Council rezones tract off Harrison for potential apartments

Above: A tract of land (highlighted in green) that was rezoned to R-2 at Tuesday’s Batesville City Council meeting. Image via the City of Batesville/MapScout

By Andrea Bruner, White River Now

It was a short meeting Tuesday night for the Batesville City Council, with some general housekeeping ordinances and a rezone request.

The council agreed to rezone a tract of land located off Harrison Street from Commercial C-1 to General Family Residential (R-2).

Code Enforcement Officer Chad McClure said the property, located behind Natalie’s Restaurant, features a single-family house, but the property was zoned commercial.

According to the ordinance, the property, owned by Burim Azemi/Azemi Holdings, LLC, will be developed into much-needed multi-family residential use.

Alderman Robb Roberts said this property may be unique in that there is not a dedicated city street accessing the property, and McClure agreed, although he said there is access via a driveway from Harrison Street.

Roberts asked if the driveway was accessible for emergency vehicles. McClure said if there are plans, for instance, to build apartments, the builder will first have to apply for a building permit. Then, the city will review those site plans and make sure everything is built to code, including access to the street — but he reiterated that the city is under no obligation to build that access.

McClure said the city’s fire chief has also reached out to the state to clarify the regulations on access for emergency vehicles, but he also said they would be looking at things like turning radius and even the compaction, which considers how much the city’s heaviest fire truck weighs.

“Also, there is no visibility from Harrison that would justify this being C-1,” Alderman Lackey Moody added.

Roberts said it was his understanding that even if a lot is sold to a developer, there cannot be any other ingress/egress from the subdivision south of this lot.

“I’m not aware of any other possibilities,” McClure said.

He said if the property stays C-1, it could allow such uses as hotels, restaurants, and more, but R-2 would mean single- or multi-family use. However, he said the future use is speculation right now, and the rezoning is not approving a specific use.

Meanwhile, Tuesday night the council also reviewed some housekeeping issues regarding the city’s subdivision regulations that Mayor Rick Elumbaugh said were approved by the city’s planning and zoning commission at its June 2 meeting.

McClure started off by saying that the state Legislature had passed new rules regarding zoning outside of a municipality’s boundaries. He said even though the city has not actively enforced certain zoning rules outside subdivisions, the city’s subdivision regulations does reference areas outside the boundaries.

These changes are made to “stay consistent with new legislation,” McClure said. “This is taking that language out.”

Moody clarified to state the legislation impacts the planning and zoning authority in unincorporated areas outside city limits.

“The bill eliminates the authority for municipalities to exercise territorial jurisdiction over unincorporated areas of a county, effectively removing their ability to regulate land use, development, and planning beyond their corporate limits,” Moody said.

He said this does not affect Batesville, but it may affect “high-growth areas” in different parts of the state where planning outside the city limits will now be done at the county or state level.

“Batesville has not changed its borders more than a few feet in decades. We couldn’t enforce anything outside the city limits but we had to plan for it” under the previous legislation, Moody said. “We’re taking it off our books – we are conforming to what the state law says.”

As part of the cleanup, the council approved ordinances to revise and update the city’s subdivision regulations and to repeal the old ordinance.

In other business, the council:

· Appointed Megan Ramsey to a five-year term on the planning and zoning commission, a seat previously held by Matt Martin.

· Approved a move of $9,625 from the community center’s perpetual maintenance fund to pay Blue Water CAS for pool maintenance, piping, valves, and replumbing.

· Approved Josh Melton, one of the foremen for the cemetery/landscaping department, to take a vehicle home. The council must approve such requests for city employees who live outside the city limits.

· Alderwoman Julie Hinkle said a citizen had reached out to her about the old Citizens Bank branch in Westside, with motors and things that have been left outside. She also said it appears that someone is living there. She said she had received a complaint about the triangle area near Boswell and 12th streets, with grass so tall it is hitting cars. Elumbaugh said he would look into both sites. (Scroll down for images of both sites taken on July 24, 2025.)

All members were present. There were no comments from citizens.

The former Citizens Bank branch on Central Avenue.

12th and Boswell / Above images: White River Now