HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo_Comprehensive Plan Overview 11-24-21 CITY OF CARMEL
JAMES BRAINARD, MAYOR
Dear Commissioners,
Upon request and in preparation to the November 29 and November 30 Comprehensive Plan review
meetings, City staff thought it would be helpful to provide some additional information regarding
comprehensive plans generally and their role in shaping of the City's land use and development policies
specifically. The following summary is by no means comprehensive and is limited to a mostly legal
viewpoint- additional perspectives from planning staff, administration, Council, and other stakeholders
would need to be considered for a fuller picture.
Comprehensive plan creation and its minimum contents are governed by Ind. Code 36-7-4-501-et-al. At
a minimum, a comprehensive plan must include the following elements: (1)A statement of objectives for
the future development of the jurisdiction; (2)A statement of policy for the land use development of the
jurisdiction;(3)A statement of policy for the development of public ways,public places,public lands,public
structures, and public utilities. Ind. Code Ann. § 36-7-4-502. However, it's been long recognized that a
comprehensive plan, is a general, long-term blueprint used as a "guiding and predictive force" in the
physical development of a community as a whole. Social, economic, and physical conditions in a
community all influence the creation of a comprehensive plan's goals and the means to be used in
achieving these goals. See e.g. Borsuk v.Town of St.John, 820 N.E.2d 118, 121 (Ind. 2005).To effectuate
these broad goals and in addition to these minimum required elements, the Indiana Code allows
comprehensive plans to include the following additional elements that touch on many different areas of
community development:
(1) Surveys and studies of current conditions and probable future growth within the jurisdiction
and adjoining jurisdictions.
(2) Maps, plats, charts, and descriptive material presenting basic information, locations, extent,
and character of any of the following:
(A) History, population, and physical site conditions.
(B) Land use, including the height, area, bulk, location, and use of private and public
structures and premises.
(C) Population densities.
(D) Community centers and neighborhood units.
(E)Areas needing redevelopment and conservation.
(F) Public ways, including bridges,viaducts, subways, parkways, and other public places.
(G) Sewers, sanitation, and drainage, including handling, treatment, and disposal of
excess drainage waters, sewage,garbage, refuse, and other wastes.
(H)Air, land, and water pollution.
(I) Flood control and irrigation.
(J) Public and private utilities, such as water, light, heat, communication, and other
services.
(K) Transportation, including rail, bus, truck, air and water transport, and their terminal
facilities.
OFFICE OF CORPORATION COUNSEL
CITY HALL, ONE CIVIC SQUARE, CARMEL, IN 46032 PHONE 317-571-2472 FAX 317-571-2484
(L) Local mass transit, including taxicabs, buses, and street, elevated, or underground
railways.
(M) Parks and recreation, including parks, playgrounds, reservations, forests, wildlife
refuges, and other public places of a recreational nature.
(N) Public buildings and institutions, including governmental administration and service
buildings, hospitals, infirmaries, clinics, penal and correctional institutions, and other civic and
social service buildings.
(0) Education, including location and extent of schools and postsecondary educational
institutions.
(P) Land utilization, including agriculture, forests, and other uses.
(Q) Conservation of energy, water, soil, and agricultural and mineral resources.
(R) Any other factors that are a part of the physical, economic, or social situation within
the jurisdiction.
(3) Reports, maps, charts, and recommendations setting forth plans and policies for the
development, redevelopment, improvement,extension, and revision of the subjects and physical
situations (set out in subdivision (2) of this section) of the jurisdiction so as to substantially
accomplish the purposes of this chapter.
(4) A short and long range development program of public works projects for the purpose of
stabilizing industry and employment and for the purpose of eliminating unplanned, unsightly, untimely,
and extravagant projects.
(5) A short and long range capital improvements program of governmental expenditures so that
the development policies established in the comprehensive plan can be carried out and kept up-
to-date for all separate taxing districts within the jurisdiction to assure efficient and economic use
of public funds.
