MILFORD - When it comes to variances, exceptions and rezonings, sometimes not everyone is happy with the rulings by the Kosciusko County Area Plan Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals.

Recently, the Milford Town Council and town officials have been voicing their displeasure with the boards' decisions that affect Milford. They say not only do they want more consistency with the boards' decisions, but also more control.

Monday, attorney Richard Helm discussed options and ideas with the town council on how the town can solve their complaints with the county boards.

If the town wants its own plan commission to rule on variances and exceptions, not only would the town need to provide its own staff, but would also need people to serve on the boards. As for rezonings, the town, as the legislative body, already has the final say.

If the town just wants more input over variances and special exceptions, the town needs to have a spokesperson at the meetings.

"You have every right to send a letter," said Helm, and the BZA normally takes those into account. However, he said, instead of just saying whether the town is for or against a petition, the council needs to state its reasoning.

Utilities superintendent Dallas Winchester asked if the town could stay with the plan commission but have its own BZA. Helm said that although Syracuse does, they were able to do so because of being grandfathered in. If Milford wants to do that, they'd have to go through several hearings and resolutions. The town council cannot serve as the BZA either and would need five people to serve willingly on the board on a regular basis.

Another option, Helm said, is for the community to set up their own subset of requirements for variances and exceptions different from the county's requirements. The subset of requirements also could provide different requirements for different areas of town.

The process for changing requirements for Milford includes the legislative body first making proposals and then sending them on to the area plan commission. The plan commission would then make its comments and send them back to the town council. The town council would have final say. Anything the town wants to do about changes, Helm said, will require some hard work, study and diligence on the part of the town, but he said he'd be glad to help them with the process.

Lehman said the biggest problem the town has with the county boards is their lack of consistency. [[In-content Ad]]