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All Greg White wanted was three five-acre lots on 15.071 acres.
But fear of what could go in there in the future led the Kosciusko County Area Plan Commission to postpone White's petition to rezone the property from an agricultural to an agricultural II district until he petitions the Kosciusko County Board of Zoning Appeals for an exception. If the BZA approves the exception for three homes on property where only one is allowed, the plan commission will not have to vote on the rezoning.
The property is on the north side of Kyle Road and 775 feet south of CR 250N in Tippecanoe Township.
White told the plan commission he's been a real estate broker for about 10 years now. On a weekly basis, he deals with families who want four to five acres out in the country for a home where they can keep a horse or other animals.
"That's becoming almost impossible to find in our county and cost prohibitive," said White.
He said he doesn't want to take any prime agricultural land out of production. However, the 15.071 acres before the board Wednesday isn't tillable and has not been farmed for many years. The property is gently rolling and has some high ground. The property has 1,300 feet of road frontage. White wants to create three five-acre home sites that will look agricultural. He will not allow mobile homes on the property and will have only two entrances off Kyle Road. He said he is not interested in making the property residential and creating 10 home sites.
"I think it will be compatible with the surrounding area," he said. Most of the area generally has small tracts, "many of them three or four acres."
Remonstrator Jerry Craig said Kyle Road by his estimate should be considered a lane. It has two or three blind curves. "Someone's going to spend a lot of money to make it a road, probably the taxpayers. I don't think it's a place to put more people," Craig said.
He said the road "washes" all the time and the area should be left as it is.
Another remonstrator said he was concerned about water run-off. The road, he also said, is not very good and has two 90-degree turns that are blind corners.
"I just don't see it being an ideal situation for more housing," he said.
Kosciusko County Highway Department Superintendent and Engineer Rob Ladson said he shared the concern with the remonstators that Kyle Road is "very narrow" and in some instances has some "steep drops." He felt torn in that if the property is rezoned, there could be a lot more houses in the area and Kyle Road would need to be totally redone by the developer.
"Physically, (he) won't get that many homes in there," said Dan Richard, Area Plan Commission director. White will be lucky to get three homes on the 15.071 acres with the soil conditions on the property.
White said he would make a written commitment to the board to allow only three five-acre tracts of ground and no more than that. And he'd restrict it so there could be no mobile homes.
Kevin McSherry, plan commission member, said he questioned the access to the homes by emergency services. White pointed out that four to five homes already are being serviced there.
Kosciusko County Surveyor and plan commission member Dick Kemper said the three homes aren't a concern for him; it would be if it were to become a full-blown subdivision. The best use for the property is not agriculture, but agricultural II. Instead of rezoning it, Kemper said, he thought White should get a special exception from the BZA for three homes on the property.
Making a motion to approve White's request, plan commission member Don Arms said he thought ag II is ideal for the property. His motion died, however, for a lack of a second. McSherry then made a motion to send the petition to the BZA and Kemper seconded the motion. The motion passed.
"I don't like sending things on to the BZA," said Kelly Easterday, plan commission member.
If the plan commission were to rezone the property to ag II, McSherry said, there could be 14 lots on the property. "If the BZA allows (the exception), it'll be only what they allow."
The plan commission also:
• Voted 5-4 to recommend to the Kosciusko County Commissioners Howard and Sandra Moore's petition to rezone 7.025 acres from an agricultural to a residential district be denied. For the second month in a row, the Moores failed to show at the meeting. The property is on the west side of CR 700E and 2,090 feet south of CR 600N in Tippecanoe Township. On rezonings, the plan commission is only a recommending body to the county commissioners, who will hear the petition Sept. 21 at 9:30 a.m. in the county courthouse, Warsaw.
• Voted to recommend to the North Webster town board that Robert Phillippe's petition to rezone 0.39 acres from a residential district to a commercial district be approved. The property is on the north side of Huntington Street and west of East Street in Tippecanoe Township. On rezonings, the plan commission only is a recommending body. Since the property is inside the town limits of North Webster, the recommendation will go before the town council Sept. 14 at 6 p.m.
• Approved Terry Shepherd's petition for a preliminary plat approval for a residential development on 57.859 acres, on the condition that the health department and county highway department approve. The property is on the north side of CR 400S and zero feet south of CR 375S in Wayne Township.
• Approved Stan Estes' petition for a preliminary plat approval for the residential development on 14.64 acres. The property is on the north side of Backwater Road and zero feet west of CR 900E in Tippecanoe Township.
All members of the plan commission were present Wednesday and include Vic Virgil, Charlie Haffner, Dick Kemper, Kelly Easterday, Norm Lovell, Hal Strong, Don Arms, Kevin McSherry and Larry Coplen. Their regular meetings are at 1 p.m. in the Justice Building meeting room on the first Wednesday of every month.
