Quaker Haven Camp Executive Director Brandon Dennis, right, speaks before the Kosciusko County Board of Zoning Appeals at its meeting on Tuesday, May 13, in the basement of the Kosciusko County Justice Building. InkFreeNews photo by Leah Sander.

By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — Quaker Haven Camp has the OK from the Kosciusko County Board of Zoning Appeals to make changes to its property according to the camp’s master plans.

At its meeting on Tuesday, May 13, the board heard from the camp’s executive director Brandon Dennis regarding the property south of Syracuse.

In introducing the measure, Kosciusko County Area Plan Commission Director Matt Sandy noted the board had two master plans on behalf of the camp’s foundation before them to consider for exceptions, one with “more immediate projects” and another “long-term” one.

Sandy said one of the planned changes at the camp was “a new main entrance coming off of (CR 900N).”

Dennis noted the immediate master plan applied to projects “in the next maybe two to five years.”

“We’d like to build two more youth camp cabins that are duplex-style cabins to get us 50 more beds to grow our youth camping program,” he said. “Because of the long-term plan of where we’d like to at some point put a new welcome center and dining hall, we want to bring a new entry road into the camp.”

“Some of what we are doing is for safety and security reasons, also to take some of that traffic away from the residential area adjacent to the camp, so that we can bring all of our traffic into the camp without driving past the neighbors’ homes,” said Dennis. “Some of the overall features of the master plan are greater security and safety for our youth campers as well as beginning to zone our camp where we have a youth camping zone in one area and retreats in another. We (hope to put in a new) RV camping area as well.”

He noted the second plan applied to projects “in the next 40 years or so,” including the welcome center and dining hall.

“I call it the 40-year, $40,000,000 plan, whichever comes first,” said Dennis.

He said the camp hoped to add two new cabins this year, with a pole barn for storage also in the works.

Board Chairman Lee Harman asked if Dennis had spoken with Kosciusko County Highway Department about the planned new entrance.

“I have not gotten the driveway permit yet from the highway department,” said Dennis.

He did add that one of his board members who’d worked for the Miami County Highway Department had advised on the location of the entrance “so there’s good visibility from both directions.”

Dennis noted he was to meet with Lilly Endowment on Wednesday, May 14, to discuss possibly getting a grant.

“They are investing $166,000,000 into residential youth camps in the state of Indiana next year,” he said. “We could actually qualify up to $6,000,000 for a capital improvement grant. So some of this might happen sooner than I ever thought it would.”

A neighbor, Jack Angel, did speak up before the board voted. He said he was supportive of the camp, but asked if trees could be planted near the new entrance and to block some of the new RV area from direct view.

Dennis noted there should be trees along the entrance and the RVs should also be obscured.

The board unanimously approved the plans.

At the meeting, the board also:

• Approved a variance request from Kristi Harkenrider to build a residence addition a little more than 18 feet from the right-of-way of the road at 10294 N. Beach Road, Syracuse.
• Continued a variance request from Mike Baur to its next meeting set to start at 9 a.m. Tuesday, June 10, in the basement of the Kosciusko County Justice Building. That’s related to Baur needing a survey of and inspection of his property at 8665 E. Wesley Lane, North Webster, before then.
• Denied a variance request from James Neely to put a detached garage 12 feet from the north right-of-way and 24 feet from the east right-of-way at 8989 N. 300E, Syracuse, due to the safety concerns connected to the busy road it was next to.
• Approved a variance request brought by Joshua Wallace regarding sheds on his property at 6671 N. First Trail, North Webster. The board asked that Wallace just move the sheds to match a tree line.
• Approved an exception putting Don Dickerhoff as a joint operator of a home-based gun sales business with Philip Fozo and Dickerhoff as primary occupant of the residence on the west side of CR 275E and south of Wilcox Road in Wayne Township in an agricultural 2 district.
• Approved an exception brought by Brown-Clase Corp. allowing existing improvements and trailers to remain as placed within a seasonal campground in an agricultural district at 511 W. 400S, Warsaw, provided that new trailers are 20 feet from the water’s edge at Muskellunge Lake and 10 feet from each other.
• Approved a variance from Rob Glasper permitting a deck to be seven feet to the road, stairs to be replaced and a shed to be replaced 2.5 feet to an adjacent home and one foot to the south shed at 56 EMS B15 Lane, Pierceton.
• Approved a variance request from Todd Price to put an attached garage addition near the right-of-way of the road at 125 EMS T15 Lane, Leesburg, as long as it’s 20 feet back instead of the 17 feet he originally wanted.
• Approved a variance from Robert Hoffer permitting a second-story residence addition and garage addition 13 feet from the right-of-way of the road at 8190 E. Cassandra Drive, Syracuse.
• Approved a variance from Bryan Garlotte permitting an attached garage 4.6 feet from the right-of-way of the road at 109 N. Mulberry St., North Webster.
• Continued a variance request from Corwin Hendricks for a new home around 20 feet from the right-of-way of Mulberry Street, around 12 feet from the right-of-way of South Street and around 14 feet from the water’s edge at 219 S. Mulberry St., North Webster to its June 10 meeting as the board had concerns about the replacement of a nearby bridge.
• Approved a request from a Chris Staley to have 100% unscreened storage and display at his LexLil Contracting business at 515 S. First St., Pierceton, as long as trees which are currently planted are maintained along the north line of the property and trees are added to shield the property visible from SR 13.