Pictured, from left, are Kosciusko County Area Plan Commission Members Matt Goodnight and Bob Conley. InkFreeNews photo by Liz Adkins.

By Liz Adkins
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — The Kosciusko County Area Plan Commission denied a rezoning request for six acres in an agricultural district southeast of Winona Lake during a Wednesday, March 5, meeting.

Attorney Scott Reust with Rockhill Pinnick attended the meeting on behalf of the petitioners, Ben and Danielle Barkey. The Barkeys requested permission from the APC to rezone six acres from agricultural to residential south of East Wilcox Road, east of South CR 350E, Warsaw.

Reust said the Barkeys were looking to make the acreage into two residential lots, with one being a 1.4-acre site and the other being a 3.65-acre building site.

“That corner’s a wooded drain,” said Reust about the property. “There’s a significant amount of residential (properties) across the road. I don’t think it’s going to impact agriculture being that wooded drain.”

Reust said soil samples for the second proposed lot had not been collected yet, as the Barkeys were waiting on rezoning approval before doing so.

APC Vice-President Kevin McSherry asked Reust if the Barkeys had considered building covenants.

“Likely the proposed covenants will be the same as ones they had in place for lots that are north of Wilcox Road they set forth with those when they were sold,” said Reust.

Five neighbors to the property attended in remonstrance of the Barkeys’ proposal.

Don Zolman, a local farmer, noted Cherry Creek, which is within the acreage and runs out of Wyland Lake and feeds into Winona Lake. Wyland Lake is northeast of the acreage in question. Zolman presented APC members with data on E. coli levels in the area over the last three years.

“This proposed development, the drainage ditches that come through Wyland Lake … drain thousands of acres of farmland,” said Zolman. “It’s imperative the county be able to maintain that drainage. Any septic going into that area is going to contribute to the E. coli levels that are feeding into Winona Lake. We need to do what we can to protect that resource.”

Zolman also questioned the soils data for the acreage, saying the soils in the area are not good for septic systems.

Clay Johnson and his father, Tim, own a third of Wyland Lake and expressed concerns with the Barkeys potentially focusing on continuing to create residential lots around the lake.

“Our concern is they’ve exhausted all their building lots, they’re going after more, and what’s to stop them from … doing it on the other side and going around the lake?” asked Clay. “They just keep coming back for more.”

Mike Flenar resides in the area and said he did not want to see the acreage become a residential area. He noted two of his neighbors had built houses on lots the Barkeys had sold near Wyland Lake. Flenar said one of the property owners had to haul in approximately $12,000 worth of dirt to build his house. Another resident who built a house had issues with his basement flooding.

Carolyn Kern lives just south of the acreage.

“When we purchased that, according to the realtors, we were told that all of the allotments were sold and that there wasn’t the ability to build anything near us,” said Kern. “That possibility is very concerning. Also, we would lose a lot of the wildlife we see there. I would hate to lose that.”

Kosciusko County Surveyor Jim Moyer, who also serves as a technical advisor to the county’s drainage board, said the acreage should remain an agricultural area.

“The drainage board is not supportive of reducing the setbacks for construction,” said Moyer. “I don’t support rezoning it.”

APC Member Doug Ruch voiced his support for Moyer’s decision. All APC members with the exception of Matt Goodnight voted to not rezone the acreage. This proposal will now go forward to the Kosciusko County Commissioners for a final decision.