WARSAW — During the first regular monthly meeting of 2017 for the Kosciusko County Area Planning Commission Wednesday afternoon, Jan. 4, in Warsaw, two rezoning petitions were recommended for approval.

The first petition was for George’s Pub on the south side of State Street, just east of Walnut Street in Etna Green. Lyle “George” Faulkner II is asking for property to be rezoned from residential to commercial. Dan Richard, area planning director, said the building was a restaurant site at one time but has been vacant for a while.

He said the property was likely rezoned to residential when Etna Green joined the APC. Other nearby properties are already zoned residential, he added. Faulkner wants to open George’s Pub in the building.

Parking could have been an issue as some people would have to back out onto Old US 30 to leave, but Faulkner said he plans to rectify the problem by adding parking spaces in a lot he purchased directly west of the property. That will be considered in a separate hearing later.

The APC recommended approval for the rezoning petition and it will be considered by the Etna Green Town Council Tuesday, Jan. 10.

Also on the agenda, approval was recommended for Ralph Luce to rezone land from commercial to residential on the southeast corner of SR 13 and South Street in North Webster. Richard noted the property has had different commercial uses in the past including a funeral home.

Luce lives in the house on the property and a niece also lives on the property. He uses a second building on the same lot for storage. He has lived in the house for several years and said he was told by a bank having the property zoned residential would make it easier to sell if he decides to do so at some point.

North Webster Town Council will consider the petition at their Tuesday, Jan. 17, meeting.

In other business, 2016 statistics were provided to planning commission members. A total of 1,049 permits were issued in 2016. The APC considered 14 rezoning petitions in 2016 and three subdivisions.

Subdivisions requests have been considerably fewer in recent years and have been in single digits every year since 2007 with the exception of 11 in 2014. Most of the housing plat petitions now are usually reconfigurations of existing plats.

In dollar figures, the permits issued in 2016 totaled $91,816,576, which was down from the total of $154,078,953 of 2015. But it was close to the $92,534,588 of 2014.

Officers were elected for 2017 and remain the same as in 2016: Lee Harman, chairman; Chuck Haffner, vice chairman; and Mike Kissinger, secretary.