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Property along West Market Street, once the site of four Little League baseball diamonds and the current location of Fribley Field, also has another classification.
After an Aug. 19 inspection by the Army Corps of Engineers, land inside of the property now is labeled as isolated wetland.
Because of the finding, Warsaw now will have to restore the area to wetland status or create a wetland elsewhere.
"The city was trying to clean up an unsightly area," Mayor Ernie Wiggins said. "Over the years, some cattails have grown in there. For whatever reason, it's now considered a wetland."
Following the Army Corps of Engineers' inspection, an investigator from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management also was called to examine the property. With the land now labeled as isolated wetland, IDEM is responsible for seeing the environment restored or relocated.
Before the inspections took place, Warsaw Street Department was called in to chop, grate and fill portions of the property. With the wetland now established, the city approved a contract Dec. 16 with JFNew, Walkerton, which will perform a delineation of the area and track all wetland boundaries.
Once this is completed, JFNew will work with the Army Corps of Engineers and complete all needed requirements.
Some city officials are frustrated with the matter, saying the city merely wanted to clean up a historically recreational area. Councilman Charlie Smith called the situation "ridiculous" during a Dec. 16 Board of Works meeting.
"We're trying to fix up an area that's nice for our youth and the residents of Warsaw," Smith said. "It wasn't on the wetlands map. I guess I'm not getting something."
City Planner Jeremy Skinner said Warsaw records contained no registry of the West Market location being any type of swamp-like area. But records available could be from the 1960s and 1970s and need updating, Skinner said.
"Over the past 20 to 30 years, it must have developed into a wetland," Skinner said. "History must not play into the classification of what that is.
"Certain situations call for compromise. But (IDEM) still makes you go through the process."
Wiggins said Rep. Dave Wolkins (R-Winona Lake) contacted him regarding the matter and assured him if the restoration process were completed, the city would face no additional penalties.
"This is not something to bring us to our knees," Wiggins said. "We'll restore what we have to. No good deed goes unpunished."
