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Plan Commission Takes Look At Rezoning Around Milford

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Half of Dennis L. Replogle's petition before the Kosciusko County Area Plan Commission was recommended by the plan commission to be approved by the Kosciusko County Commissioners.

Half of it was denied.

Wednesday, Replogle petitioned to rezone property from an agricultural district to residential and agricultural II. The property is on the north side of Beer Road, 1,180 feet east of Shaeffer Street in Van Buren Township. CR 1250N is to the north of the property and Beer Road is to the south.

The property is divided by Turkey Creek. All the land to the west of Turkey Creek was approved to be rezoned residential by the plan commission, while land to the east of the creek was denied agricultural II rezoning.

Replogle's petition was continued from last month so he and the Milford Town Council could discuss the property.

Replogle is not the only property owner involved. When Replogle brought the petition to the plan commission office previously, the plan commission asked him to try to get adjacent property owners to also get their property rezoned. The area is expected to be where future growth for Milford will occur.

However, only S. Douglas Strycker's 4.02-acre property was rezoned Wednesday with Replogle's. Shane Maust's and Bob Brooks' properties were not rezoned.

According to a letter that plan commission director Dan Richard read from the Milford Town Council, the town and Replogle reached an agreement that a portion of the residential property will be provided with town water and wastewater lines once the property is developed. The town's comments did not include the property east of Turkey Creek.

The plan commission approved rezoning the property west of Turkey Creek as residential with the promise by Replogle that a restrictive covenant be placed on it and Brooks' and Maust's property be exempted. The restrictive covenant would prevent future property owners from complaining about agricultural property in the area.

Brian Wuthrich, of Hahn Auction Service, who will auction off the property for Replogle, said that since the last meeting, he has a list of people who want three acres of agricultural II ground. The property east of Turkey Creek, if the plan commission rezoned it to agricultural II, would be broken into four tracts.

Plan commission board member Norm Lovell asked Replogle why not rezone the ground residential instead of ag II. Replogle said the property is surrounded by agricultural land now and it "only makes sense" to keep it agricultural.

There were no remonstrators. The first vote by the plan commission to approve rezoning the property east of Turkey Creek to ag II was denied by a vote of 5 to 4. A motion to deny the rezoning then passed by a vote of 5 to 4.

Richard took an unofficial poll of board members on who would have rezoned the property residential instead of ag II, and several of the board members favored such a rezoning.

Replogle's petition will be heard by the county commissioners at 10 a.m. June 20 in the county courthouse.

In other business, the plan commission:

• Approved Christine Snavely's petition for a preliminary plat approval for an agricultural II development on 28.2 acres. The property is on the west side of CR 1000E and south of CR 1050N in Turkey Creek Township.

• Approved Lakeview Terrace Mobile Home Park's petition for preliminary plat approval for a residential development on 7.971 acres. The property is on CR 500N, on the east side of Woodview Drive, south of Ridgeview Drive in Tippecanoe Township.

• Denied Steven and Jeannie Savage's petition to rezone 9 acres from an agricultural to a residential district. The property is on the south side of CR 250N and east of CR 300E in Plain Township.

• Denied Kathy Hale's petition to rezone 5 acres from an agricultural to an agricultural II district. The property is on the north side of CR 400S and east of CR 600E in Washington Township.

• Referred James Shepherd's petition to rezone 12.83 acres from an agricultural to an agricultural II district to the Kosciusko County Board of Zoning Appeals. They also tabled it for 60 days. The property is on the south side of CR 100S and west of CR 550W in Harrison Township.

• Approved Ora Warren Jr.'s petition to rezone 4.32 acres from an agricultural to an agricultural II district. The property is on the east side of CR 650W and north of CR 100N in Harrison Township.

• Approved Albert Orcutt's petition to rezone 13.9 acres from an agricultural to an agricultural II district. The property is on the east side of CR 650W and north of CR 100N in Harrison Township.

• Approved Lane and Michele Morgan's petition for a preliminary plat approval for an agricultural II subdivision on 6.858 acres. The property is on the east side of CR 375E and south of CR 450N in Plain Township. The petition was approved with the stipulation that there be no further subdividing.

• Approved Tony and Lana Shepherd's petition for a preliminary plat approval for an agricultural II subdivision on 18.073 acres. The property is on CR 275E, south of Wilcox Road in Wayne Township. The petition was approved with the stipulation that there be no further subdividing.

Plan commission members are: Kelly Easterday, Kevin McSherry, Hal Strong, Barb Carwile, Norm Lovell, Charlie Haffner, Vic Virgil, Dick Kemper and Don Ahrms.