Danville Planning & Zoning Commission Takes Next Step for Major Development at West Newell and Bowman

 ABOVE: Corner of West Newell Road and Bowman Avenue (photo courtesy of News-Gazette/Jennifer Bailey)

By a unanimous 4-0 vote from the quorum present at the Thursday evening  (July 3rd) Danville Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, a recommendation was made to the Danville City Council to change the zoning at West Newell and Bowman from Agricultural to Light Industrial.  This would clear the way for a major warehousing or manufacturing presence; and it applies to the northwest, southwest, and northeast corners of the intersection.  These properties have multiple owners, including the northeast corner portion that belongs to Vermilion Regional Airport.

The overall theme to the commission from Danville Community Development Administrator Logan Cronk was that if Danville wants to attract these types of major employers, they need to show pending tenants shovel ready properties that are set to go.  Vermilion Advantage CEO Mike Marron said afterwards, this is very necessary.

AUDIO: We see a lot of projects that come through the state; companies looking to locate somewhere.  And the problem that we have right now; we don’t have any land where these people can build immediately, that has infrastructure access.  So this is really about planning for the future. 

 Danville Community Development Administrator Logan Cronk addresses members of the Danville Planning and Zoning Commission.

Also in attendance was Danville City Councilman Doug Ahrens.  He says this would give a big assist to the nearby Vermilion Regional Airport.

AUDIO: And it’s been talked about for quite some time over the last couple of decades about trying to take advantage of the resources at the regional airport for these types of applications.

Danville’s city limits run up to Newell Road, but the city has say so on the zoning north of Newell because it’s within the 1 1/2 mile range.  Annexations for incoming businesses would be taken care of later, as Danville would be providing some new infrastructure on the northwest corner.  But Logan Cronk says that is all down the road.  For now, it’s on to the next City Council meeting.

AUDIO: This is really one step closer.  We’re not even really in the annexation talk at this time period.  We’re just trying to get big industrial sites,, that are shovel ready, more prepared.

With this recommendation from the commission, the Danville City Council now needs just a simple majority of eight “yes” votes at their July 15th meeting to make the zoning change official.