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The higher the LESA score, the less likely a petition for rezoning before the Kosciusko County Area Plan Commission will be approved.
LESA (Land Evaluation and Site Assessment System) is the score the plan commission's technical committee gives a petition. The score is based on a property's soil types, utilities, drainage and other considerations. LESA is part of the report the technical committee presents to the plan commission before their meeting.
A high LESA score means the property would not support the proposed rezoning.
Due to a high LESA score, Bart Conley's petition to rezone 20 acres from an agricultural to an agricultural II district was unanimously denied by the plan commission Wednesday. The property is on the north side of CR 350S and 1,840 feet east of CR 500E in Washington Township.
The property's LESA score was 242, one of the highest the plan commission has ever had, according to plan commission president Vic Virgil.
The commission is only a recommending board to the Kosciusko County Commissioners. The commissioners will hear the petition at their April 25 meeting.
Conley told the board, "I've got a friend that wants 10 acres and I was thinking of a building on the other 10 acres."
He said the split would be north and south.
Matt Sandy, Area Plan Commission assistant director, presented three letters of remonstrance to the board. One letter was a petition with approximately a dozen signatures.
"I don't mind the 20-acre split," said remonstrator Tom Kern, "as long as it doesn't get split again." He also said he didn't want to see any mobile homes there.
In agricultural II districts, said plan commission member Hal Strong, there can be one house per acre.
Jeanie Fugate, remonstrator, said she lives across from the property and she has concerns regarding traffic and drainage if the property were split.
"I'm just opposed to rezoning, period," she said.
Virgil asked for a show of hands of those opposed to the petition. Nine people raised their hands.
Conley said he didn't want to bring the neighborhood down and would put a restrictive covenance on the property to whomever bought it. Dick Kemper, board member, said the plan commission couldn't hold a petitioner to the restrictions once it was rezoned.
People tend to forget about how quickly things can change, commission member Kelly Easterday said. She said once the property is rezoned, the two houses can become four and then six and so on until it's an area where no one wants to live anymore. She said the plan commission is governed by its comprehensive plan.
In other business, the plan commission:
• Approved unanimously a petition by Pierceton to rezone several lots from residential, public use and industrial II districts to a commercial district. The property is on the west side of Ind. 13 and north of Market Street in Pierceton.
Bob Murphy, who is working with the town, said Pierceton wants to put a building on the site for a senior center, town employee parking and a garage for the town departments. The building, he said, will be "about a half-million dollars worth."
• Approved a petition by Marjorie J. Shipley to rezone ground from an agricultural district to a residential district. The property is on the east side of Packerton Road and south of Pierceton Road in Wayne Township.
Virgil told the three remonstrators that the petition had a LESA score of 105, which is not considered high, so the board judged it favorable land to rezone.
• Approved the request to withdraw a petition by Linda Dilling to rezone 3.1 acres from an agricultural to a residential district. The property is on the east side of CR 325E and north of CR 100S in Wayne Township.
• Continued a petition for a preliminary plat approval by Christine Snavely for an agricultural II development on a 28.215- acre tract. The property is on the west side of CR 1000E and south of CR 1050N in Turkey Creek Township.
Final plats approved included:
• Lake Forest Westview, phase 2, Robert Barth Jr. petitioner, east side of Bayshore Drive, west of CR 250E, in Plain Township.
• Jackson Meadows, Brad Jackson petitioner, just inside the corporate line of Syracuse, on the east side of Syracuse-Webster Road.
• Lozier subdivision, Carl Lozier petitioner, CR 200N and CR 100E.
Plan commission members are: President Vic Virgil, Don Ahrms, Kelly Easterday, Kevin McSherry, Barbara Carwile, Richard Kemper, Hal Strong, Charlie Haffner and Norman Lovell.
