Continuing their education on local governmental procedures, the 25th class of the Kosciusko Leadership Academy met Tuesday at Zimmer's headquarters to hear presentations from several city and county planners.

Dan Richard, Kosciusko County Area Plan Commission director, began his discussion by focusing on the history of development in the county. According to Richard, one of the first towns to originate in the county was Oswego, because of its accessibility to stone and running water, two essentials for grain production. Communities then moved to areas with railroad systems, creating communities such as North Webster and Warsaw.

Eventually, a broader form of agriculture began to dominate the region, a situation Richard says is still "one of the strongest characteristics of our neighboring communities."

Over the decades, Richard said Kosciusko has always ranked high in both the state and nation in terms of agricultural production.

"We've always had the best conditions and materials for agricultural success," he said. "We're blessed with some of the best soils for production, but, with the growing populations, we need to make room for residential as best we can."

Richard said residential development takes up a majority of the public eye for the plan commission, something he wishes could be changed.

"One of the most frustrating parts of (our job) is variance and setback requests, but it takes up a majority of our time," Richard said. "I wish people could step back and look at the big picture. We're not just here to regulate properties, we're working towards a better overall community."

The Ind. 15 bypass project was touched on briefly, a long-term reconstruction with goals of allowing better organization and accessibility for the currently congested thoroughfare.

Richard called Indiana's Geographic Information System the "sliced bread" of the state's community planning. The GIS system, which will display overhead photographs of any properties inside of Indiana, has been a vital tool for the Kosciusko Plan Commission, allowing members to better understand all land discussed during commission meetings.

"We use any tool we can to better understand where the community is and where it needs to go," Richard said. "If you look at Warsaw in 1860, it looks frighteningly like it did in 1960. Everything seemed to stay the same for almost 100 years. The amount of change since then has been remarkable, and its greatly encouraging for our plan commission."

Syracuse Town Manager Jeff Noffsinger also presented to KLA members, discussing his role in Syracuse redevelopment and his previous role as the Warsaw city planner.

"We (city planners) are alot like basketball officials," Noffsinger said. "We make calls and half the people agree and half the people will argue with us. It's just part of the job."

Noffsinger discussed the need for improving the relationship between Warsaw and the rest of the county to allow for better overall Kosciusko planning.

He spoke of various projects he has been involved with, such as the Warsaw Greenway project, a goal to link much of the city through bike paths and recreational areas. Noffsinger also said he planned to reorganize the downtown area of Syracuse, by cleaning up the roadways to fix many traffic complications the town currently faces. A proposed rotary intersection has been discussed as well.

"This project could help alleviate many problems we currently face," Noffsinger said. "It could give Syracuse an identity and a face-lift."

One problem Noffsinger said he faces is a current situation with whether or not to annex various land surrounding Syracuse. By increasing the town's limits, Syracuse could collect larger tax revenues and have the ability to broaden funding to various departments.

"Honestly, we have what I like to call, 'freeloaders' around the towns," Noffsinger said. "Though they don't pay anywhere near the amount of taxes town residents do, they still take advantage of what the town offers. They work for local businesses, they take advantage of programs and they use parks and other public buildings. This isn't fair for anyone living in town who is paying the extra dollar amount."

During questioning, both Richard and Noffsinger said they wished to update their comprehensive plans to better serve their communities. By revising these plans, both believe they can use modified regulations to better tackle recent issues that have come to their attention.

Both encouraged KLA members to consider researching revisions for each plan commission as white paper projects. [[In-content Ad]]