PIERCETON – The Pierceton Town Council continued discussions on changing speed limits for a majority of the roads in town limits during its meeting Monday.
Town Marshal Jim Bumbaugh requested all town roads stay at 25 mph speed limits, with the exception of a few roads changing to 30 mph. Those include the entirety of Market Street, Arnolt Drive, Pequignot Drive and Matchette Drive; and Mill Street, from U.S. 30 to Grant and Keith streets.
Penalties for speeding motorists would be in accordance with Indiana code. Bumbaugh also requested engine braking be removed from the town's ordinance, stating that's not an issue the town sees.
Council approved an ordinance repealing engine braking enforcement in town. They also approved having Town Attorney Tammy Keirn draft an ordinance for the new speed limit changes to present at their May meeting.
Housing Considerations
The council also heard from multiple representatives for the Kosciusko Economic Development Corporation, Club 720 and Mission: B.U.I.L.D. about the prospect of additional housing in the Pierceton area. Representatives attended the meeting to introduce themselves to the council and to rekindle conversations prior council members had about possibly building properties west of Seventh Street.
Heather Presley-Cowen, Club 720's founder, said she and Ryan Twiss, Mission: B.U.I.L.D.'s chief strategy officer, have worked together on helping communities realize their market potential.
"Last week, we did a hard hat tour in Wabash on a development project," said Presley-Cowen. "Back in 2019, when we did an analysis, we learned Kosciusko County needs about 3,000 housing units over the next five years, if it's going to keep up with its own housing potential ... 1,880 units were needed outside of Warsaw in order to keep up with market potential, and Pierceton was scheduled to absorb about 10% of that."
Presley-Cowen said Club 720 would act as a countywide partner alongside KEDCO to get housing development projects started, with Mission: B.U.I.L.D. ensuring units get built.
"It goes from identifying a site and then making sure that site gets fully designed by the community and then implemented in this community-led, community-fed approach," said Presley-Cowen. "The idea is to really empower the community to accomplish its vision."
After the council approved its annual KEDCO services agreement, KEDCO CEO Peggy Friday said $5 million of the Orthopedic Industry Retention Initiative funds have been set aside for capital projects within Kosciusko County's small communities. The cap is $500,000 per project.
Citizen Comments
During the citizen comments section of the meeting, resident Annie Espinoza expressed concern with the town's park and recreation board not being involved in discussions about bathrooms being built at Brower Park.
"There's a big history about a bathroom being up at Brower Park," said Espinoza. "And it's not pretty, but it was something, and that's what the residents are talking about."
Stephanie Campbell asked what the downfall of bathrooms at Brower Park was. Espinoza said there had been previous discussion between Paragon Medical and the town's Chamber about who would handle cleaning the park's bathrooms if Paragon Medical offered to pay for building them in full.
Council member Matt Brubaker said the Pierceton Redevelopment Commission decided to build bathrooms at the park, not the council.
Upcoming Events
Council also heard about upcoming events, which include:
• May 10: Destination Pierceton; Pierceton Fire Department fish fry and Pierceton Christmas Committee pie sale
• 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 17: Pierceton Chamber of Commerce Annual Vintage Motorcycle Show in Brower Park
• June 13-14: townwide garage sale
• June 21: large trash pickup day
The council also:
• Approved annual agreements with Washington Township for the Pierceton Community Building and Pierceton-Washington Township Community Park.
• Approved amending the town's garage sale ordinance to state that garage sales held during the annual Pierceton townwide garage sale event, Pierceton Days, Destination Pierceton, and the Heirloom Tomato Festival do not count toward the maximum limit of garage sales a resident can host per year.
• Heard Town Superintendent Casey Boggs is looking to hire two new employees.
• Heard Clerk-Treasurer Myra Mast created a YouTube channel for the town, which will be used for livestreaming meetings when a new state law goes into effect July 1.
Council's next meeting is at 6:30 p.m. May 12.