Planners Study Signal Study Recommendations For Proposed Culver's Restaurant In Warsaw
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Jennifer Peryam-jperyam@timesuniononline.com
Kosciusko County may soon have a new place to eat burgers and frozen custard in Warsaw.
Warsaw Traffic and Safety Commission Thursday accepted a recommendation that a traffic signal is not warranted for an intersection near a proposed Culver's Restaurant in Warsaw.
Warsaw Plan Commission will need to approve a development and site plan at its meeting Monday at 7 p.m. at city hall.
Skinner said building permits for the restaurant need to be acquired. If the construction is approved, plans are for construction of the restaurant to begin the end of January with an opening by this summer.Warsaw City Planner Jeremy Skinner said he was approached four months ago by Lennington Realty Group LLC, Fort Wayne, for a Culver's Restaurant to be built on the southeast corner of Parker Street and U.S. 30. If approved, it will be build southeast of the Menards store that is scheduled to open in April.
The proposal is for a 3,954-square-foot Culver's restaurant with an access road.
Some area cities where Culver's Restaurants are located in Indiana include Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, South Bend, LaFayette and Kokomo, according to www.culvers.com
The restaurant is known for its butter burgers and frozen custard. Other items include salads, chicken, shakes and sundaes.
The access road will allow Culver's patrons direct access to Patterson Road to avoid having traffic making u-turns on Parker Street at Patterson Road and at U.S. 30.
The Menards store is scheduled to open in April along Patterson Road and Husky Trail.
Warsaw Plan Commission requested a signal warrant study at Parker Street, Patterson Road and Husky Trail be completed to determine whether a traffic light would be necessary at the intersection.
The traffic study was conducted in December by Yarger Engineering, Indianapolis.
Brad Yarger, Yarger Engineering president, attended Thursday's meeting and discussed the findings of the traffic signal warrant study with the commission.
Part of the Menards agreement was that any new development at the site would require a traffic signal warrant study, according to Skinner.
Turning movement counts were collected Dec. 17-18 at the intersection of Parker Street at Patterson Road/Husky Trail from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Snow fell on Dec. 16 so the count Dec. 17 was not started until 10 a.m. after the roads had been cleared. The 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. period data was collected Dec. 18.
Since December is typically a lower-than-normal traffic month, the counts were adjusted for seasonal variation using Indiana Department of Transportation factors.
Since Patterson Road and Husky Trail had been recently closed for realignment, the counts also were increased 11 percent so that they would match the seasonally adjusted traffic counts taken in the 2006 Menards traffic study, Yarger said.
Skinner said there are five additional lots in addition to the proposed Culver's available.
The study found a new traffic signal at Parker Street and Patterson Road/Husky Trail will not be warranted with the opening of the Menards and proposed Culver's Restaurant.
In other business, Mayor Ernie Wiggins reappointed George Clemens, Dan Robinson, Greg Schroeder, Lacy Francis and Skinner to the traffic commission. Dan Hampton and Jerry Patterson were appointed as new council representatives to the traffic commission. Kip Shuter was re-elected as traffic safety commission administrator and Steve Foster was reappointed as secretary.
