A long-term plan for Crawfordsville’s stormwater and wastewater systems is expected to be in place by the end of the year, Mayor Todd Barton said Monday.
The plan, which Barton first announced last month, will include a study of current conditions and facilities and help the city prioritize future projects, primarily stormwater improvements.
“When you get calls from constituents asking about neighborhoods and flooding and drainage issues, you’ll be able to point to that plan and say here’s the plan for moving forward and how we’re going to address these different areas,” Barton said during the monthly City Council committees meeting.
Crawfordsville is being approved for a planning grant from the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs to pay for the study. The city will match $7,500 of the cost out of the stormwater operating fund.
The council’s fiscal affairs committee gave a favorable recommendation to a resolution confirming the city’s commitment to the local match as part of the approval process.
In other business, the committee recommended the full council approve an interlocal agreement with Montgomery County on permits for properties being annexed into Crawfordsville.
Crawfordsville will now take jurisdiction over the planning and zoning of properties that have submitted a signed annexation petition to the city, meaning the petitioners won’t have to file for permits from the county. The Board of Commissioners approved the agreement last week.
The agreement came about following an annexation request from Crawfordsville Veterinary Clinic, which sits just outside the city’s southern boundaries. Crawfordsville did not have authority over the permits because the city’s two-mile zoning radius was eliminated when the county adopted a zoning ordinance in 2019.
The clinic plans to build a new facility and is seeking to hook up to the city’s sewer. The agreement will allow for construction to begin during the annexation process, which is taking longer than usual because of the requirements for acquiring a small piece of Indiana Department of Transportation right-of-way.
“If we had to wait, then we would either have to require [the clinic] to wait until the annexation’s finalized this summer or fall, or the county would be administering all of the approvals and things like that. It just really makes more sense for us to take the lead on that since [the clinic] will be in the city,” planning and community development director Brandy Allen told the committee.
In other business, the full council convened to re-elect Andy Biddle as council president and make appointments to boards and commissions.
Dan Rogers and Conrad Harvey were reappointed to one-year terms on the Crawfordsville Redevelopment Commission. Don Thompson was reappointed to a four-year term on the Utility Service Board, which oversees operations of Crawfordsville Electric Light & Power.
