Ninety-three two-bedroom housing units are being planned along Prosperity Drive east of Center Centre, but the development drew some questions from neighbors at the Warsaw Board of Zoning Appeals meeting Monday night.

Redwood Acquisitions LLC petitioned the BZA for a special exception to allow multi-family development in a Commercial-3 district along Prosperity Drive.

The board unanimously approved the request Monday after a hearing on it. Multi-family residential developments are permitted as a special exception in a C-3 zoning district.

City Planner Jeremy Skinner told the board Prosperity Drive was platted a few years back with the intent of it being for low-key commercial use such as commercial offices. “It has not materialized to date. The petitioner is looking to use this for residential. It will be a more dense residential, but it will be less significant than the C-3 commercial uses that would be permitted in terms of intensity of use,” he said. The area is heavily residential.

Skinner said the developer, Redwood Acquisitions, do a “higher level, in terms of development, and they have a lot of community initiatives as part of their developments like a dog park and things like that for their residents.”

Board member Tammy Dalton asked how many units Redwood was planning. Joshua Cribelar, with American Structurepoint, the engineering firm for the project, said 93 units were planned.

“All single-story, two-bedroom,” Cribelar said.

Several people who live near the property had questions and concerns.

Marsha Anderson, an adjoining property owner and realtor, asked how many phases the project would entail. Cribelar said one phase.

A woman who didn’t identify herself asked if they had homes in the region they could look at so they knew what to expect. Cribelar said they had homes in Fort Wayne, and Anderson said they could be found online and were “very attractive.”

Cribelar said each unit will have a garage.

Skinner said the setback lines would be 20 to 25 feet. “Keep in mind that this is a use request. The development standards are still the same across the board for the use that they are building, so the setbacks wouldn’t necessarily change.”

Anderson asked if the developer was going to build an earth mound with pine trees between the homes it was building and their residences.

Skinner said, “We do have buffer requirements per the zoning ordinance, but those requirements are separation of use. So, this is a residential use and they back up against a residential use, so there wouldn’t be a required buffer from residential use from residential use.”

“It’s not required, but it could be done out of good will by the developer,” Anderson said.

“It could be, but I wouldn’t see the point of a buffer. That would be like you having a buffer from your neighbor, having a 10-foot mound on the side of your house from your neighbor,” Skinner said.

Anderson then asked Cribelar for the length of the lease on the homes, and he said they would generally be a year. Pets would be allowed as there would be a dog park.

Board President Tom Allen later said, “This development will be better than what could be developed.”

Dalton said, “I drove back there and I think it’s a good use of the land. I make a motion that we approve this.”

Her motion was unanimously approved.

Other petitions approved by the BZA included:

• Alpheus and Lynae Eherenman’s petition for a variance to allow an accessory structure to exceed 18 feet in height at 1102 Ranch Road. The property is in a residential district.

Skinner said the structure would be 28 feet high, which is 10 feet taller than what the development standards allow, but still not be as tall as Eherenman’s primary structure.

There were no remonstrators against the petition.

Alpheus told the board the accessory structure that he is moving to his property was built about 1910 and he wanted to rebuild a barn for a garage.

• Vanessa Sparks’ petition for a use variance to allow a church in a Commercial-2 zoning district at 1202 E. Winona Ave.

Skinner said the property has been used off and on over the years for various uses. The property is designated as institutional which means the requested variance would not conflict with the land classification plan.

“I think it’s been used as a church and I don’t know that we’ve had any issues,” he said.

The planning department found out the property was being used as a church when representatives asked approval for a sign. That’s when Skinner told the church it had to get a use variance. As a church, he said it probably would have less traffic than what the commercial zoning district would allow.

The church has been using the property for three years, according to Beverly Brown, the owner of the property.

There were no remonstrators.

• David Barfell’s petition for a variance to permit a 3-foot front setback instead of the existing 20 feet in a Residential-3 district at 420 W. Pike St.

Skinner said the property is in an older neighborhood where older houses more often do not meet the setback standards.

“In terms of protecting what development standards may have been set for, for this neighborhood in the time that it was built, you don’t have the same issues you have with a new development,” he said.

He said the planning department “did an average, and I believe, the average would have given within 5 or 6 feet of what they were requesting, but we didn’t see any issue with allowing the additional setback.”

There were no remonstrators.

Barfell, the property owner, said he wanted to put a living room in the front of the home and a porch on the side.

The next BZA meeting will be Nov. 27.