By David Slone
Times-Union

WARSAW – A variance to allow for a not-for-profit’s group home for victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation in an Industrial-2 zoning district was denied by the Warsaw Board of Zoning Appeals Monday night.

Dawnna Plummer, founder and executive director of Beloved: Not Forgotten, petitioned for the use variance to allow a group home for those in need in an I-2 district. A donor has offered land within an industrial park for this purpose. 

Located along the cul-de-sac near Executive Boulevard and Blue Collar Drive, surrounding zoning districts include I-2 to the north, south and west and Commercial-2 to the east. 

Assistant City Planner Bekah Schrag told the BZA that the group home will serve up to 10 people for 18 to 24 months at a time. The property will also include offices for services offered on-site. 

“Within an I-2 Industrial district, uses are permitted that create detriments to human health including material mixing, meat processing and the storage of flammable, explosive or radioactive materials,” Schrag said. “Many industrial uses have necessary buffers to be near residences to reduce this impact. Moreover, the city code calls out that within all industrial districts residential is prohibited. Specifically, in an I-2 district, the code state, ‘Residential uses are prohibited … to conserve and protect the supply of industrial land for industrial use.’”

Schrag said that while there is a need for this service in the area, the requested use would not be conducive to the parcel and would be in direct interference with the goal of the district. The Planning Department suggested the BZA deny the request.

A letter from Ray E. Plummer stated that the property in question is joined on the east and south by a residential property, the same as Dawnna Plummer’s request. 

“We are in favor of this variance and believe the site to be very suited for such an endeavor and for the community,” Ray’s letter states. 

There were no remonstrators to the petition either in writing or at the meeting. Board member Rick Keeven abstained from the case since he and his wife are neighbors and friends of the petitioner.

Dawnna Plummer said in the past 6-1/2 years they have served 38 people, including seven men and about eight that are not part of Kosciusko County. 

“The rest in Kosciusko County, from ages 7 to ages 60, who have been trafficked or sexually exploited,” she said. “We are looking to open this home. At first, I wasn’t really sure about the location, but the more I thought about it, I was thinking what a great location actually because we can build the building to look more industrial and it would be harder to find it.”

She said the donor was giving them lots 10 and 2, with lot 2 abutting onto residential properties. “With that in mind, I was thinking that wetlands, that lot No. 2, we could do something like Beyer Park where we put a walking place through for our ladies, etc., etc.

“It’s a need we have for this county. We have been almost seven years in the process of doing this,” Dawnna said. 

BZA President Tom Allen said the need wasn’t going to be countermanded at all.

“The problem is you’re putting it in an area where it’s not allowed,” he said. “I want to emphasize, it’s not allowed.”

Dawnna said lot No. 10 is a very small, buildable area for an industrial property so it was “very unlikely” that an industrial organization would come onto it.

Allen told her that one of the things that she has to take in mind for the BZA was that all the board members are sworn in and they have to follow the codes. 

“And unless there’s a really terrific reason, which I’ve only been on it 16 years and there’s never been one where we break the codes to allow something to happen where it’s not allowed, it’s really kind of a non-starter, unfortunately. We just can’t make an exception based on it’s a good need,” Allen stated. 

He mentioned that about the only thing that could be done was to rezone the property, but he wasn’t going to do that, and it would take more paperwork. Dawnna mentioned she would do that, and Allen told her that was between her and the Warsaw Planning Department. A rezoning request would also require another hearing.

Ray Plummer said when he got that property rezoned, it was farmland and it was rezoned to industrial. He also said sewer and water is already right there at the property line. 

“But I was told when I zoned that, that anything lower than agricultural could go into that property,” Ray said. 

Allen said that doesn’t change where it’s zoned now. 

Board member Tammy Dalton made a motion to deny the request, and Dan Smith provided the second. It was denied 4-0, with Keeven abstaining. 

The website for Plummer’s organization can be found at https://belovednotforgotten.net/.

In the second petition before the Warsaw BZA, Our Lady of Guadalupe Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend requested a use variance to allow a residence in a Commercial-2 zoning district at 303 Gilliam Drive. 

The existing land use is commercial, and it is surrounded by C-2 zoning districts to the north, south and east and Residential-1 to the west. 

Schrag said the parcel is located next to a residential plot where the church is located that the petitioner operates. The petitioner would like to use the parcel to house a church official as well as offices for the church. Since only a small number of people will be using this parcel for residential, the surrounding context will not be largely impacted by traffic or noise, she said. Furthermore, all residential type uses are permitted in C-2 districts through special exemption.

Based on the findings of facts, the Planning Department suggests the board view this request favorably, Schrag said.

A letter from Jon R. Shively, a resident of Rolling Hills subdivision, Crestlane Drive, asked the BZA to deny the request in the best interest of the local community. 

303 Gilliam Drive is a 3,200-square-foot building construction in 1977 as an office, he wrote. The real estate was purchased by the present owner in 1994 and has functioned as a business office since that time. 

He stated their request does not qualify as a special exception in a C-2 District and would remove an accepted business use in a commercial district. 

“Acceptance of the petition would expand a non-conforming occupancy in a structure that is not intended to function as residential housing,” he stated, in part. 

Marty Stephens, Deer Trail, submitted the same letter as Shively but with their name on it. 

Brandi Kitson, with Phil Hahn & Associates, the broker representative for the petitioner, Our Lady of Guadalupe, said the church is currently renting the building  and they want to be able to house the priest and any visiting priest. It also would provide meeting rooms as an extension of the church. Kitson said it would be less expensive to purchase the property than build new. 

The building, formerly used for Scott Financial Services, sits empty now. It is 3,200 square feet. Kitson said they were asking for the variance so they could finalize the purchase of the building by the church. 

City attorney Scott Reust mentioned that the BZA could put restrictions on the use variance, such as who could live there. Keeven said he liked the idea of restricting it to church personnel so it doesn’t become a “sanctuary city situation for illegal immigrants going through town or something.”

BZA member Jeff Johnson made a motion to approve the use variance with the restriction that anyone staying or living there must be a staff member of the church. Dalton seconded the motion and it was approved 5-0.