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Agricultural land preservation versus property rights.
Can the two issues reach a common ground?
Tuesday the Kosciusko County Commissioners held a joint meeting with the Area Plan Commission and the Board of Zoning Appeals to discuss the potential amendments to the county's zoning ordinances regarding preservation of agricultural land.
Any changes to the ordinances have to be initiated by the plan commission and approved by the commissioners. By having a joint meeting with the boards, the commissioners can have their input into any potential amendments.
Dan Richard, plan commission director, began Tuesday's joint meeting by saying the boards have been looking at the zoning ordinances for some time because of the encroachment of residences into agricultural areas.
And while the county's comprehensive plan tries to protect ag areas, the county's ordinances do not support the comprehensive plan well, he said.
The issues the county boards are discussing to get the plan and ordinances more in line with one another include the sell-offs of property to first-generation children after the parents owned the property for at least five years; changing the exempt acreage from 20 acres to as much as 40 or 80 acres; reducing by one the number of allowed sell-offs of a parcel of land as it stood in March 1975; and changing the Ag II rezoning requirements or getting rid of Ag II altogether.
According to part of the current Kosciusko County ordinance, a subdivision is defined as the division of any parcel of land shown as a unit prior to March 1, 1975, into four or more parcels. The division of land into parcels of 20 acres or more in size is not considered a subdivision under the current ordinances and is considered an exemption from the requirements of the ordinance.
An Ag II district allows for the development of some tracts of ground into low density, rural atmosphere residential subdivisions.
Dick Kemper, county surveyor and plan commissioner, said some of the surrounding counties don't require property to be rezoned before a residential subdivision goes up, allowing for a subdivision in ag-zoned areas. Richard said of the counties he talked to that don't require rezoning, they are thinking about changing their ordinances because of the problems they are having.
Vic Virgil, BZA and plan commission member, said he's in favor of "getting rid of Ag II."
County commissioner Ron Truex said he keeps hearing there's a need to get rid of Ag II. However, he said, while the boards need to move forward, they shouldn't over-react. According to statistics provided to him by the plan commission, Truex said, he doesn't see Ag II as the problem some are making it out to be. Ag II provides a buffer between residential and ag lands, he said. Any change the boards make, he said, must be positive.
"I support ag in this county as much as anyone," he said, but everyone must keep in mind that a person has a right to do with their property what they want. A person has the right to grow their most valuable crop, he said, whether that's "corn or housing."
Truex and plan commissioner Kelly Easterday then discussed who has more of a right - the person who wants to use 10 acres for a home or the farmer who is losing land to development. Truex said there is no easy answer.
Easterday said there are plenty of lots in subdivisions that aren't being occupied. Truex said "a lot of people don't want to live in subdivisions." He said the county has to be careful about telling people where they can live.
Easterday said the farm community isn't against growth but is concerned about houses being built out in the middle of ag land.
Truex countered that no one put a house out in farm land until a farmer sold it to them. On one hand, farmers say they are for ag preservation but on the other hand, they sell their property to people for homes. "You can't have it both ways," he said.
Kemper said he doesn't want the county to get to a point where the county tells a person if they're going to build a house, it has to be in a subdivision.
If a farmer wants to sell 20 acres for $60,000, BZA member Walter Church asked, "Do we have a right to tell him he can't do that?" All the farmers he talked to, he said, don't want the 20-acre exemption to change. Of course, he said he talked to the smaller farmers, not the large farm owners.
At the last plan commission meeting, Richard said, the commission came to the conclusion they want to solicit outside help to find a solution to the issues. But county commissioner Brad Jackson said a problem with that is the county would spend a bunch of money and get nothing in return that would help the county. "What works for one county, won't work for another," he said.
Most of those at the meeting agreed that if a person moves out to the country, they must accept the fact there will be ag business-related odors. If a person moves out to an ag area, they should have to sign a form stating they won't file a lawsuit against the ag business.
Kosciusko County, suggested Virgil, needs a land classification system to help determine what ground is best suited for ag land and what's good for development.
Mike Miner, the county's attorney, said if they are going to focus on how the county will develop, the end result has to look like it was a conscientious decision. The boards are making a decision for the whole county and they may need a broader input than what they have. Agricultural land, he said, may not be the only thing county residents want.
When Easterday asked where does the county proceed from the meeting, Richard said at the next plan commission meeting perhaps a recommendation to the commissioners from the plan commission can be made regarding the revision of the county's ordinances.
Truex concluded, "We've got to move ahead in a positive direction. We're not that bad where we're at."
Commissioners are Brad Jackson, Avis Gunter and Ron Truex. Members of the BZA are Walter Church, Bob Beer, Vic Virgil, Ron Sharp and Charlie Haffner. Plan commissioners are Kelly Easterday, Kevin McSherry, Norm Lovell, Vic Virgil, Richard Kemper, Barbara Carwile, Hal Strong, Don Arms and Charlie Haffner.
