On the third attempt, All Things New will apparently become a reality in Kosciusko County. The proposed addiction rehab facility for women was granted approval by the Kosciusko County Board of Zoning Appeals during its regular monthly meeting Tuesday in Warsaw.

The petition was originally considered by the BZA in October, then tabled and heard again in December. During the December meeting, the board wanted to see a more detailed site plan for the facility on CR 375N in Tippecanoe Township, and also wanted to give time for the petitioner to try to reach an agreement with those not in support of the facility.

Dan Richard, area planning director, noted a more detailed site plan was provided with buffering and also photos showing what the facility could possibly look like.

Steve Snyder, attorney representing the petitioner, said an attempt was made to reach an agreement with Fort Wayne attorney Robert Eherenman (representing the remonstrators) “but we were simply unable to do that.” He said the remonstrators wanted too many commitments that would restrict the petition and essentially make it not worthwhile to pursue building the facility.

Snyder instead presented a set of commitments “that are more practical.” He noted the facility would be more residential than commercial and the buffering would include solid evergreen trees as requested by three of the adjacent property owners. He added there would be no overnight visitation allowed, in the initial phase there would be 16 occupants and no medical inpatient treatment would take place unless it involves medication as already prescribed by a doctor.

He said the list of commitments does not include restricting future expansion because the intent is to be able to grow to help meet the needs. And, he added, the intent is to farm the remaining portion of the property and that would also help with the buffering. “This is not going to be a highly visible operation,” Snyder said.

Eherenman said he had not seen the revised site plan prior to the meeting, and he was not provided an updated list of the commitments from the petitioner until the meeting started. He said he was pleased to see the limit of 16 occupants in the initial phase and the buffering is a step closer to an agreement, but remonstrators had also asked for fencing to be included as part of the buffering. Dead vegetation in the screening should also be replaced immediately, he noted.

In addition, he said remonstrators wanted to see specific hours of operation for visitation, no outdoor activities allowed, the facility be limited to the 6,500 square-feet as proposed initially and the car parking lot limited to 25 vehicles.

Lee Harman of the BZA noted “the petitioners have come a long way in addressing the concerns of the remonstrators.” Approval was granted with the condition dead vegetation must be replaced in the screening. In addition, the BZA left the door open for All Things New to expand by not restricting the facility to the initial proposal, but placing a condition on the approval any future expansion will require a petition and approval by the BZA.

Other commitments provided by the petitioner include restricting access to the facility, restricting noise generated, restricting the number of employees present at one time, limited signage, limited outside storage, restricting the location of the driveway and governing the location of utilities.