Planning and Zoning

In 2021, the Department of Planning & Zoning stayed quite busy through the pandemic. Here are the top 10 things that happened in the past year:

1. UDO Adopted: In July 2021, Council Adopted the new Unified Development Ordinance which replaces the 2001 Zoning Ordinance and 1996 Subdivision Control Ordinance.
2. Staff Changes: in August we said goodbye to Shelby Walsh; In November we welcomed Zachary Giuffre as our new Planning and Zoning Administrator.
3. Another strong year for development: in 2021, the Plan Commission heard 23 cases, the BZA heard 71 cases, and 43 additional cases were reviewed and approved by planning staff. The total of 137 cases, was less than 2020’s record of 169 cases that year, but remarkably strong considering all the volatility in the construction market.  
4. Continued Growth at River Ridge: 875,000 square feet of new industrial warehouse space were permitted through the Planning Department.
5. Single Family home construction soars: Staff approved plans for 275 new single-family homes this year (a record number); this equates to almost $70M of new residential construction.
6. New Medical Facilities coming to Jeffersonville: Baptist Health and Norton Health both received permitting approval for urgent care centers to be constructed near the new Kroger. Construction is currently underway on both facilities. 
7. New Shade Trees for City Parks: Thanks to a grant from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, staff was able to plant 47 new trees in three City Parks this year. Staff leveraged Landscape Fee-In-Lieu funds and two private donations to plant an additional 35 shade trees in City Parks and public spaces.
8. Two new Bus Shelters: The Department installed two new covered bus shelters at the corner of Spring St. and Riddle St.
9. Spring Street Tree Wells: Planning Staff finished a project to expand all the tree wells along Spring Street in Downtown to help remove tripping hazards and prolong the life of the street trees.
10. Did we mention the UDO? In November, Council Adopted a number of minor revisions to the UDO, in order to correct a number of typos, errors, omissions, etc. in the 280+ page document. Staff hopes that these last little tweaks, help solidify the new document that will guide development in Jeffersonville for the next decade.

For a full report on our activities in 2021, here is a link to our opens in a new windowAnnual Reportopens PDF file .