Lawrenceburg, IN

Unified Development Ordinance

The City of Lawrenceburg adopted a new Comprehensive Plan in December 2021. The Comprehensive Plan recognized four distinct districts across the community including downtown, the riverfront, US 50 corridor, and Ludlow Hill area. However, the City’s zoning ordinance did not distinguish between these very different character areas. To better implement the vision and recommendations of the Comprehensive Plan, Lawrenceburg retained HWC Engineering to create a Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) that combines the zoning, subdivision, construction standards, housing, and historic preservation codes into one document. The first phase of the UDO process included assessing the existing ordinances with respect to the recommendations of the Comprehensive Plan, changes to State planning statutes, recent planning and zoning case law, and current development best practices. After the assessment, a series of working group meetings with City staff, elected leaders, and building and development professionals were conducted to strategize solutions and refine drafted updates. The new UDO creates general mixed-use and downtown mixed-use districts, as well as floodplain, highway corridor, and steep slope overlay districts. It establishes a technical advisory committee for the purpose of site plan review and other important functions, and a new zoning map was created to align with the districts established in the UDO.