Instead of petitioning the Kosciusko County Area Plan Commission to rezone their property on Packerton Road to an Ag II District, Doyle and Elaine Munson withdrew their petition Wednesday.

Instead they will petition to have it rezoned residential at the Nov. 7 meeting. The property is on the east side of Packerton Road, north and south of CR 375S in Wayne Township.

Last month the plan commission unanimously recommended to the Kosciusko County commissioners that the rezoning to Ag II be denied. However, last week the county commissioners sent it back to the plan commission for further review.

Commissioner Brad Jackson, at the plan commission meeting Wednesday, said, "I really wrestled with the issue." He said if they don't rezone the property, it is agricultural land that will go out of production anyway, so agriculture land preservation is not an issue in this case. If they approve the rezoning, he said, the county has a chance to seize the opportunity to see that the property is developed according to the subdivision control ordinances.

Plan commission member Hal Strong said the Land Evaluation Site Assessment score for the property is high. Plan Commission director Dan Richard said LESA is a program to give the plan commission guidance on making a decision. LESA is not a tool to hang their decisions on, however. LESA looks at the physical characteristics of the land and the compatibility of the rezoning with the area.

"This one was very high because the same attributes that make it attractive to residential development also make it attractive for agriculture," said Richard.

Commission chair Vic Virgil said the people who set up LESA 25-30 years ago were interested in preserving agriculture land. Virgil said Ag II makes the county accept lots that are a minimum of one acre.

"I hate Ag II," said Virgil. "I'm ready to throw it out." He said most people don't want an acre nowadays because it's too much land.

Steve Snyder, representing the Munsons, said Ag II is not an agriculture zone, it's residential. He said instead of Ag II it should have been labeled "suburban residential" as it is in other counties. All of Wayne Township, he said, is going to eventually be residential.

"The underlying tone of the commissioners' hearing," Snyder said, "was, this is an opportunity, let's grab it." If the county doesn't approve the rezoning, the property could become a hodgepodge of sell-offs.

Kosciusko County Highway Department Superintendent and Engineer Rob Ladson said rezoning the property would give the county the opportunity to make sure the property is developed under the county's control. If they rezone it, the county can require interior roads and controlled access points.

"I have to agree that this might be the chance to grab it," said Ladson. Growth is going to happen to the area, he said, and the county needs to promote growth, but it needs to be wisely controlled growth.

Strong said he could live with rezoning to residential anything within a couple of miles of Warsaw and not call it spot zoning. He said he would be in favor of the Munsons withdrawing their petition and bringing it back to be rezoned as residential.

Snyder said his clients would be more than happy to do so.

County commissioner Avis Gunter told the plan commission she would rather see a farm "done in a good fashion rather than the way the farm is done next to me." The farm next to her, she said, was broken up into five acres here, seven acres there, 10 acres here. "That's terrible. I can't see a farm done that way."

The plan commission unanimously voted to let the petition be withdrawn so it can be petitioned next month to be rezoned residential.

In other business, the plan commission:

• Due to a lack of a majority vote either way, continued Sycamore Fields LLC's petition for a preliminary plat approval for an Ag II development on 26.214 acres. The property is on the corner of CR 450N and Sullivan Road (CR 650E) in Tippecanoe Township.

• Dropped Bruce Cavell's petition for a preliminary plat approval for a residential development. The property is on the south side of CR 500N and 620 feet east of Ind. 13 in Tippecanoe Township.

The petition has been bumped along several times since it was first filed in March, Richard said, but now Cavell is no longer actively pursuing it.

• Approved the replat of lots one and two in Sawgrass Estates, Armstrong Road.

According to Richard, the plan commission already approved the final plat for the section that includes the two lots, but the developer, Dave Carey, wanted to replat the lots into lots A and B with more specifics to address retention and drainage concerns.

• Approved the final plat for the remainder of Sawgrass Estates.

Members of the plan commission are Dick Kemper, Charlie Haffner, Hal Strong, Norm Lovell, Vic Virgil, Don Ahrms, Barbara Carwile, Kevin McSherry and Kelly Easterday. They meet at 1 p.m. in the Kosciusko County courthouse, Warsaw, on the first Wednesday of every month. [[In-content Ad]]