Area Planning Director Dan Richard, left, shows board members a final plat. (Photo by Maggie Kenworthy)

By Maggie Kenworthy
InkFreeNews

KOSCIUSKO — Several neighbors came to the Kosciusko County Area Plan Commission meeting held Wednesday, Nov. 4, to oppose a rezoning request.

Amber Real Estate petitioned to rezone 1.5 acres of land from an Agricultural District to a Commercial District. The property is on the north side of Armstrong Road, west of EMS T25 Lane in Leesburg.

Attorney Richard Helm, representing Amber Real Estate, explained that the company has been approached by multiple entities in the past that hoped to purchase the land but needed a commercial property. Amber Real Estate doesn’t have a specific buyer or commercial purpose in mind, but rezoning the property would help with the marketing of the property.

“Today I’m here to talk about zoning, rezoning and that only,” stressed Helm. “We’re not putting this in anyone’s backyard … we laid it out that way so that it would be buffered by the green agricultural area and it would be of a sufficient size that it would be workable for a number of adaptations.”

Adjacent neighbors were concerned about rezoning the land without a specific use in mind. Three neighbors were present at the meeting to object to the request and two additional neighbors submitted letters of remonstrance.

All of the neighbors expressed that they bought or built their houses specifically in this area due to the agricultural feel. They were concerned the rezoning would allow the property to become a number of things permitted by the ordinance that they did not want in the area. Specifically, the neighbors mentioned that they did not want to see outside storage, boat storage, or sexually-oriented businesses.

“Change is always something folks are against,” said Helm in his rebuttal.

County Surveyor Mike Kissinger brought up the option of seeking Board of Zoning Appeals approval for specific uses instead of a general rezoning. That way, any use request would have a BZA hearing and neighbors would have a chance to give their input about the proposed use.

“I’m a little nervous about opening the door for any commercial use,” said Kissinger.

Based on this comment, the board unanimously voted to deny the request. This recommendation will go before the Kosciusko County Commissioners for final say at 9:15 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 24.

During the meeting, the board also heard from Matt Sandy, assistant planner, about a proposed ordinance amendment regarding public use communication towers.

The amendment goes hand-in-hand with the commissioner’s public safety communications project. The amendment would allow certain communication towers to be categorized as a public improvement if they are solely owned and operated by a governmental agency and used to provide public services.

With the amendment’s approval, public improvement communication towers would be permitted without any hearings, unless in a residential district. These towers would also be exempt from the fall radius portion of the ordinance because the towers are designed to fall into themselves.

The board approved this amendment, and the recommendation will also go before the Kosciusko County Commissioners for approval.

In other news, the APC approved:

• A final plat request for Cabins on Kuhn, located at 45 EMS B10 Lane, Pierceton. The request was for a four-lot subdivision with the condition that as the four properties are bought, the old cabins are to be removed before new residences are built.
• A final plat request for Klinefelter Subdivision, located at 1398 Chapman Lake Drive, Warsaw. The request was for residential development on a 1.22-acre tract of ground.
• A replat request made by Brian Chaney for a property located on the west side of EMS C29 Lane, south of CR 450N in Warsaw. The request resizes a drainage easement on the property from 30 feet to 15 feet. The approval is contingent upon the agreement of all property owners in the subdivision. It was also noted that a fence would need to be moved so that it was not located within the easement.
• A replat request made by Nathan and Kristi Hershberger for a property located in Sult Subdivision, on the north side of CR 400S and east of CR 600E in Washington Township. The replat resizes two lots, bringing one lot down from 2.89 acres to 1.4 acres. The approval was contingent upon satisfaction from the health department regarding the lot size as it pertains to sanitary sewer requirements.