All three variance requests before the Warsaw Board of Zoning Appeals were approved Monday with no remonstrators.
The first petition before the board was from Kristen Garcia in order to allow short-term childcare within a Commercial-4 zoning district at 119 S. Buffalo St.
City Planner Justin Taylor said Garcia requested a use variance to allow for short-term childcare within a C-4 zoning district. They will care for approximately 15 children at a time with each child staying no more than four hours. Hours of operation will be weekdays from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and weekends from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
If approved, Garcia will be required to adhere to any applicable state and local fire and building codes. There is a need for childcare in this community so this request would have a positive impact on the health and welfare of the community, he said. Since this building has shared walls, there is some concern about the potential impact on neighboring residents.
If concerns from residents and/or tenants of the building are addressed, the Planning Department’s opinion was that the request should be viewed favorably, Taylor said.
Garcia said the whole first floor of the building will be used, but the childcare portion will be in the back larger room. The front portion will be a café-style environment with work areas for working parents or remote workers, who would have the ability to use the childcare area for their children.
She said Indiana requirements state when taking care of children over a four-hour time frame, “then you would have to adhere to a lot of state codes and licenses.” Garcia said her plans are to have children supervised by staff for two or three hours, with no child staying more than four hours.
Garcia said parents are required to be onsite while their children are there.
Vice President Rick Keeven asked what the drop-off site would look like. Garcia said parents have to be in the building while the kids are there, so they would be walking in the building with their children.
Garcia said it isn’t like a normal daycare, so they wouldn’t have to provide food or sleeping spaces. There would be cameras in the area and there would various stipulations for workers, such as being at least 18 and going through background checks.
Keeven asked if this type of idea was popular. Garcia said not really. She said there’s nothing she’s seen that is offered similarly in this area. This is centered more for people who want to go out to lunch with a friend or remote workers.
The second petition was from The Beaman Home to allow a shipping container to be used for outside storage in a C-2 at 702 S. Buffalo St.
The Beaman Home requested a variance from development standards to allow a shipping container to be placed for outside storage at 702 S. Buffalo St. on the Lassus Handy Dandy lot. Mary Ann’s Place, owned by The Beaman Home, is located at 704 S. Buffalo St. on the neighboring parcel. There is an agreement between The Beaman Home/Mary Ann’s Place and Lassus to put a storage unit on the Lassus property, Taylor said.
Because of size constraints and the floodplain that encroaches on the petitioner’s parcel, it is not possible for additional storage to be placed on their property. The Beaman Home stated that they would like to place a shed for storage and will be looking into permanently acquiring property from 702 S. Buffalo St., Taylor said.
This location is not ideal for exterior storage because it does not have the character of an industrial district. It was the opinion of the Planning Department that if the variance was approved, there should be a limitation placed on the approval ending Jan. 30, 2026, he said.
Beaman Home Executive Director Renea Salyer said Mary Ann’s Place brings in donations and they have a small shed for items they cannot fit in at Mary Ann’s Place until they have room. They wanted a place they could store donations until they could bring it into the store.
Salyer said Beaman Home representatives talked to the Lassus representatives and this was the best option for them. The storage unit would be placed so trucks can get in and out of Lassus as needed.
Keeven asked if Beaman had thought of what they wanted to do past January 2026. Salyer said the storage unit could possibly be an ongoing agreement, but she would really like to find a better solution, like purchasing more land to build something for storage or accessing another building.
The board approved the variance with the stipulation it would end at the end of January 2026 with the agreement.
Taylor said, if necessary, Beaman can ask for another variance if it looks like there’s no other solution.
The last petition before the board was from Tyler Miller of Timber Rock Construction to allow contractor offices to be located with a C-4 zoning district.
Miller has a residential remodeling company and would like to relocate to 151 S. High St. If approved, the building will have office space as well as a showroom for customers. Miller said no outside storage or stockpiling will take place and they will not have any large construction vehicles parked on the site. Hours of operation will be 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, Taylor said.
Since the petitioner will have a showroom and will not be stockpiling materials or operating heavy machinery at this location, the Planning Department believed this variance could be viewed favorably.
Miller said they are currently ending their lease behind RightWay Auto Sales, Warsaw, and that location is half the size of the High Street location.