Purity Cylinder Gases Inc. is making some changes to its property at 1638 Armstrong Road, Warsaw, and to do that the company had to seek approval for three variances Monday from the Warsaw Board of Zoning Appeals.
On the first petition, Warsaw Assistant City Planner Jackson Longenbaugh said Purity was seeking a variance from development standards to allow a smaller-than-required green space in an Industrial-II zoning district.
“With added concrete and a new loading dock location in the rear of the property, there is not enough green space to meet those requirements by the state code,” he said. “The new plan adds concrete to the front of the property for additional parking and better access to the rear. The concrete in the rear of the property accommodates the new loading dock location. The current condition has 28% green space, and the proposed plan has 9% green space.”
Longenbaugh said it was the opinion of the Warsaw Planning Department that the variance be approved because of little impact to public safety and morals, “and the hardship created by the strict application of the zoning ordinance is still subject to engineering review to ensure proper stormwater management.”
Aaron Carl, engineer for Purity Cylinder Gases, said on the green space requirements, “One of the things we’re going to do to compensate for that is we’re actually going to provide stormwater quality to the site.” He said they’re going to make sure the erosion will be less than what it needs to be so that it compensates for the green space.
BZA Vice President Rick Keeven said it was his understanding that the biggest concern for the neighbors was the view. He asked if there was going to be a berm again on the property.
Carl said they’re going to remove the berm and put up a privacy fence. On top of the berm now are some tall trees. The same kind of trees will be put along the 6-foot fencing to provide the same screening. If they can’t transplant the current trees to the new location, Carl said they’ll plant new ones and they grow pretty quickly.

    Warsaw Mayor Jeff Grose (R) gives Dave Baumgartner the oath of office Monday at the start of the Warsaw Board of Zoning Appeals meeting. Looking on in back is Board President Tammy Dalton and Vice President Rick Keeven. Other board members, present but not pictured, are Dan Smith and Jeff Johnson. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union
  

Board President Tammy Dalton mentioned she drove by the site Monday and it was “so clean up there” and respectful to the neighbors.
Carl said another thing that will be happening with the project is that all the loading docks in the front of the building will be removed and loading docks will only be in the back to meet the new ordinance.
Neighbor Cindy Holler, who lives on Dot Street, said their biggest concern was the shrubbery and the view. “If that’s removed, we’re going to have Purity Gas in our back yard. They’ve been very respectful to the neighborhood, we’ve not had any issues or complaints, it’s just we’re concerned with the noise that will be added if you’re adding more vehicles that will be coming and going,” she said.
She also stated they were told by their neighbors that the berm would be removed and not replaced, but it sounded like something would replace the berm there. Holler said they were concerned about high how the privacy fence would be because right now the only thing they see is about 2 feet of the top of the Purity building.
“We don’t want to look out our window and see trucks driving back and forth,” she said. “And we were also told that there was a new drive going in that would run by the chainlink fence that is there now, so we concerned with that being so close to the property.”
A representative of Purity said there will be no changes to the west side of the property.
The BZA approved the variance for the smaller green space.
The next petition from Purity Cylinder Gases that Longenbaugh presented was for a variance from development standards to allow a smaller-than-permitted landscape buffer in an Industrial-2 zoning district.
Longenbaugh said, “Since the loading dock is being relocated to the rear of the property, there is a need for more space for trucks to maneuver. This current site has a 25-foot landscape buffer, which meets city code, and the proposed plan, I think, is roughly like 9 to 10 feet if I read the measurements correctly.”
He said it was the opinion of the Planning Department that this variance for a smaller landscape buffer be approved at 1638 Armstrong Road because of the little impact. He suggested a stipulation be added that there be an 8-foot continuous hedge to guarantee privacy and proper screening for adjacent residential properties. The additional privacy fence was a great step by the petitioners, he noted.
After some discussion about the fencing and trees, the board approved the variance request with the stipulation that there be a 6-foot privacy fence and a continuous hedge, about 6 to 8 feet high, from property line to property line.
The last variance petition from Purity was to allow gravel as a paving material on the property.
Longenbaugh said the petitioner is increasing their gravel usage and asking to maintain that as a paving solution since they’ve done so for quite some time.
Since the petitioner is currently maintaining gravel, he said is the opinion of the Planning Department that this variance be approved at 1638 Armstrong Road with the condition of a 20-foot concrete apron at the west entrance to the property to keep the gravel contained.
That variance petition also was unanimously approved.
The petition from Park Ridge South LLC for variance from development standards to allow a 5-foot by 7-foot sign in a Residential-1 zoning district at 3015 Hemlock Lane was tabled to the Oct. 28 BZA meeting.
At the start of the meeting, Warsaw Mayor Jeff Grose gave the oath of office to Dave Baumgartner as the newest member of the board. Baumgartner, who is the Area Plan Commission’s representative to the BZA, replaces Bob Coffelt, who moved out of the area.