Public hearing on Lapel rezoning tonight – Pendleton Times-Post

LAPEL The Giving Hope Foundation founder Joe Shetterley presented plans for a community center designed to treat people of all ages with special needs to the Lapel Town Council on July 20.

The council has scheduled a public hearing for today, Thursday, Aug. 17, to discuss rezoning 40 acres at County Road 650 West and State Road 13 to general industrial to allow his plans to move forward.

The land was donated to Shetterley with this project in mind. He is working with the Ball State University Architecture Department and St. Vincent Hospital on the design of a 125,000-square-foot facility. The $20 million facility could serve up to 500 people, with Shetterley hoping to begin the two-year construction project in 2018.

The Giving Hope Foundation is a family health institute center whose sole purpose is supporting special-needs members and their families, Shetterley said. The center will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to special-needs members regardless of age.

Shetterley said the center will use cutting-edge technology for both care of people with a wide array of special needs including autism, cerebral palsy, and Down Syndrome and for research into many mental afflictions.

He said it also will provide a chance for stressed parents and caregivers to take a break.

It can be very difficult to care and nurse for these loved ones, he said. Our trained staff understands all too well the strains this can have on the family. The Giving Hope Community Center understands and is there to help.

The center will employ technology made available through Ball State University to study the movement of the patients, colors, lights and sleep patterns in hopes of better understanding these afflictions.

Shetterley said treatment of special-needs children doesnt end when they reach a certain age, which is a big part of what he has in mind for the center.

After 22 years old, special-needs kids have nowhere to go, he said. Theres no day-to-day; they just shove them in a room. I dont want that for my daughter. Part of this is a selfish thing for her, too, but I want to help other people.

Shetterleys daughter, Hanna, has autism and other challenges.

He estimates there are 200,000 children with disabilities in Indiana.

He said once the facility is complete, Ball State students studying in the field will be working at the center, helping minimize labor costs.

Dr. Shireen Kanakri, an assistant professor of interior design at Ball State and an architect who studies the effects of acoustics and lighting on children with autism, is working with the foundation.

She said the foundation has a good plan and already has been doing good work. Her biggest question mark would be funding.

Financially, Im not sure where theyll get the money maybe they get loans or other donations, Kanakri said. I know they work with different families and have their support. They work with hospitals, like St. Vincent, and help them in this area. I feel if they have the money, they should be fine.

She said Giving Hope and Ball State have a contract currently to conduct research in her lab in Muncie, but they have yet to finalize contracts for bringing BSU interns to the facility in Lapel.

We just signed a contract to study the environments in our lab, she said. They bring the subjects to my lab and see how they react to those environments. The other part will be to have students from our school serve as interns on their site. For that, we still need to sign the contracts.

Giving Hope Executive Director Andrew Anderson said the organization does not have all of its financing in place but will obtain funding from a variety of sources, including state programs, private insurance and donations, as well as fees.

There are many people involved who have a vested interest, like Shetterley, who also will donate time and expertise to the project.

He said no family in need of services will be turned away because they cant pay, but that people who can afford to pay possibly will be charged what they can afford, on a sliding scale.

Council president Michael Cates said he doesnt foresee any problems with approval of the rezoning.

As long as their plans are to par and they have everything in order that they need, like drainage, there are no problems that I can see, he said.

Cates added it is unclear at this point what potential economic impact the facility will have on the town of Lapel.

We havent done a study on that because the rezoning is still in the early stages, Cates said. It all depends on if its profit or non-profit and how many people from the town it will employ.

Editor Scott Slade contributed to this report.

The Lapel Town Council took care of other business recently:

A road closure at Ford and Ninth streets requested by the Ford Street Church for the Back to School Bash was approved by the council. That intersection will be closed from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Aug. 27

The council approved two sign changes as requested by residents. The intersection at Tenth and Fourth streets will be changed to an all-way stop, and the deaf child playing sign at 14th and Ford will be removed and replaced with children at play sign. The child for whom the sign was erected no longer lives in the area.

Chris Hobbs was hired as the utilities manager for the town of Lapel. He will oversee five employees and earn a salary of $45,000 per year. Hobbs will be responsible for the management side of the utility department, while Utility Superintendent Marlin Johnson and the rest of the staff will focus on doing the physical work required of the department.

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Public hearing on Lapel rezoning tonight - Pendleton Times-Post