Groups Petition To Add Chapman, Tippecanoe Lakes To Sewer District
Posted
Tim Robertson-trobertson@timesuniononline.com
Two area property owner groups asked the Kosciusko County Commissioners today to carry petitions to the Lakeland Regional Sewer District board of trustees asking the board to include their lake areas in the recently formed sewer district.
If approved, the LRSD, which currently encompasses the Barbee lake chain region, also would include the Chapman and Tippecanoe lakes areas and serve nearly 5,000 properties. Chapman Lakes area resident Dan Lee told the commissioners the additions would make the LRSD one of the largest regional sewer districts in the state.
Lee, representing property owners calling themselves the Chapman Lakes Environmental Watch, and David Tyler, representing a group identified as the Lakeland Environmental Task Force of Lake Tippecanoe, presented the petitions to the commissioners today. Because neither group is a political entity, as required by Indiana law, they asked the commissioners to present the petitions to the LRSD board.
Both lake groups included maps and descriptions in their petitions identifying the areas around their lakes proposed for inclusion in the LRSD. According to a press release, the Chapman Lakes group included properties around both Big Chapman and Little Chapman lakes, but the areas do not adjoin the LRSD district on the east. The Tippecanoe Lakes is adjacent to the current LRSD. It includes Tippecanoe, Oswego and James lakes properties.
In addition to annexation of their areas to the LRSD for central sewage disposal, both petitions asked that a representative for each area be appointed to represent them on the LRSD.
The commissioners tabled a decision on whether to carry the petitions until their Oct. 28 meeting. Commissioner Ron Truex said that will give the commissioners time to hear input from the public. If the LRSD board accepts the new areas, they will have to request a change in district boundary from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.
The LRSD currently includes property south of Armstrong Road and CR 500N; west of Ind.13; north of South Barbee Road; east of CR 650E; north of McKenna Road and CR 400N; east of CR 457E. The district is located around the lakes in the Barbee chain, including Kuhn, Big Barbee, Little Barbee, Irish, Sechrist, Sawmill, Banning and Shoe.
