Sec. 18. (a) The development authority must conduct a public hearing before amending a resolution or plan for a military base development area. The development authority shall give notice of the hearing in accordance with IC 5-3-1. The notice must do the following:

(1) Set forth the substance of the proposed amendment.

(2) State the time and place where written remonstrances against the proposed amendment may be filed.

(3) Set forth the date, time, and place of the hearing.

(4) State that the development authority will hear any person who has filed a written remonstrance during the filing period set forth in subdivision (2).

(b) For the purposes of this section, the consolidation of areas is not considered the enlargement of the boundaries of an area.

(c) If the development authority proposes to amend a resolution or plan, the development authority is not required to have evidence or make findings that were required for the establishment of the original military base development area. However, the development authority must make the following findings before approving the amendment:

(1) The amendment is reasonable and appropriate when considered in relation to the original resolution or plan and the purposes of this chapter.

(2) The resolution or plan, with the proposed amendment, conforms to the comprehensive plan for an affected unit.

(d) Notwithstanding subsections (a) and (c), if the resolution or plan is proposed to be amended in a way that enlarges the original boundaries of the area by more than twenty percent (20%), the development authority must use the procedure provided for the original establishment of areas and must comply with sections 16 through 17 of this chapter.

(e) At the hearing on the amendments, the development authority shall consider written remonstrances that are filed. The action of the development authority on the amendment is final and conclusive, except that an appeal of the development authority's action may be taken under section 19 of this chapter.

(f) If the development authority confirms, or modifies and confirms, the resolution and the resolution includes a provision establishing or amending an allocation provision under section 30 of this chapter, the development authority shall file a copy of the resolution with both the auditor of the county in which the proposed project is located and the department of local government finance, together with any supporting documents that are relevant to the computation of assessed values in the allocation area, within thirty (30) days after the date on which the development authority takes final action on the resolution.

As added by P.L.203-2005, SEC.11. Amended by P.L.214-2019, SEC.50; P.L.257-2019, SEC.140.