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Three revision proposals to the Kosciusko County zoning ordinances went before the county commissioners again Tuesday from the Area Plan Commission.
The revisions had been tabled from the June 18 meeting.
This time around, however, one was approved, one was tabled and the third was denied.
Approved was a change in ordinance to allow for manufacturing to be an exception use in a commercial district. Any such exception will have to be approved by the Kosciusko County Board of Zoning Appeals.
Denied was the ordinance listing mailboxes, as defined, under the definition of a structure. The ordinance would have defined mailbox as a mail receptacle mounted upon a post that is either 6-inch by 6-inch wood, plastic breakaway posts or 2-1/2-inch diameter metal breakaway posts. The proposed ordinance was an attempt to curb the growing trend of mailboxes housed inside stone or other large structures.
The ordinance change the commissioners disagreed partly with would require the minimum size of lots without public sewer to be 20,000 square feet. Currently, 15,000 square feet is required.
"We've had a lot of input into this one," said area plan director Dan Richard to the commissioners. The county health board came to the plan commission, he said, asking for the increase in minimum lot size. The county's board of realtors is 100 percent behind the change and they heard no opposition to the increase in minimum lot size.
But commissioner Brad Jackson said that while he agrees the minimum lot size needs to be increased, he said he thought 20,000 was too much. He was more willing to accept 18,000 square feet, he said.
Other area counties, Richard said, require much larger minimum lot size.
Jackson said his main concern on the issue is land conservation and affordable housing. By increasing the minimum lot size, he said, more land will be needed to develop housing, negating land conservation, and people will have to spend more money on land for housing.
Commissioner Ron Truex said he needed more information and wanted to hear information from the county health board on why they want 20,000 square feet. He made a motion to table the ordinance revision, and the motion was unanimously approved.
In other business, the county commissioners:
• Approved an amount not to exceed $15,000 for removal of tile in the old Justice Building.
• Approved for a representative of the central dispatch center to attend a meeting July 18 on federal grant dollars available for dispatch centers.
• Approved $9,062.50 for a jury management system for the county clerk's office and signed the contract with NTS for the system.
• Approved a contract with Tee Jay Enterprise Solutions for computer consulting and technical assistance.
Commissioners are Avis Gunter, Ron Truex and Brad Jackson. They meet at 9 a.m. in the county courthouse every other Tuesday.
