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A property owner sold more property (zoned agricultural) than allowed under Kosciusko County ordinances and because the plan commission caught it, the property owners sought to rezone the property from an agricultural district to a residential district Wednesday.
The property is on the south side of Bowser Road and west of CR 300E in Van Buren Township.
Attorney Loren Sloat, representing petitioners Stanley and Melody Rensberger, said, "It may be a situation of how you count lots."
The entire parcel, he said, was never larger than 20 acres in 1975. In 1993, the original owner sold two parcels from the 20 acres to the Rensbergers on one deed, though there were two different legal descriptions.
In 1994, Sloat said, the original property owners sold a parcel to a third party for a third split. Only three sell-offs are allowed for agriculturally-zoned property. With the three sell-offs, there were then four parcels, none of which was more than 20 acres.
In 1999, one of the parcels was sold in an auction, which the Rensbergers bought. The Rensbergers owned almost all of the original 20 acres but a corner, and there were still four parcels.
Wanting to relocate, the Rensbergers decided to sell the property, Sloat said. The property was listed with a realty company.
"It appears that there was a certain amount of conversation," said Sloat, "between the realtor, the (Rensbergers' former) attorneys and the plan commission without going through the subdivision control ordinance." He said at one point, it appeared it was OK for two acres to be sold.
"Now (at that point), we've got five (parcels)," said Sloat. Then this year, Sloat said, parcel four was sold and closed and then parcel five was sold and closed - for a total of seven parcels.
When a new parcel owner tried to get a building permit, that's when the plan commission realized there were too many sell-offs. The plan commission legally recognizes only three of the parcels.
"Easiest way, it seems, to address the problem is rezone it to residential and proceed with an orderly development of the property," said Sloat. "Is that a good thing to do? I think so."
He said there are other residential areas in the vicinity and the piece of property is too small to facilitate agricultural production.
Representing several remonstrators, attorney Richard Helm said the blame for the whole fiasco lies solely with the petitioners.
A pair of his remonstrators originally owned the 20 acres, but they sold 18 acres. In the first permutation of the property, he said, there were three parcels, which are permitted. Later, another two acres were sold off by the Rensbergers but that was because two other parcels were combined.
The third permutation, and the one before the plan commission Wednesday, is "not legitimate," he said, because they have sold off all that ordinances allow. "It was their error and not anyone else's."
If the plan commission approves the residential rezoning, Helm said, it leaves room for a lot more residences that the plan commission technical committee says it doesn't want in that area. He said the petitioner is trying to get sell-offs that are inappropriate.
In rebuttal, Sloat said the extra sell-offs were not his clients' fault but that of his previous counsel. "As far as this property being more suitable for agriculture than residential, I take issue with that."
Saying that rezoning the property would not be appropriate with other property in the area, plan commission member Charlie Haffner moved to deny the petition. "This is not the place to make a residential subdivision," said Haffner.
Kevin McSherry seconded the motion and the petition was unanimously denied. The plan commission is only a recommending board to the Kosciusko County Commissioners, who will hear the petition Dec. 19 at 10 a.m.
A petition to rezone property from a residential district to a commercial district was denied because the petitioner, Everett Yoder, did not appear before the plan commission. His petition was to rezone the property west of Ind. 13 and south of U.S. 30 in Pierceton.
According to Dan Richard, plan commission director, as of Monday, the plan commission had not heard from Yoder. Two months ago, the plan commission continued the petition so Yoder could discuss his plans with the Pierceton Town Council and the state. Pierceton told Richard they had not heard from the petitioner.
Habitat for Humanity's petition for a preliminary plat approval for a residential development on 0.608 acres was unanimously approved. The property is on the east side of an unnamed road and 600 feet north of the Epworth Forest Road in Tippecanoe Township.
Richard said the property is north of North Webster and Adventureland and is zoned residential.
Final plats approved unanimously by the plan commission include:
• Atlantis Villas, 14-lot residential subdivision on the site of the former Warsaw Drive-In on Old Road 30.
• Scott Warren Subdivision, a one-lot agricultural subdivision along CR 650W near Atwood.
• Northfield Park, a commercial park on Ind. 15 midway between Warsaw and Leesburg.
• Beanland Acres, five lots, zoned residential, east of Milford.
• Louiseland Acres, five lots zoned Ag II, across the ditch from Beanland Acres.
Members of the area plan commission are Vic Virgil, Richard Kemper, Kevin McSherry, Kelly Easterday, Don Ahrms, Hal Strong, Charlie Haffner, Barbara Carwile and Norm Lovell. They meet at 1 p.m. on the first Wednesday of every month in the county courthouse.
