Town Council Regular Meeting

TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING Thursday, September 19, 2024 at 7:00 PM Bristol Community Church MINUTES CALL MEETING TO ORDER Council President Jeff Beachy called the Regular Council meeting to order at 7:00pm on Thursday, September 19, 2024 at the Bristol Community Church. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE group led ROLL CALL Members present: Doug DeSmith, Dean Rentfrow, Cathy Burke, Gregg Tuholski, Jeff Beachy Others present: Legal Counsel Alex Bowman, Town Marshal Steve Priem, Town Manager Mike Yoder, Clerk- Treasurer Cathy Antonelli APPROVAL OF AGENDA stands as published. APPROVAL OF INVOICES  Motion to approve the invoices made by Doug DeSmith, Seconded by Dean Rentfrow. Voting Yea: Doug DeSmith, Dean Rentfrow, Cathy Burke, Gregg Tuholski, Jeff Beachy. APPROVAL OF MINUTES – no minutes for review this evening PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT ITEMS Second reading of Ordinance 9/5/2024-22 rezoning Wilhelm Farm  Motion to amend Ordinance 9/5/2024-22 to include written commitments that will be presented during the presentation from Province Group made by Jeff Beachy, Seconded by Cathy Burke. Voting Yea: Doug DeSmith, Dean Rentfrow, Cathy Burke, Gregg Tuholski, Jeff Beachy. Motion carries. Staff report from Elkhart Planning and Zoning board was given at a previous council meeting and the Board gave approval of the rezoning with an 8-0 vote, unanimous approval. Tim Ramm from Province Group, on behalf of the applicant, shared an update from last meeting. A presentation was shared with the Council and the audience that addressed the topics of concerns that were made by the public at the last meeting. These topics included low use impact, noise, light pollution, buffers & setbacks, CR 23 / Access, Town Council approval of site plan. Council President Jeff Beachy made note of the written commitments that were amended in the earlier motion. If the commitments are not honored the plan does not move forward. The commitments include: the property can only be used as a data center campus, developed with building setbacks and landscape buffers and comply with the Elkhart Development codes, road access to CR 23 for emergencies, comply with developmental standards, site plan to be reviewed by Town Council. Public Comment came next and Jeff read through the rules for public comment. The following people made comment: Erica Schieber 55243 County Road 14 RR 3 John Metz Lives outside the town Monica Davis CR 23 Washington Township John Bristol Kathy Hall Leib 12 Shore Manor Mike Miller Rural area of Bristol Sarah Summerall Township of Bristol Doug Moore unidentified Rebecca Yeater County Road 14 Lori Huntin lives outside Bristol Ryan 54868 Leona Court Dooney Belta? 18544 County Road 14, outskirts Cathleen Puckett Willowbend Blvd Unidentified Bayridge Brent Hartzler outside of Bristol Anna Badke North of Bristol Doug Moore Mark Drive Rochelle Brandt PO Box 311 Lester Otto 18686 County Road 23 Rick Sargeant Does not live in town Peter Puckett 55606 CR 14 Charles Mock believes he lives in town Melissa McLain live in town Sherry Otto 18686 CR 23 William Tingstrom county road 23 Ernie Yoder Outside the city limits Tina Waite 6 Butternut Court Cindy Hicek Goshen Melissa Kauffman outside city limits Steve Krallman 17716 CR 112 Bob Barnes County Commissioner, Pat Blakesley County Road 16 represents Washington Township & his District Denny Swartz Washington Township Rhonda Austin lives outside of town Wendy 55629 County Road 14 Chris Welch County Road 10 Matt Sweet Whispering Valley Don Swift County Road 10 Linda Clark 19620 County Road 16 Tim Irons ….Osterloo Washington Township Joe County Road 23 Questions/Concerns included: tax incentives / abatements water usage environmental aspects notification concerns property values dropping noise concerns farmland protection noise/decibel concerns groundwater concerns