2023 Indiana Code
Title 36. Local Government
Article 7. Planning and Development
Chapter 4. Local Planning and Zoning
36-7-4-205. Establishment; Extent of Territorial Authority of Comprehensive Plan; Inclusion of Contiguous Unincorporated Area; Fire Protection Territories; Incorporation of New Towns in County
Sec. 205. (a) ADVISORY. A municipal plan commission shall adopt a comprehensive plan, as provided for under the 500 series of the advisory planning law, for the development of the municipality.
(b) ADVISORY. For comprehensive plans that were initially adopted before July 1, 2019, if the municipal plan commission provided in its comprehensive plan for the development of a contiguous unincorporated area that is outside the corporate boundaries of the municipality, the municipal plan commission may continue to exercise territorial jurisdiction over that area unless the jurisdiction of the municipal plan commission is terminated by the affected county as provided in subsection (i).
(c) ADVISORY. For comprehensive plans that are initially adopted after June 30, 2019, the following provisions apply:
(1) If the municipality is located in a county that has not adopted a comprehensive plan and ordinance covering the contiguous unincorporated area and the municipality is providing municipal services to the contiguous unincorporated area, the municipal plan commission may exercise territorial jurisdiction over that area by filing the notices required by subsections (f) and (j).
(2) If the municipality is located in a county that has adopted a comprehensive plan and ordinance covering the contiguous unincorporated area, the municipal plan commission may exercise territorial jurisdiction over that area only if it obtains the approval of the county legislative body of each affected county under subsection (h).
(d) ADVISORY. To exercise territorial jurisdiction outside the corporate boundaries of the municipality, the municipal plan commission must provide in the comprehensive plan (regardless of the date the plan is adopted) for the development of the contiguous unincorporated area, designated by the commission, that, in the judgment of the commission, bears reasonable relation to the development of the municipality. For purposes of this section, participation of a municipality in a fire protection territory established under IC 36-8-19 that includes unincorporated areas contiguous to the municipality may not be treated as providing municipal services to the contiguous unincorporated areas.
(e) ADVISORY. Except as limited by the boundaries of unincorporated areas subject to the jurisdiction of other municipal plan commissions, an area designated under this section may include any part of the contiguous unincorporated area within two (2) miles from the corporate boundaries of the municipality. However, the following applies to the designation of an area under this section:
(1) If the corporate boundaries of the municipality or the boundaries of that contiguous unincorporated area include any part of the public waters or shoreline of a lake (which lies wholly within Indiana), the designated area may also include:
(A) any part of those public waters and shoreline of the lake; and
(B) any land area within two thousand five hundred (2,500) feet from that shoreline.
(2) This subdivision applies to a municipality that annexes noncontiguous territory under IC 36-4-3-4(a)(2) or IC 36-4-3-4(a)(3). The boundaries of the noncontiguous territory (including territory that is enlarged under IC 36-4-3-4(a)(2)(B) for the use of the wastewater treatment facility or water treatment facility) may not be considered a part of the corporate boundaries of the municipality for purposes of designating an area under this section.
(f) ADVISORY. Before exercising their rights, powers, and duties of the advisory planning law with respect to an area designated under this section, a municipal plan commission must file, with the recorder of the county in which the municipality is located, a description or map defining the limits of that area. If the commission revises the limits, it shall file, with the recorder, a revised description or map defining those revised limits.
(g) ADVISORY. If any part of the contiguous unincorporated area within the potential jurisdiction of a municipal plan commission is also within the potential jurisdiction of another municipal plan commission, the first municipal plan commission may exercise territorial jurisdiction over that part of the area within the potential jurisdiction of both municipal plan commissions that equals the product obtained by multiplying a fraction, the numerator of which is the area within the corporate boundaries of that municipality and the denominator of which is the total area within the corporate boundaries of both municipalities times the area within the potential jurisdiction of both municipal plan commissions. Furthermore, this commission may exercise territorial jurisdiction within those boundaries, enclosing an area reasonably compact and regular in shape, that the municipal plan commission first acting designates.
(h) ADVISORY. If the legislative body of a county adopts a comprehensive plan and ordinance after June 30, 2019, covering the unincorporated areas of the county, a municipal plan commission may not exercise jurisdiction, as provided in this section, over any part of that unincorporated area unless it is authorized by ordinance of the legislative body of the county. This ordinance may be initiated by the county legislative body or by petition duly signed and presented to the county auditor by:
(1) not less than fifty (50) property owners residing in the area involved in the petition;
(2) the county plan commission; or
(3) the municipal plan commission.
Before final action on the ordinance by the county legislative body, the county plan commission must hold an advertised public hearing as required for other actions of the county plan commission under the advisory planning law. Upon the passage of the ordinance by the county legislative body and the subsequent acceptance of jurisdiction by the municipal plan commission, the municipal plan commission shall exercise the same rights, powers, and duties conferred in this section exclusively with respect to the contiguous unincorporated area.
(i) ADVISORY. The jurisdiction of a municipal plan commission, as authorized under this section, may be terminated by ordinance at the discretion of the legislative body of the county, but only if the county has adopted a comprehensive plan for that area that is as comprehensive in scope and subject matter as that in effect by municipal ordinance.
(j) ADVISORY. Each municipal plan commission in a municipality located in a county that has not adopted, in accord with the advisory planning law, a comprehensive plan and ordinance covering the unincorporated areas of the county may, at any time, after filing notice with the county recorder and the county legislative body, exercise or reject territorial jurisdiction over any part of the area within two (2) miles of the corporate boundaries of that municipality and within that county, whether or not that commission has previously exercised that jurisdiction, if the municipality is providing municipal services to the area.
(k) AREA. Wherever in the area planning law authority is conferred to establish a comprehensive plan or an ordinance for its enforcement, the authority applies everywhere:
(1) within the county that is outside the municipalities; and
(2) within each participating municipality.
(l) ADVISORY—AREA. Whenever a new town is incorporated in a county having a county plan commission or an area plan commission, that plan commission and its board of zoning appeals shall continue to exercise territorial jurisdiction within the town until the effective date of a town ordinance:
(1) establishing an advisory plan commission under section 202(a) of this chapter; or
(2) adopting the area planning law under section 202(b) or 204 of this chapter.
Beginning on that effective date, the planning and zoning functions of the town shall be exercised under the advisory planning law or area planning law, as the case may be.
[Pre-Local Government Recodification Citations: 18-3-1-10.5; 18-7-4-205; 18-7-4-39; 18-7-5-34.]
As added by Acts 1981, P.L.309, SEC.23. Amended by Acts 1982, P.L.1, SEC.61; P.L.216-1999, SEC.1; P.L.172-2011, SEC.143; P.L.207-2014, SEC.4; P.L.277-2019, SEC.7.
