restrictions placed on property owners by home owner's association. Three of RHIC's partners, ISU, Hamilton Center, and Union Hospital already own large pieces of land in the district.. Laws also did not know the exact protections the proposed ordinance offers..
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