Environmentally Restrictive Covenants

The Indiana Department of Environmental Managment (IDEM) has the following resources to assist in identifying properties that have restrictions related to contamination. Certain restrictions may affect planning, development, building permits, or zoning decisions, including, but not limited to, residential use restrictions, excavation restrictions, soil handling requirements, or requirements to maintain an engineered control such as a parking lot.

• IndianaMap - Restricted Sites is an interactive map depicting all the ERC restricted properties across the state. What’s in My Neighborhood also contains an IDEM Interactive Map, depicting all the ERC restricted properties, as well as other IDEM Office of Land Quality sites of interest (use the Layer List to turn on layers of interest). You can search by address or zoom into a particular area to view the restricted properties. You can also click on a particular polygon to open an attribute table containing information about the ERC. The restrictions related to a particular ERC are summarized in the attribute table, but IDEM recommends reading the ERC (usually Section I. RESTRICTIONS) to understand what activities are restricted. Local GIS specialists can request instructions to stream IDEM’s GIS layers and have them added to their own mapping tools.

• The Institutional Controls Registry is an excel spreadsheet of the properties subjected to Environmental Restrictive Covenants. The spreadsheet can be filtered by city or county, or you can search for a specific address by using the “Ctrl + F” function. The restrictions related to a particular ERC are summarized in the spreadsheet, but IDEM recommends reading the ERC (usually Section I. RESTRICTIONS) to understand what activities are restricted. Note that some restrictions/requirements apply to an entire property or “Real Estate”, while others reference an “Affected Area” (or a smaller portion of the property), which should be depicted on a map attached to the ERC.

• IDEM’s Virtual File Cabinet (VFC) is a document repository containing site files related to environmental investigations and remediation, and much more. The VFC document number for a particular ERC can be found on the Institutional Controls Registry, or the interactive map attribute tables, and can be typed into the VFC “Quick Search” bar. You can also search by address (“Facility Search”) or other various criteria.

• Coordination with IDEM is not required unless there is a conflict between the planned work and the ERC. If you’re unsure if there is a conflict or need help interpreting an ERC or navigating the resources please email InstitutionalControls@idem.in.gov.