Crothersville could become a vacation destination if the plans of a county couple bear fruit.
Michelle Downey of Seymour told the Crothersville Town Council at their monthly meeting Aug. 6, that she and her husband, Patrick, are negotiating to purchase a nearly 17 area farmstead in the 11000 block of E County Road 600 S and wanted the town to be aware that they intend to develop the area around the lake as a short term vacation rental.
She told the council they hope to install 4-5 RV hookups for travelers and hope to build a cabin on the lake for short term rental.
“Zoning is something that needs to be done but has not been done,” councilman Jason Hillenburg said about town’s property controls. “As long as you are in compliance with our ordinances, there should not be a problem.”
He emphasized that the RV rental sites would have to be short term and not become permanent rental sites with full-time occupants
“We do have an ordinance not allowing people to live in campers full time,” he said.
Acknowledging that they would not be, the council gave Downey preliminary approval for their plans.
The council also gave unanimous approval to several ordinances.
A tall weed and rank vegetation ordinance now includes fines in addition to fees for mowing resulting from non-compliance. Town officials have been frustrated by the few property owners who do not mow their property and are content to allow the town to do it for them then add the cost onto their property taxes. The new ordinance still provides for that but now also includes a fine of $100 for the first offense and increasing $50 for each subsequent offense in a calendar year.
After the first offense, notification letters will no longer be sent out to properties with weeds taller than 8 inches. The legal notice adopting the ordinance is found on page 5 of this week’s newspaper as well as at www.crothersvilletimes.com.
The council also unanimously approved first reading of an ordinance prohibiting parking along Industrial Way in the town’s industrial park from US 31 to Kovener Street.
The council appointed Brent Clouse to the local parks Board and one of Clouse’s first items of business was to seek approval of a Haunted Trails at the Countryside Park on the town’s westside.
The October event was very popular in previous years, but had to be cancelled when dead trees fell blocking passage of wagons on wooded trails at the park. Those obstacles have been removed and the trails can now be navigated.
The council approved two weekends for the Haunted Trail event: Oct. 18 & 19 and Oct. 23 & 26.
•A dedication of the town hall mural, painted by Kyle McIntosh, will take place as a community block party on Wednesday, Sept. 4. The alley in front of the mural will be closed as will Howard Street from the stoplight to the alley from 4-9 p.m. for the dedication celebration. Councilman Chad Wilson said there will be food, booths, and hay rides to celebrate the town street art.
•In other council action, renewal of the town’s cyber insurance premium for $2,408.75 was approved.
•Clerk-Treasurer Danieta Foster announced that town hall would be closed Aug. 26-27 to allow local office workers to attend a required State Board of Accounts conference.