NORTH MANCHESTER - Campus upgrading is in the future for Peabody Retirement Home, North Manchester.

Plan commission members approved Peabody's final plat for campus renovations Monday.

The plan will include remodeling and rebuilding some existing buildings and constructing new buildings on property they have added on the west side of the campus extending to Beckley Street.

Dereck Frederickson, Engineering Resources, Fort Wayne, represented Peabody Home at last month's meeting. He presented a preliminary plat for their main campus as a planned unit development and entertained questions from board members.

Frederickson said Monday only a couple of "slight changes" were made to the plat since the presentation last month. Changes include upgrading a sidewalk to make sure emergency vehicles have access to all buildings on the campus and incorporating angled parking spaces in the parking lot. He said last month 207 parking spaces will be available at Peabody and only 168 are required. The number of parking spaces available is not altered by the angled parking spaces, he said Monday.

Tentative additions to the Peabody campus include a warm-water therapy pool, an arts and education center, a fitness center, a small deli, office space, a rehabilitation center and a physician's clinic. The warm-water therapy pool, fitness center and rehabilitation center will be available to the outside community, not just to Peabody residents, Jim Ransomer, executive director for Peabody Retirement Community, said last month.

A time frame for construction is not yet available.

After announcing plans in November to retire as North Manchester building commissioner, Bernie Ferringer followed through in December. Upon his retirement, Jack Ferguson was hired as Ferringer's replacement.

But at a council meeting Feb. 8, town manager Dan Hannaford announced that Ferguson resigned after only three days in his new position for "personal reasons."

Ferringer told plan commission members Monday Ferguson "decided not to take the job."

"I agreed that I would stay on as building commissioner," Ferringer said Monday. "I'll just try to do the best I can. The vacancy's still there if anyone comes forward."

Ferringer said the town is looking at hiring some part-time people to conduct building inspections.

The North Manchester Plan Commission includes: president Bill Hix, vice president Brad Yoder, James Garman, Dennis Ayres, Charles Tiede, Homer Hoover, Joanna Strode, Noah Smith and Laura Rager. Town manager is Dan Hannaford and building commissioner is Bernie Ferringer. [[In-content Ad]]