By Deb Patterson
InkFreeNews

WARSAW – “Enough’s enough. It’s obvious he is not interested in following the rules,” said Lee Harman, who chaired the Nov. 10 Kosciusko County Board of Zoning Appeals meeting, regarding a contractor who has been found violating county ordinances.

The contractor will be notified by certified mail his permits will not be issued until the area planning commission office goes to the site and verifies no construction has started. If it has, he will be found in violation and fines issued.

Matt Sandy, assistant planning director for the county, brought the issue to the board’s attention following a lengthy agenda of variances and exemptions were reviewed. Sandy noted a violation issue was discovered and requested the board’s input. The requirements are to request a permit prior to the start of construction, those issued after construction has started are charged a permit fee.

Sandy, who later identified the contractor as Stonehill Homes, which recently requested permits for two new homes where construction had already started.

A search of records found during the last six years showed the contractor has been issued 11 permits where construction began prior to the permits being issued.

“Those are the ones we know of,” Sandy stated, indicating two are in Barrington Hills. He pointed out the ordinance allows the county to pursue fines ranging from $10 to $300 per day for such a violation. “The slap is missing the hand,” he said, adding a look at other top contractors found no one else is close to such violations.

“Nail him to the wall,” Harman stated, instructing the office to follow through and “wake him.”

This wasn’t the only contractor issue brought before the board.

Sandy also brought before the board a matter with Coplen Construction wishing to begin construction on a new home on CR 900S before removing the existing home and before a hearing was held. The result was the board sticking to the rules and denying construction to begin before the hearing, allegedly to be filed for the Dec. 8 meeting.

The county requires a hearing when an existing home is to remain while a new home construction is underway. “I don’t know why this is different from the other ones. You need a hearing. I don’t have a magic pill for this,” Dan Richard, area planning director, said.

Following a plea from a Coplen representative, Charlotte Sigfried stated “I understand his problem, but like Randy (Cox) said, it would put us in a bind and set precedent.” Other board members said (Coplen) has been in business for a long time and should have known.

During the regular portion of the meeting, several requests faced remonstrance but were approved by the board.

The two requests by Round Table Partners, continued from the October meeting, still met with remonstrance after providing additional information requested. Round Table Partners wants to expand the mobile home park by 21 lots in a residential district. Screening plans, paving of roadways and feedback from the state board of health were requested. The area is located on the east side of Country Club and north of CR 300S, in Wayne Township.

Steve Snyder represented the petitioners for the variance allowing the expansion zero feet from an existing deed access easement per mobile home ordinance and an exception to allow the expansion. While no final approval has been received from the state board of health, he noted there was a 28-foot separation between the septic system and water system, which meets requirements. Additionally, he presented a video from the real estate company that sold the property that showed plenty of screen protection in place. As for the paving, the owners had plans to pave all roads within the park and out to CR 300S once all lots had been filled.

Kelly Nichols, who resides at 1138 E. 300S, Warsaw, remonstrated against the addition noting the large number of people coming in and some people not keeping up their mobile homes. Snyder rebutted, noting density is not an issue.

A compromise was reached regarding the paving of all roads. It was agreed when 15 of the 21 new lots were filled, paving would take place within the next paving season. This is also pending approval by the state board of health.

Noting the county’s effort to look into housing issues, Harman said “this comes to play here. We need to look at the big picture.”

Ron Robinson noted the new ownership will provide an improvement.

Other remonstrances dealt with variance requests by Connie Wilson, 11645 N. Ogden Point Road, Syracuse and Scow View at 10761 N. Lung Lane, Syracuse. Both remonstrators were neighbors of the properties.

Debi Meyer, North Ogden Point Road, spoke against the variance by Connie Wilson, who wanted to construct an addition 1.5 feet from the north property line that already had two residences and a shed. Meyer objected to the shed which is on the property line and the arborvitaes growing onto their property. The board, which approved the variance, stated the issue of the shed possibly being in violation would be taken up at a later date and the arborvitaes issue would need to be handled between neighbors.

Wilson wants to build an 8-foot by 14-foot addition to the 1914 home and according to Wilson’s husband, Philip, it will make the 1½ story home to a two-story in the back.

The final remonstrance came with the request from Scow View to permit the construction of a new residence (a covered porch and a pool) 10-feet from the right-of-way of the road at 10761 N. Lung Lane. A request last month from the residence next door was denied. Snyder, who represented the Herdrich family, noted the property is at the deadend with the road being vacated.

Margaret Walls, who lives north of that property, objected to having a building visible as she drove down the road. “It is supposed to be a 25 foot setback.” She noted she was also against last month’s request. She also noted there were a number of small outbuildings and was glad the 80 year old building would be taken down.

Snyder, who represented the petitioners, pointed out preserving the visiblity of what someone sees down a private drive is not the concern of the board. “This is one of the situations where the road is vacated and there is no reason for a 25 foot setback, especially to satisfy Mrs. Walls desire at what she looks at down the street and see things that she doesn’t like. There is no safety hazard … ,” Snyder said.

Other requests:

Denied the original variance request for Andrew Seulean to have a 7-foot by 7-foot shed 11-feet from the right of way, but approved a compromise to allow the shed 19.7-feet from the right of way at 26 EMS B33A Lane, on Little Barbee Lake. This was a change from the request as it was agreed the shed could be moved elsewhere on the property without a problem.

Approved John Robertson’s request for a variance for a new construction of a residence 15 feet from the north water’s edge, 10 feet from the east water’s edge and 15 feet from the right of way with a garage at 20 feet and 5 feet from the west sideline on Smith Drive, Syracuse.

Denied Joshua Pegman’s original request for a variance, but approved a 20-foot variance from the water’s edge and a 20-foot setback from the right of way for a new construction on the north side of Smith Drive. He originally asked for two 15-foot setbacks.

Approved Nicole Poucher’s petition or a variance to construct an addition 49 inches and 52 inches from the sidelines at 135 EMS B43 Lane, in Tippecanoe Township.

Approved a variance request by the new owners of Midlakes Mobile Home Park, 312 W. Crystal Flash Road, North Webster, to allow mobile homes to be replaced at 5 feet to adjacent structures, 5 feet to an internal road and 35 feet to the south right of way.

Approved Richard and Madelyn Ecklebarger’s request, 11621 N. Elm Grove Drive, Syracuse, for a variance to separate two lots and then combine one of the lots with a lot across the road and allow a deck to remain 0 feet from the west line and pool to remain 2.5 feet from the west sideline.

Approved Brent Byrers variance request to create a 50-foot easement opposed to a 50-foot owned frontage at 3805 S. Elaine Drive, Wayne Township.

Approved a modification to a request by Lamar Miller, previously approved to build a slightly larger building.

The next meeting of the board will be at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 8, in the multi-purpose room of the Kosciusko County Justice Building.