Planning and development

 The Rensselaer Plan Commission met on Thursday, August 12. It began the meeting by electing officers because its last meeting was almost two years ago, in 2019, and its membership had changed. It had one item on the agenda, a change in zoning from A2 to L1 for two acres at the north end of Owen Street. The property is adjacent to the Jasper County REMC building and the REMC would like to acquire the property for storage and possibly for office space. REMC is in process of providing high speed internet service throughout the County and I think this expansion is the primary reason they need more space. The zoning change was approved and now REMC will presumably purchase the property. 

The Rensselaer Board of Zoning Appeals met an hour later to consider a variance for height of an accessory building. The owner of a property near Curtis Creek wants to build a structure that will have a peak height of 27 feet but the building code allows only a peak height of 18 feet. Some neighbors were concerned that it might be a pole barn but the owner and her contractors are planning a structure that will be similar to the house. The reason that the Rensselaer BZA has jurisdiction is that the property is within the two-mile exclusion zone of Rensselaer. The variance was approved.

I would have liked to have attended the Airport Authority meeting on Thursday evening because they may have discussed hiring a new airport manager but the meeting time conflicted with the Rensselaer Plan Commission meeting.

The County Plan Commission met on Monday evening with two items on its agenda. The first was a special exception for a proposal to build cabin rentals around a gravel-pit lake north of Rensselaer. This project had been in front of the Plan Commission in June for a rezone from agriculture to parks and recreation, which was granted. However, the Jasper County designation for Parks and Recreation does not include short-term cabin rentals, so a special exception was needed from the BZA. The project now has a name, Brightstone Lake. The developers were seeking the exception only for a phase I on the project, which would be five cabins at the north end of the property. They said that future phases would depend on what they learned from phase 1. After a discussion that seemed to drag on forever, the exception was granted with one member opposed.

The second item was a special exception for a solar farm in Walker Township between 900 N and 1000N. The Jasper County Solar ordinance requires that any solar farm be approved with a special exception. This solar farm is completely separate from the Dunn's Bridge Solar Farm in Kankakee Township. It apparently has been before the Drainage Board, but I do not remember it and it may have been presented at one of the meetings I missed. It will occupy 470 acres and supply (if I heard correctly) 80 megawatts DC or 60 megawatts AC. (By comparison, the two solar farms in Rensselaer supply 4 and 1 megawatt.) Several people attending the meeting spoke against it, saying that they did not want to look at solar panels. Several others, including two of the landowners spoke in favor. The landowners said that the panels would be screened and would not be visible to neighbors. The special exception was approved. There was no date given for start of construction and additional approvals may be needed, but once construction starts, it will take nine months to a year to complete.

As for building under construction, not just being planned, the future Rensselaer Pet Care building now has conpleted its exterior.

The new electric storage building north of Columbia Park is getting walls. Below is a picture from late last week.

By Tuesday the front had been closed up.

McDonalds will be slightly larger when its renovation is completed. A trench for a new footer has been dug several feet away from what is now the south wall.

The new exterior of the south restrooms at Brookside Park is almost finished.

The exterior of the addition to Pipestone Veterinary Services seems to be finished.