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WINONA LAKE - The plan commission gave Jerry Smith, 2308 E. Winona Ave., 60 days to propose a satisfactory plan to develop his property to prevent it from being rezoned.
The commission was considering rezoning Smith's property from its current commercial zoning to residential. That action would deprive Smith of the highest and best use of his property, said his attorney, Steve Snyder.
"The value of the property is that it has 130 feet of frontage along Winona Avenue and that is best suited for commercial purposes," Snyder told the board.
Snyder said Smith is proposing a split zoning of the parcel, where the lakefront portion of the property would be zoned residential and the portion along Winona Avenue would be zoned commercial.
"A typical commercial use for the half along Winona Avenue would be a professional office building of some sort," Snyder said. "It would not be economically feasible to develop it residentially."
Smith currently operates a mobile home park at that location, but would remove the mobile homes if the commercial zoning was approved.
The commission granted a continuance of the question to permit Smith to submit a formal plan and written guarantees on how the property would be developed.
In other business, the commission approved the final plat for The Villas of Heritage Lake. It also approved the removal of a surety bond on the development, because all infrastructure improvements are already in place.
