Planners Balk At Zoning Change For Syracuse Utility Trailer-Maker
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Teresa [email protected]
Plan Commission member and County Councilwoman Charlene Knispel voted against the unfavorable recommendation.
The site, according to attorney Steve Snyder, was once McCormick Motors, then a junkyard, then Precision Marine - which sold used boats - and is now vacant.[[In-content Ad]]Conroy and Tanger want to use the property for light manufacturing. The switch to an I-2 zone allows outside storage. Snyder said screen fencing would be installed.
To the north, northeast and east, properties are zoned commercial. To the northwest, west and southwest, properties are zoned industrial.
Syracuse Town Manager Henry DeJulia appeared before the board saying this particular rezoning is not keeping with look the town wants to maintain along Ind. 13.
"It is important to keep commercial integrity intact," DeJulia said. "Our recommendation is not that it be rezoned, but to make an exception for use of the property as I-2 for this one business."
In a commercial zone, manufacturing is an excepted use. Small utility trailers will be built on the site, according to Area Plan Director Dan Richard.
It was further recommended the exception be for the business, not for the property owner. The business could proceed with new owners.
Snyder argued that this area in Syracuse has both commercial and industrial uses. To the south, property is used in an industrial fashion. Snyder did say the owners would be willing to go to the Syracuse Board of Zoning Appeals for an exception.
The final decision will go before the Syracuse Town Council at the council's March 20 meeting.
Hoss Hill developers requested a release of bond on the development north of Epworth Forest Road in North Webster.
They have met and satisfied the drainage plan, Richard said, however, Highway Superintendent Dennis Pletcher is concerned that the drawings do not look like the original plat.
A north-south swale along Hoss Hill road was somehow attached to the bond and drainage plan. The developers never altered it and it is not a part of the property.
Assistant surveyor Mike Kissinger agreed with this conclusion, saying a utility company altered the swale's path, but it is working and was there before the subdivision work began.
Richard said the bond shouldn't have been attached to the swale in the first place. The plan commission members approved the release of the bond.
Richard took the plan commission members back 10 years to the Jackson Heights development in Atwood, owned by Mike Jackson and Tonya Woodling.
The plan commission approved a preliminary plan in 1997 and accepted the plat without a bond. The bond was later filed and has since expired. The developers never came back to the plan commission for final approval, according to the records, although Vic Virgil and Dick Kemper did sign the plat.
Richard, as a matter of housekeeping, asked that the plat be approved for the minutes, which was approved.
The commissioners discussed a change in subdivision infrastructure approval procedures with Richard suggesting the developer's engineer certify the work "as it is."
Richard explained the highway department and surveyor's office representatives usually are not called until the work is done and all the pipes are covered. They have no way of knowing the depth, size or distance of pipes.
If the developer's hired engineer certifies the work, they have more opportunity to ensure requirements are met.
The board also:
n Discussed a change in right of way vacations. Currently, filings are made in the auditor's office, the plan commission sends notices to adjacent property owners and the commissioners hear the request.
A new procedure would be to file the request with the plan commission, the plan commission staff sends notices and hears the request, and forwards a recommendation to the commissioners.
In other business, the plan commission:
n Heard a joint meeting of plan commission committee members, redevelopment commission members and representatives from Warsaw, Silver Lake and Claypool regarding the "overlay project," rezoning along Ind. 15 is set for 10 a.m. Tuesday.
n Heard the commissioners and highway department are working on a change in street standards from curb and gutter back to side ditch and culverts in rural subdivisions.
n Heard the Department of Natural Resources wants to call group pier agreements, where parties pay for common pier space, a marina.
Larry Coplen referenced a lawsuit filed by the Wawasee Property Owners Association and other parties versus Wawasee Real Estate and Development and the DNR.
If all group piers are in fact marinas, sewage cleanout facilities would have to be installed.
Coplen called this a ridiculous interpretation, and said it will be discussed at the next state lake study committee.
Plan commission members are: Vic Virgil, Knispel, Charles Haffner, Kevin McSherry, Tony Etienne, Norm Lovell, Bob Conley, Coplen and Dick Kemper. Kemper was absent.
