Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
When the Kosciusko County Area Plan Commission denies a petition, the petitioner can still have it approved by the county commissioners.
The plan commission is only a recommending board to the commissioners.
After Floyd Allan Study was denied his petition Wednesday to rezone 20 acres from an Agricultural district to an Agricultural II district, Study said he had no intention of being at the commissioners meeting and accused the plan commission of playing favorites.
"It's all about clout," Study shouted at plan commission members. "That's all it is."
The 20-acre property Study wanted rezoned is on the south side of CR 150S and 1,960 feet west of Ind. 25 in Wayne Township. There were no remonstrators to his petition.
The property is adjacent to another 10 acres Study owns that he said is already zoned Ag II, though the plan commission did not have that in their information. Study's property is surrounded by subdivisions in Ag II-zoned areas.
Study said he isn't ready to do anything with the property, but may try to sell it off four or five acres at a time.
Plan Commission Director Dan Richard told him there were several items the board looks at when deciding to allow a rezoning to Ag II. He said they look at compatibility, the planned road system and soil types. Richard said Study's property is good crop land.
Study said that when the Anglin farm adjacent to his property was sold, he could have bought the low ground but didn't. Instead, he chose to buy the better high ground. He said it was the best land to build a house on.
Plan commission president Vic Virgil said, "That's your problem. What you have is good land for crop production."
In other business, the plan commission unanimously approved Heritage Group's petition for a preliminary plat approval for a residential subdivision on a 40-acre tract of ground. The property is on the north side of CR 200S, east and west of County Farm Road in Wayne Township. Effective Jan. 2, the property will be annexed into Warsaw.
The board also unanimously continued Daniel Blevins' petition to rezone 32 acres from an Agricultural district to an Agricultural II district. The property is on the north side of Old Road 30, west of CR 450E, in Washington Township.
Blevins did not attend the meeting. A remonstrator asked the board to keep the property as it is.
The Area Plan Commission meets at 1 p.m. the first Wednesday of every month in the courthouse.
