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More condominiums will be built in Syracuse.
Tuesday, Riverstone Partners, represented by attorney Steve Snyder, petitioned the Kosciusko County Board of Zoning Appeals for an exception to allow multi-family dwellings (27 condominium units and 27 garage units) in a commercial district on Lake Wawasee.
They also petitioned for a variance to allow the condominiums to be 20 feet from the south water's edge, 20 feet from the east water's edge, 20 feet from a north water's edge; a gazebo 10 feet from the north water's edge and 10 feet from the south water's edge; and a pool 10 feet from the north water's edge and 10 feet from the south water's edge.
The property is on the east side of Harkless Drive and 350 feet south of Bowser Road in Turkey Creek Township.
Dan Richard, Kosciusko County Area Plan Commission director, told the BZA the property is the old Macy's Slip. There are some garages on the west side of Harkless Drive that the Syracuse BZA must approve because the garages are within Syracuse's jurisdiction.
The county BZA approved the variance and exception on the condition that the Syracuse BZA approve the garages.
Snyder told the county BZA that the property was originally the Sandusky Cement Plant. In the early 1930s, the property was a marina. Snyder said the channels are in bad condition and there's debris, sediment and vegetation in the channels.
Snyder said the developers plan to file a petition with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources to dredge the channels. "We would come in and clean that out," Snyder said.
There will be three buildings with nine condominiums per building. Parking space will be allotted for each unit plus there will be adequate parking on the property site, Snyder said.
Only one road will be cut out onto Harkless Drive.
He said there "appears we will have up to 40 boat spaces for the 27 units." With the three channels, he said, the center channel will be purely for aesthetic purposes. Instead of a concrete seawall along the channels, he said, the seawalls may be bio-engineered. At one time, a seawall surrounded the entire property, he said, but it sank or deteriorated.
Benefits from the condominiums, Snyder said, will include a rehabilitation of the area, a"significant" increase in the tax base and the fact that they are eliminating a myriad of potential commercial uses and a reduction in boat traffic compared to what the traffic would be if it were a marina. With a new seawall, erosion of the area will be stabilized. City sewer and water will be provided to the condominiums.
"I think it's a good use for the land," said BZA member Ron Sharp. "I like the setup."
Snyder said the buildings are not going to be slab-sided buildings. "When dealing with condos in this price range, you better have some character or the developer is going to lose (his butt)."
Remonstrator John Call said he was on the property owners' orderly development committee for the area, and while not at the meeting in an official capacity, he said he could tell the BZA what was discussed about the property at their meeting Saturday.
"We just feel it can be done a lot better," said Call. He said they thought it was a particularly poor site design. He said committee members objected to having so many piers longer than 75 feet, but didn't object to the pool or the gazebo if it's open-sided.
Snyder said state statute requires boaters to be more than 200 feet from land unless they are docking or trolling. So anyone who is close to the piers is driving their boat illegally.
As for the aesthetics and planning of buildings, Snyder said, zoning ordinances don't consider aesthetics in the approval/denial of exceptions and variances.
A total of 37 petitions came before the BZA Monday: three were continued, one was withdrawn, five were denied, 26 were approved and two were dropped.
Those denied included:
• Petition by Tammy Eilts-Helm for an exception to alter and change a non-conforming use by allowing the reconstruction of a two-story residence on a tract with two residences in a residential district. The property is on the north side of EMS T26 Lane and 900 feet east of EMS T26A Lane in Plain Township.
• Petition by Lee Kantenwein for a variance to permit an accessory building 5 feet from the east property line and 6 feet from the north property line. The property is on the north side of Center Street extended and zero feet east of Hickory Street in Wayne Township.
• Petition by Gil Perry for an exception to alter and add on to a non-conforming use/building (two residences on one lot), with residence additions on each structure in a residential district. The property is on the north side of EMS W29B Lane and 2,200 feet north of CR 550N in Tippecanoe Township.
Perry's petition for a variance to permit the construction of one residence addition 14.8 feet from the right of way and one residence addition 1.5 feet from a side property line also was denied.
• CB Farms LLC's petition for a variance to permit the construction of homes on lots 50, 57 and 58 at 20 feet from the right of way of Meadow Drive and Primrose Court. The property is on the east side of Primrose Court and 260 feet east of Meadow Drive in Wayne Township.
Members of the BZA include Vic Virgil, Walter Church, Bob Beer, Charlie Haffner and Ron Sharp. They meet at 8:30 a.m. on the second Tuesday of every month in the county courthouse or at the Munson Building, North Lake Street, Warsaw.