vibrations well concerns amount of water needed number of servers EMF / radiation barriers/berms amount of electricity needed Council President Jeff Beachy explained how tax abatements work and that there would be no abatement on the building, but on the contents. He also explained if the company pays for the infrastructure (roads, sewer, water) that goes to their building, the company gets reimbursed for the water, sewer and streets that they paid for up front, like a loan. The Wilhelm Trust family requested a rezoning of their private property from the Elkhart Zoning & Development Board. The Board gave it a unanimous approval and put it before the Bristol Town Council. The rezoning is a request to change from A-1 to M-1 to be able to sell their property at a greater profit. If the zoning request passes tonight, then the Province Group would work with NIPSCO to see if power can be provided to the data center. If they can, the project moves forward and if they can’t, then the project stops. Now, the Wilhelms could go back and ask for a different rezoning, but if approved tonight for an M-1 rezoning the property can only be used for a data center. Tim Ramm explained that they would be using the Town of Bristol water system. Noting that there are new cooling methods and will use approximately 100K gallons of water a day. Jeff Beachy spoke to information that he learned from Mark Bash of the Indiana DNR and that 100K usage per day for a data center is minimal. Ken Jones of JPR also noted that the data center will not be using ground water for cooling and process. There is no aquafir usage for this treatment. The system is well-suited to do what it needs to do. Conversation included wells and the chance of going dry. Indiana State Law dictates the terms for how and when a Town would be responsible if a well goes dry. Brochures from the DNR were provided to the public. Council President Jeff Beachy closed the public comment section at 9:32pm The zoning board came to the Town of Bristol with a request to change the property from A1-M1 because the private landowners aka the Wilhelm Trust want to sell the property. The request is A-1 to M-1 with only a data center. If not passed a PUD (planned unit development) will be requested and if that passes there could be a trailer or RV factories.  Motion to pass Ordinance 9-5-2024-22 as amended with the added agreement by the developer made by Jeff Beachy, Seconded by Doug DeSmith. Voting Yea: Doug DeSmith-yes, Dean Rentfrow- abstain, Cathy Burke-yes, Gregg Tuholski-yes, Jeff Beachy-yes. Motion carries. REPORTS CLERK-TREASURER Cathy Antonelli Contractor pay application #2 for the WWTP project $274,468.30 to Crosby Construction and $14,445.70 to retainage. Total pay app #2 = $288,914.00 Reviewed and recommended by Commonwealth Engineering to pay this.  Motion to pay pay application #2 in the amount of $288,914 made by Cathy Burke, Seconded by Gregg Tuholski.Voting Yea: Doug DeSmith, Dean Rentfrow, Cathy Burke, Gregg Tuholski, Jeff Beachy. Motion carries. Motion to advance Ordinance No. 10/3/2024-23 2025 Budget to second reading $8,780,741 Public hearing opened at 9:40pm, hearing no public comment, the public hearing was closed.  Motion to advance to second reading Ordinance No. 10/3/2024-23 made by Doug DeSmith, Seconded by Dean Rentfrow. Voting Yea: Doug DeSmith, Dean Rentfrow, Cathy Burke, Gregg Tuholski, Jeff Beachy. Motion carries. TOWN ATTORNEY Alex Bowman -no items to discuss PRIVILEGE OF THE FLOOR (Public Comments to Council) – no public comments this evening NO TOWN COUNCIL DISCUSSION ITEMS NEXT MEETINGS: October 3 7:00 pm Council meeting MOTION TO ADJOURN  Motion to adjourn made by Cathy Burke, Seconded by Doug DeSmith. Voting Yea: Doug DeSmith, Dean Rentfrow, Cathy Burke, Gregg Tuholski, Jeff Beachy.  Meeting adjourned at 9:42pm. _________________________ __________________________ Jeff Beachy, Council President Cathy Antonelli, Clerk-Treasurer