After a lengthy, and at times contentious hearing, the Area Plan Commission gave a favorable recommendation to a vacation of a roadway on East Wawasee Drive in Syracuse.
The location is off Lake Wawasee.
The vacation would lead to a home owned by the petitioner being removed to allow for the road to soften the current sharp S-curve there.
The home is owned by North East Wawasee LLC.
Another home nearby is also owned by the LLC.
By allowing the road to be vacated, it would give North East Wawasee LLC an additional 20 feet of lakefront access at the other home.
It would do the same for Enchanted Hills subdivision, who they share the roadway with.
Attorney Steve Snyder represented North East Wawasee LLC.
“We’re pretty much at the all-or-nothing stage,” said Snyder.
The attorney described how his client has been trying to complete this project for several years.
The cost of removing the home and fixing the roadway would all fall on North East Wawasee LLC.
Ron Simms, board member for Enchanted Hills, said his board was worried that the subdivision’s beach area would become landlocked and that a retaining wall would have to be replaced.
The plan commission noted that with the vacation, the subdivision would take on more lakefront property that would add taxes they’d have to pay.
When plan commission president Charlie Haffner suggested the hearing be delayed until Enchanted Hills and Snyder’s client could meet, it drew a response from Snyder.
He walked to his briefcase, pulled out a letter and placed it on the plan commission’s table.
“We don’t need any more time,” said Snyder, who said the letter he gave to the commission was from March 16 and was asking for a response from Enchanted Hills. “They ignored me. Don’t put the onus on me to get a hold of them.”
“If you defer this 30 days we won’t get this done,” said Snyder.
Simms countered that Enchanted Hills has the only public access left on Lake Wawasee.
Enchanted Hills held its board meeting Tuesday night. No action was taken at that meeting.
Simms also said there is a boat lift off the beach area.
Snyder said the area isn’t a public beach by law and that a restrictive covenance the Enchanted Hills subdivision has doesn’t allow them to have a pier or boat lift.
Plan commission member and county councilman Jim Moyer said he was concerned with the public access issue but said the public safety issue of changing the road was more pressing.
Moyer then made a motion to approve a favorable recommendation to the county commissioners. Mandy Espinoza seconded the motion. It passed 6-0-1 with Keith Hardy abstaining.
The county commissioners will have final approval at their April 24 meeting.
The plan commission approved a favorable recommendation to the Silver Lake Town Council.
It’s concerning a property on the south side of Main Street and west of High Street in Silver Lake.
Ryan and Erin Tucker asked to rezone the land from commercial to residential.
The Silver Lake Town Council will vote on the mater at its meeting Tuesday. The meeting is at 7 p.m.
A request by the town of North Webster was given a favorable recommendation.
The town requested that a tract of land on the north side of Himes Street and 293 feet west of Dixie Drive be rezoned from residential to commercial.
The request is so the town can move forward with putting a parking lot in that location.
The town council will vote on the matter at its April 17 meeting.
The owner of Dixie Haven Resort asked that the parking lot have an entrance off Himes Street rather than the alley that borders the proposed parking lot and Dixie Haven.
The North Webster Town Council meets at 6 p.m. at the North Webster Community Center.
Paul Graham’s request to rezone five acres from Industrial II to agricultural was given a 7-0 favorable recommendation.
The county commissioners will vote on it at their April 24 meeting at 9:15 a.m.
The commissioners meet in the old courtroom at the Kosciusko County Courthouse.
Graham’s property is on the west side of CR 200W and 1,200 feet northwest of Fox Farm Road.
The property was part of an industrial corridor project started in 1986. It’s adjacent to residential areas.
The Graham family owns all the land surrounding the area that Paul Graham asked to be rezoned.
The plan commission approved a subdivision sign for Foxwood Estates on the corner of CRs 335E and 250S.
Plan commission members Dr. Lee Harman and Larry Coplen were absent from Wednesday’s meeting.
The commission had a moment of silence for county councilman John Kinsey, who died Tuesday.
The Area Plan Commission meets the first Wednesday of every month at 1 p.m. in the old courtroom at the Kosciusko County Courthouse.
