Winona Planners Propose Moratorium On ‘Funneling’
May 2, 2018 at 8:29 p.m.
WINONA LAKE – The Winona Lake Plan Commission had a short list of issues to discuss Tuesday evening, but it only took action on one – funneling.
Building Commissioner Gene Seiman said funneling “refers to the division of lots where they’re cut into very thin strips, and where it occurs most frequently is for access into one of the waterways.”
By the end of the half-hour discussion on the matter, Plan Commission Vice Chair Jill Serbousek made a motion to put a moratorium on funneling. Her motion, which was unanimously approved, was to “place an immediate moratorium on any division of a lot that is smaller than what is acceptable for a single-family dwelling, whereas the divided lot would be less than 15,000 square feet and/or 90 feet of lot. Any request of a smaller lot would be subject to (Board of Zoning Appeals) approval.”
Town Coordinator Craig Allebach directed town attorney Jim Walmer to put together an ordinance based on the motion for the town council’s approval.
Seiman started the discussion on funneling by mentioning that the city of Warsaw has an ordinance on the matter. Up until about 1½ years ago, he said Winona Lake didn’t have any funneling that he was aware of.
“Then I was approached by someone who owned a lot out in the Southtown area who said, ‘I’ve got a big lot, but I don’t want to use the whole lot to get down to the channel so I can run my boat in. I don’t have a residence on the property. Can I cut a little slice off?’” he recalled.
Seiman said he checked the regulations and the town had no restrictions as far as dividing lots so he told the man he could. The man told him he was just going to cut off 15 feet to give him access and no one would know it’s there, which Seiman thought was “reasonable.”
“Next thing I know is that he sold at 15 feet a whack the entire lot. So now we have about 12 15-foot strips going from one of the Southtown roads into one of the channels. We have absolutely no control over what’s stored on those lots, which means they could be pontoon storage, multiple pontoon storage. There’s no division ordinance, and I don’t think that’s really what Southtown people wanted – a series of 15-foot strips to accommodate a whole lot of people that have access to Winona Lake now,” Seiman said.
Allebach showed the plan commission a map of property with funneling near the intersection of Eastwood and Southfield Roads on Snake Island.
“We’re vulnerable to that happening a lot, believe me,” Seiman said. “There’s a lot of people that are constantly trying to find a creative way to use Snake Island property because it’s either in the water-restricted areas or the FEMA-type areas where this is a use for that property.”
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Seiman said Warsaw is more restrictive than Winona Lake because Warsaw will only allow a lot to be divided three times over the life of the lot.
Seiman brought up other things he’d like to see addressed: Airbnb; cars, trailers and boats stored on lots; parking; and on-site storage of commercial items.
Seiman said the Airbnb issue could take longer to address. Allebach handed out the city of Carmel’s ordinance on the rental units, adding that there is state statute on what can and cannot be done regarding ordinances. He said Carmel and the state are going back and forth on the issue because Carmel says its ordinances should be grandfathered in because they were passed before the state statutes were passed.
Regarding on-site storage of commercial items, Seiman said there are three locations in town where that’s a problem – Robson Road, and Oak Hill and Kings Highway, both on Winona Avenue. The commission specifically mentioned ABC Industries and Collier’s. They said the Colliers might have outgrown its property, but they don’t want to chase it out of Winona Lake either.
With cars, trailers and boats stored on lots, Seiman said the town has policies that govern portions of other things like construction trailers, but he’s starting to see an increase in the number of vehicles stored on lots. He said the plan commission may want to take a look at that issue.
As for parking, he said 20 feet is not enough space and said the board may want to consider 25 feet being the minimum space for a parking space. Plan Commission members later said changing the parking space size now could have drastic effects and they weren’t in favor of increasing the minimum size to 25 feet. They were OK with painting divisions to identify parking spaces.
Allebach also gave the plan commission an update on the town’s comprehensive plan. The town council previously approved Michiana Area Council of Governments (MACOG) to be the consultant on the plan.
The plan will help the town decide where it wants to go in the next five to 10 years.
Allebach said it’s anticipated that the plan would be completed about a year from now, with the better part of this year putting it together.
Surveys, public meetings, and input from various boards and community members are planned for this summer.
In other business:
• The commission elected Dave Turner as chair and Serbousek as vice chair. Town Clerk-Treasurer Kent Adams serves as secretary.
• Allebach announced an executive session with the plan commission and town council is at 7 p.m. May 15, and another plan commission meeting is at 4:30 p.m. May 24.
