Scarlett Johansson’s Eye Color vs. Zoning
I’ve been trying to do some research on zoning boundaries as they relate to Culver’s Two Mile Zoning Boundary and some general concerns I have regarding the marketable property that Marshall County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC) has to offer prospective businesses. (Watch for a future post on this when I get my facts straight!)
This post is just some venting on my part regarding how miraculous and FRUSTRATING the Internet can be. I am constantly amazed at the amount of information that is at my fingertips via the Internet. Likewise, I am dumbfounded sometimes by how hard it is to find something I’m researching. I knew I wanted to see the actual Indiana Code for this issue. I knew I could find it at www.in.gov, the Indiana government website. I could not believe how difficult it was to find from that point forward! I can’t tell you how many variations of 2 mile zoning boundary I entered into their search box trying to find the code section. Eventually I found a court case that referenced it, giving the code number (IC 36-7-4-205) which I could enter and find that what I was looking for was, “Establishment; extent of territorial authority of comprehensive plan; inclusion of contiguous unincorporated area; fire protection territories; incorporation of new towns in county”. How could I not figure that simple name out? Grrrr!
Scarlett Johansson
The fact that it is not called the Two Mile Zoning Boundary is just one of the facts that I learned in this exercise, so I guess it was worth the effort. I’m just not sure why it had to be so hard though, when I can find inane information such as Scarlett Johansson’s eye color by just typing it into my browser address bar. (I typed in “Scarlett Johanson’s eye color” and it popped up on the Google search with three entries on the first page that didn’t even have to be opened to give me the answer…) They’re green by the way… And her name is spelled with two s’s which I didn’t have to know to have the eye color answer pop up… Of course I am just taking that information on faith. I have no idea whether they’re truly green or not. But why should I doubt aceshowbiz.com, huffintonpost.com and chacha.com? (chacha further informed me that they are a lovely shade of green and gave me a nice picture of Ms Johansson for me to link here to the right.) Don’t get me wrong, I still find it amazing what I can find. It’s unfortunate that it’s only easy when you’re looking for something everyone else wants to know too.
And a final caution: Don’t believe everything you read on the Internet. I’m enough of a cynic that I won’t believe Ms Johansson’s eyes are green until I look into them myself. But I’m not holding my breath on that either.
MCEDC Newsletter
For those of you not on the mailing list, you can find the latest edition of the Marshall County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC) newsletter here. It includes an article by the chairman of the board (me!) talking about the search for a new executive director. If you know anyone meant for this position, have them contact us. You can find the job description here.
There are changes ahead for MCEDC! But one thing that isn’t changing is my participation. I was reappointed as Culver’s representative to the board on January 8th. I’m looking forward to building on the successes of the past.
Snow Loads
Even though we haven’t had a lot of snow this year, it’s still good to consider the effects on your home or building before it becomes an issue. Roofs in our area of Indiana are designed to handle snow loads, i.e. the accumulation of snow on rooftops and the weight associated with that. Most of our area has been designated by the Building Code to handle a 30 lb snow load. That means the structure is designed to hold 30 pounds of snow per square foot. This is a worst case scenario as we rarely see that quantity of snow.
Things to look for on the exterior are unusual drift patterns, ice damming that may be holding snow in a concentrated area, excessive icicles and structurally, drooping at the eaves. Things to look for on the interior of the building are leaks, bowing purlins, rafters or trusses. In the case of wood structures you can usually see where wood members are under stress. Generally in the roof structure this shows up as bowing, but occasionally the structural piece may be such that it begins to crush before bowing shows up.
If you decide that there is an issue where snow needs to be removed, tread lightly! LITERALLY! Remember the problem you are trying to correct is excessive weight on the roof. Your weight, or the weight of workers you employ to remove snow, create additional concentrated loading on the structure. Also remember that removing snow from a roof is not equivalent to removing snow from a driveway or parking lot. If you start moving the snow from the peak to the eave, left to right, as you often would when clearing snow from a driveway, you are increasing the concentrated load as you move the snow to the edge. You may well exacerbate the problem you hoped to solve!
Butler Manufacturing Company (BMC) sends out an advisory on this for us to share with our clients. You can view the PDF here. It has some useful information on how to recognize a roof that may be overloaded, how to deal with a roof near collapse and how to document a roof collapse. Some of the information is specific to metal buildings, but much of it is also useful for conventional construction as well.
For a couple of other related, cold weather, roof posts, see one on attic insulation here and one on ice dams here.
Marshall County has its first Shovel Ready Site!
As chairman of Marshall County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC), I’m pleased to see the announcement that a 57 acre site in the Plymouth Industrial Park has achieved Shovel Ready status. The property belongs to the Plymouth Industrial Development Corporation (PIDCO). PIDCO paid the cost of achieving Shovel Ready status with MCEDC completing the necessary legwork and application. “Shovel Ready” is a term that has been bandied about for years in economic development circles, but Indiana has established a definition and criteria for a site to be considered Shovel Ready. (You can see powerpoint slides on the requirements here.) PIDCO’s site is now one of only five in our eight county area with this designation. That gives us a leg up and gives site selectors another reason to visit us.
For more details, check out the press release here.
Coffee Maker Protection
Before
If you work in a large office you generally have one of the large commercial coffee makers such as a Bunn or a Bloomfield as shown here. If you’ve been around these then you know they put out a lot of excess heat. In the case of this unit, the heat was sufficient that it was actually causing the counter top laminate to delaminate. As you can see here, there was not a lot of distance between the top of the unit and the upper cabinet to add protection. The solution? An 18″ x 18″ floor tile. Durable, heat resistant and not thick enough to cause any problems with the upper cabinet.
After
The tile was selected in a color similar to the counter top, though it is close enough to the coffee maker size that this wasn’t critical. The tile has ridges on the back designed to help with grout adhesion. In this case, those ridges help by creating additional air space and surface area to dissipate heat. Self-adhesive furniture pads were used on the bottom of the tile to create additional air space and prevent the tile from scratching the laminate when it is moved for cleaning. All in all, a simple, economical solution to a common problem.