Plan Commission member and County Councilwoman Charlene Knispel voted against the unfavorable recommendation.
The site, according to attorney Steve Snyder, was once McCormick Motors, then a junkyard, then Precision Marine - which sold used boats - and is now vacant.[[In-content Ad]]Conroy and Tanger want to use the property for light manufacturing. The switch to an I-2 zone allows outside storage. Snyder said screen fencing would be installed.
To the north, northeast and east, properties are zoned commercial. To the northwest, west and southwest, properties are zoned industrial.
Syracuse Town Manager Henry DeJulia appeared before the board saying this particular rezoning is not keeping with look the town wants to maintain along Ind. 13.
"It is important to keep commercial integrity intact," DeJulia said. "Our recommendation is not that it be rezoned, but to make an exception for use of the property as I-2 for this one business."
In a commercial zone, manufacturing is an excepted use. Small utility trailers will be built on the site, according to Area Plan Director Dan Richard.
It was further recommended the exception be for the business, not for the property owner. The business could proceed with new owners.
Snyder argued that this area in Syracuse has both commercial and industrial uses. To the south, property is used in an industrial fashion. Snyder did say the owners would be willing to go to the Syracuse Board of Zoning Appeals for an exception.
The final decision will go before the Syracuse Town Council at the council's March 20 meeting.
Hoss Hill developers requested a release of bond on the development north of Epworth Forest Road in North Webster.
They have met and satisfied the drainage plan, Richard said, however, Highway Superintendent Dennis Pletcher is concerned that the drawings do not look like the original plat.
A north-south swale along Hoss Hill road was somehow attached to the bond and drainage plan. The developers never altered it and it is not a part of the property.
Assistant surveyor Mike Kissinger agreed with this conclusion, saying a utility company altered the swale's path, but it is working and was there before the subdivision work began.
Richard said the bond shouldn't have been attached to the swale in the first place. The plan commission members approved the release of the bond.
Richard took the plan commission members back 10 years to the Jackson Heights development in Atwood, owned by Mike Jackson and Tonya Woodling.
The plan commission approved a preliminary plan in 1997 and accepted the plat without a bond. The bond was later filed and has since expired. The developers never came back to the plan commission for final approval, according to the records, although Vic Virgil and Dick Kemper did sign the plat.
Richard, as a matter of housekeeping, asked that the plat be approved for the minutes, which was approved.
The commissioners discussed a change in subdivision infrastructure approval procedures with Richard suggesting the developer's engineer certify the work "as it is."
Richard explained the highway department and surveyor's office representatives usually are not called until the work is done and all the pipes are covered. They have no way of knowing the depth, size or distance of pipes.
If the developer's hired engineer certifies the work, they have more opportunity to ensure requirements are met.
The board also:
n Discussed a change in right of way vacations. Currently, filings are made in the auditor's office, the plan commission sends notices to adjacent property owners and the commissioners hear the request.
A new procedure would be to file the request with the plan commission, the plan commission staff sends notices and hears the request, and forwards a recommendation to the commissioners.
In other business, the plan commission:
n Heard a joint meeting of plan commission committee members, redevelopment commission members and representatives from Warsaw, Silver Lake and Claypool regarding the "overlay project," rezoning along Ind. 15 is set for 10 a.m. Tuesday.
n Heard the commissioners and highway department are working on a change in street standards from curb and gutter back to side ditch and culverts in rural subdivisions.
n Heard the Department of Natural Resources wants to call group pier agreements, where parties pay for common pier space, a marina.
Larry Coplen referenced a lawsuit filed by the Wawasee Property Owners Association and other parties versus Wawasee Real Estate and Development and the DNR.
If all group piers are in fact marinas, sewage cleanout facilities would have to be installed.
Coplen called this a ridiculous interpretation, and said it will be discussed at the next state lake study committee.
Plan commission members are: Vic Virgil, Knispel, Charles Haffner, Kevin McSherry, Tony Etienne, Norm Lovell, Bob Conley, Coplen and Dick Kemper. Kemper was absent.
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