(6) A short and long range plan for the location, general design, and assignment of priority for
construction of thoroughfares in the jurisdiction for the purpose of providing a system of major
public ways that allows effective vehicular movement, encourages effective use of land, and
makes economic use of public funds.
Ind. Code § 36-7-4-503 (West)
Although comprehensive plan plays a central role in zoning and planning decisions by Plan Commission,
City Council, and BZA, it is designed to give general guidance to all governmental entities as to how to
rationally allocate land use with due consideration given to the community as a whole. Borsuk,820 N.E.2d
at 121 (citing Udell v. Haas, 21 N.Y.2d 463, 288 N.Y.S.2d 888, 235 N.E.2d 897, 900-01 (1968).) At a
minimum, Ind.Code 36-7-4-504 requires each governmental entity within a particular jurisdiction to give
consideration to the general policy and pattern of development set out in the plan in the: (1)
authorization, acceptance, or construction of water mains, sewers, connections, facilities, or utilities; (2)
authorization,construction,alteration,or abandonment of public ways, public places, public lands, public
structures,or public utilities;and(3)adoption,amendment,or repeal of zoning ordinances,including zone
maps and PUD district ordinances (as defined in section 1503 of this chapter), subdivision control
ordinances, historic preservation ordinances, and other land use ordinances.
Being intentionally broad and encompassing multiple areas/aspects of community development, such
plans help shape community's identity and give private property owners as well as prospective developers
notice of this identity, community values, and expectations for future development projects and land use
prerogatives.See e.g. Donna J. Patalano, Police Power and the Public Trust: Prescriptive Zoning Through
the Conflation of Two Ancient Doctrines, 28 B.C. Envtl. Aff. L.Rev. 683, 697-98 (2001). Further,
comprehensive plans are designed to help alleviate the potential inefficiencies and inconsistencies in the
development of communities caused by the focused activities of different local agencies that may not
regularly coordinate with one another. For example, City Council, Plan Commission, BZA, Redevelopment
Commission, Economic Development Commission, Historic Preservation Commission, staff(if for example
permit- granting authority is delegated to a department director or a hearing officer), various advisory
committees all should consult with general goals,objectives and policies when considering matters within
their respective roles. Because of such wide application, modern comprehensive plans include provisions
that go beyond traditional land use considerations.
It is important to emphasize that due to its long-range vision, comprehensive plans are not designed to
address specifics of each particular project or land use issue, and deviations from the overall objectives
listed in the plan are common and to-be expected depending on the particularities of various projects or
land parcels. A comprehensive plan is "a guide to community development rather than an instrument of
land-use control." Borsuk, 820 N.E.2d at 121-22; see also 4 Kenneth H. Young,Anderson's American Law
of Zoning, § 23.15 (4th ed.1996); Ogden v. Premier 122 Properties, USA, Inc., 755 N.E.2d 661, 671
(Ind.Ct.App.2001) (explaining that deviation from the plan, standing alone, does not establish arbitrary
action, especially in light of other evidence before the city council). Comprehensive plans establish a
starting point which various agencies should (and sometimes must) pay reasonable regard to, but it is far
from being an exclusive or controlling consideration. Local zoning and planning ordinances and
regulations,federal and state regulations, administrative rules and processes provide more targeted and
far more detailed regulatory framework for municipality-wide planning, individual (re)development
projects and land utilization, and other issues associated with land use and community development.
In summary, comprehensive plans in Indiana are designed to lay out broad goals, objectives and policies
that encompass many areas of community's physical, economic, and social development. Regularly
dealing with land use and community's physical development matters, Plan Commission (with input from
staff, stakeholders, professionals, and community at-large) is best-suited to prepare the first draft of the
comprehensive plan. However, due to its broad scope and wide application, in developing Carmel's
Comprehensive Plan, Plan Commission members should consider a wide range of development matters
that go beyond traditional land use considerations.
I hope that this summary will be helpful in your review of Carmel's Comprehensive Plan.As always, please
do not hesitate to contract legal department if you have any additional questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
6„-_,A,caku.4.1
Serg hukhin
Assists t rporation Counsel