WINONA LAKE – The Winona Lake Plan Commission had a short list of issues to discuss Tuesday evening, but it only took action on one – funneling.
Building Commissioner Gene Seiman said funneling “refers to the division of lots where they’re cut into very thin strips, and where it occurs most frequently is for access into one of the waterways.”
By the end of the half-hour discussion on the matter, Plan Commission Vice Chair Jill Serbousek made a motion to put a moratorium on funneling. Her motion, which was unanimously approved, was to “place an immediate moratorium on any division of a lot that is smaller than what is acceptable for a single-family dwelling, whereas the divided lot would be less than 15,000 square feet and/or 90 feet of lot. Any request of a smaller lot would be subject to (Board of Zoning Appeals) approval.”
Town Coordinator Craig Allebach directed town attorney Jim Walmer to put together an ordinance based on the motion for the town council’s approval.
Seiman started the discussion on funneling by mentioning that the city of Warsaw has an ordinance on the matter. Up until about 1½ years ago, he said Winona Lake didn’t have any funneling that he was aware of.
“Then I was approached by someone who owned a lot out in the Southtown area who said, ‘I’ve got a big lot, but I don’t want to use the whole lot to get down to the channel so I can run my boat in. I don’t have a residence on the property. Can I cut a little slice off?’” he recalled.
Seiman said he checked the regulations and the town had no restrictions as far as dividing lots so he told the man he could. The man told him he was just going to cut off 15 feet to give him access and no one would know it’s there, which Seiman thought was “reasonable.”
“Next thing I know is that he sold at 15 feet a whack the entire lot. So now we have about 12 15-foot strips going from one of the Southtown roads into one of the channels. We have absolutely no control over what’s stored on those lots, which means they could be pontoon storage, multiple pontoon storage. There’s no division ordinance, and I don’t think that’s really what Southtown people wanted – a series of 15-foot strips to accommodate a whole lot of people that have access to Winona Lake now,” Seiman said.
Allebach showed the plan commission a map of property with funneling near the intersection of Eastwood and Southfield Roads on Snake Island.
“We’re vulnerable to that happening a lot, believe me,” Seiman said. “There’s a lot of people that are constantly trying to find a creative way to use Snake Island property because it’s either in the water-restricted areas or the FEMA-type areas where this is a use for that property.”
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Seiman said Warsaw is more restrictive than Winona Lake because Warsaw will only allow a lot to be divided three times over the life of the lot.
Seiman brought up other things he’d like to see addressed: Airbnb; cars, trailers and boats stored on lots; parking; and on-site storage of commercial items.
Seiman said the Airbnb issue could take longer to address. Allebach handed out the city of Carmel’s ordinance on the rental units, adding that there is state statute on what can and cannot be done regarding ordinances. He said Carmel and the state are going back and forth on the issue because Carmel says its ordinances should be grandfathered in because they were passed before the state statutes were passed.
Regarding on-site storage of commercial items, Seiman said there are three locations in town where that’s a problem – Robson Road, and Oak Hill and Kings Highway, both on Winona Avenue. The commission specifically mentioned ABC Industries and Collier’s. They said the Colliers might have outgrown its property, but they don’t want to chase it out of Winona Lake either.
With cars, trailers and boats stored on lots, Seiman said the town has policies that govern portions of other things like construction trailers, but he’s starting to see an increase in the number of vehicles stored on lots. He said the plan commission may want to take a look at that issue.
As for parking, he said 20 feet is not enough space and said the board may want to consider 25 feet being the minimum space for a parking space. Plan Commission members later said changing the parking space size now could have drastic effects and they weren’t in favor of increasing the minimum size to 25 feet. They were OK with painting divisions to identify parking spaces.
Allebach also gave the plan commission an update on the town’s comprehensive plan. The town council previously approved Michiana Area Council of Governments (MACOG) to be the consultant on the plan.
The plan will help the town decide where it wants to go in the next five to 10 years.
Allebach said it’s anticipated that the plan would be completed about a year from now, with the better part of this year putting it together.
Surveys, public meetings, and input from various boards and community members are planned for this summer.
In other business:
• The commission elected Dave Turner as chair and Serbousek as vice chair. Town Clerk-Treasurer Kent Adams serves as secretary.
• Allebach announced an executive session with the plan commission and town council is at 7 p.m. May 15, and another plan commission meeting is at 4:30 p.m. May 24.