It has been seven years since the Frankfort City Council and a whole lot of other groups of individuals and resident started discussion on the UDO or Unified Development Ordinance.
On Monday night, the council passed the first reading of the ordinance by a 5-2 vote.
“A lot of different people have worked on that from a lot of different areas,” said Frankfort Mayor Judy Sheets. “Area Plan has helped them with it, as you know Richard Greeno had a part in it, Mark Mills, our building services. There has been many people involved in the UDO.”
The two people who voted against the plan were City Councilmen Joe Palmer and Brandt Fuller. Palmer added it was time to update the ordinance. However, he didn’t think chickens belonged in the city.
The ordinance has one more reading before it becomes official.
Frankfort Building Services Director Don Stock was asked what the next step is.
“The next step is seeing if the Council is heavily in favor or chickens,” said Stock. “If it passes at the next meeting, then we’re good. But, if they throw in the change on chickens, then we go back to the Plan Commission to see if they’re willing to make a change.”
Stock added he thinks City Attorney Alicia Albertson hit the nail on the head when she said she thought was a pretty friendly process for everyone to use.
In other news, the Frankfort City Council has been looking at the idea of how many readings they need to have before something becomes law. On Monday night, the council voted to change that from three reads down to two.
“Now, all of our ordinances will pass after two readings versus the three readings,” said Sheets. “That’s pretty common anymore with other cities. We’re probably a little behind time on changing that on our end. I’m glad the council decided to make that change.”
City Councilman Steve Beardsley suggested the change last year plus the fact that the council will now only meet twice a month unless it is determined to meet twice.
Zachary Confections presented a $30 million expansion proposal at Monday’s meeting. Amy McDonald, Director Client Services for KSM Consulting from Carmel presented the plan. Zachary wants to take 20,000 square feet in its warehouse to use for a jams and jellies update. Zachary also said they planned to add 20 more jobs.