Residents Ask Milford Council About Former Nursing Home Plans
Residents Ask Milford Council About Former Nursing Home Plans
Posted
Denise Federow-
Residents Ask Milford Council About Former Nursing Home PlansMILFORD – Several residents in the neighborhood of the former Lakeland nursing home at 505 W. Fourth St. were present at the Milford Council meeting Monday to air concerns about the former nursing home becoming apartments.
Council President Doug Ruch said the only matter before the Council was approving the recommendation from the plan commission to change the zoning from agricultural to residential, but as a courtesy the Council agreed to hear the concerns.
One resident who couldn’t be present sent a letter that Clerk-Treasurer Tricia Gall read. Some of the concerns mentioned were the large number of proposed apartments creating safety issues for kids walking in the area, decreased property values and asking if a fence would be required. The resident said she knew Milford needed more housing.
Gavin Troyer, of OA Construction, the developer of the property, and Shelly Tucker, of Assurance Property Management, were present to speak to some of these concerns.
Troyer said they had a plan, but the number of apartments was still up in the air until they had an actual design taking into consideration the plumbing, etc. Initially, the plan was to have 21 apartments, with two three-bedroom apartments and the other 19 units either one or two bedroom, so he didn’t anticipate a lot of families.
Tucker said they had a pretty strict screening process with a $50 non-refundable application fee, which weeds out some people, and she said they were not looking at Section 8 renters.
“We know there’s a big need for one- and two-bedroom apartments in Milford,” she said.
Troyer said the intent is to market the apartments to empty nesters who no longer want the upkeep of a property or for young people just starting out, and he said there will be an in-house laundromat.
Councilman Ken Long said there have been a lot of questions about the proposed dog park and how it would be constructed. Troyer said there would be a 4-foot high chainlink fence and a pet policy with a non-refundable pet deposit and no dangerous breeds. They were anticipating more small and medium dogs, and the dog park is not intended for dogs to be left there for hours but is intended to be used with the presence of the dog owner.
Gall said, “Intentions are great but do you have a policy?” Tucker responded that they did.
Despite this response, several residents continued to bring up concerns about dogs barking all day or that they didn’t like the chainlink fence where the dogs could see kids walking by. A couple of them said they already have several nuisance dogs in the neighborhood and didn’t want more. Troyer and Tucker repeated that the dog park was a marketing tool and might end up being cut from the budget and was not intended to be used as a kennel to leave dogs for long periods of time unattended.
One resident wanted a streetlight with all the added people. Ruch said he contacted NIPSCO to find out about that. Another resident was concerned about the number of people living in the apartments.
“Once they get the OK, what can we do if there are issues?” he asked.
Tucker said she walks through all the apartments every three months, and the proposed plan is for her to be on site two to three days a week.
Council members were asked why they wanted to approve the plan and whether it was for the tax revenue. Ruch said no.
“Our only issue this evening is to uphold the request to change zoning,” he said, adding as it is now, if they wanted, they could have a farmette in the middle of town.
Long said, “From my perspective, I know there’s a huge demand for housing in our town. From what they’ve shown us, I think and I hope that the people investing this kind of money they not only want a return, they want to maintain that investment. This is not a cheap endeavor, so I don’t see them allowing people living there have it go to disarray.”
Ruch said the longer a building sits empty it deteriorates.
“We have people wanting to invest. If we put a little trust in them, I think we’ll be happy with the results,” he said.
The Council passed an ordinance to rezone the property from agricultural to residential.
In other matters, Gall told the Council that the Milford Lions do not plan to hold Milford Fest this year because of the uncertainty, but she wanted to have her department still sponsor the townwide garage sales. She said people have been asking since they didn’t have it last year. The council approved holding the townwide garage sales Memorial Day weekend, waiving the permits, but if they want to be included on the map they’ll need to pay a fee for that.
Utilities Manager Steven Marquart asked about holding the Memorial Day parade, and they approved working toward that, barring any unforeseen circumstances.
They also heard Kiwanis is holding their chicken barbecue sale and possibly the pancake breakfast.
Town attorney Jay Rigdon wasn’t at the meeting but Gall passed on the information on the findings and conclusions on the Ron Davidhizer properties at 605 Kinwood Drive and 105 N. Maple St.
The findings reported the recommendations from the March 2020 building inspector that the houses need major repairs or should be demolished. In June, a few repairs were made, but not enough. The properties are presently unsafe and a public nuisance, therefore the properties were both ordered to be demolished and removed by May 15.
Also Monday, the Council:
• Heard a request from Lamar Schwartz, CMT Transport, who wanted a variance to add on to his buildings, but he needed to get proper paperwork first and a recommendation from the board of zoning appeals.
• Authorized Rigdon to prepare a voluntary annexation for the remainder of North Park Estates.
• Authorized reimbursement to the fire department for $15,134 for larger garage doors and masonry work.
• Accepted a bid from Pulver Asphalt, Albion, for Community Crossings grant work. The low bid was for $220,473.35, and the town only pays 25% of that amount.
• Approved the next spring clean up days for April 15-17.
• Approved the annual renewal of cellular router service for water treatment at $1,131.43.
• Approved amending the salary ordinance to add a wastewater employee at an annual salary of $44,300, effective March 1.
• Approved paying an invoice for annual maintenance software for the year at a cost of $7,255.
• Heard flushing of hydrants will be the week of April 7.
• Heard Town Hall will be closed April 2 for Good Friday.
• Heard from Town Marshal Derek Kreider that he wants to remind motorists that with the warmer weather there will be more children and adults out walking and riding bikes so more caution should be exercised. Kreider also said that Milford police would be participating in school bus stop arm checks and Operation Pullover in the near future.
