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If a petitioner misses a meeting the first time, the Kosciusko County Area Plan Commission will automatically table the petition for a month.
The second time around, a petitioner who doesn't show up for their scheduled hearing will have their petition automatically denied.
Such was the case for Daniel Blevins/Classic Construction. Blevins' petition to rezone 32 acres from an Agricultural District to an Agricultural II District was first brought before the plan commission in October. Blevins was not present. The commission sent him a registered letter notifying him his case was continued and he should be present Wednesday at the plan commission's November meeting.
He didn't show again Wednesday. The plan commission denied Blevins' petition. The property he sought to be rezoned is on the north side of Old Road 30, west of CR 450E in Washington Township.
In another petition, D&D Enterprises LLP requested to rezone ground from a residential and environmental district to an industrial II district. The property is on the south end of Sycamore Street and 390 feet west of Ind. 13 in Syracuse. To the north of the property is a property zoned industrial II and that property is surrounded by commercial and some residential and agricultural districts.
Richard Green, attorney for D&D Enterprises LLP, said, "We are requesting a recommendation to the town board of Syracuse to rezone this to I-2. The intended use is self-storage units on portions that are usable."
Green said the tract is bounded on two sides by the Skinner ditch and I-2 is "certainly compatible with the neighborhood."
He also said the present owners are aware that there is a history of dumping on the tract of land. "My clients bought the tract with their eyes wide open."
D&D Enterprises LLP have dug seven holes to test the composition of the soil, Green said. They did not find any covered trash or dumped waste. Most of the material on the ground is construction remnants and concrete pieces.
"They fully expect to clean this tract up," Green said. He said Syracuse will gain infrastructure and lose an eyesore. There were no remonstrators to the petition.
Board member Charlie Haffner said, "This property has been in the same condition since I returned to Syracuse in 1970. At that time, the concrete that was dumped there was very visible."
He said there needs to be a study of the property and someone then needs to do something with it. Haffner asked why hasn't an environmental agency gotten involved with the property since it's had waste on it for the last 30 years.
Plan Commission assistant Matt Sandy said he talked to a representative from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. "The take I had with them on it was that they will not get involved in that until after the fact, if there's a problem."
He said IDEM did recommend a study for the property.
Haffner motioned to approve the petition with an understanding that extensive soil and water testing be completed.
The petition will go before the Syracuse town council Nov. 16 at 7 p.m.
Two petitions by Rex Hogan were unanimously denied. Hogan petitioned to rezone 5.36 acres from an agricultural district to a residential district. He wanted to build rental houses on the property. The property is east of CR 325E and north of CR 100S in Wayne Township.
Hogan's other petition was to rezone 4.04 acres from an agricultural district to a commercial district, to be used as a buffer zone. The property is east of CR 325E and north of CR 100S in Wayne Township. There were several remonstrators against Hogan's petitions.
The Plan Commission is only a recommending board to the Kosciusko County Commissioners. The commissioners will hear Hogan's and D&D Enterprises LLP's petitions Nov. 23 at 10 a.m.
Martin Didler's petition for a preliminary plat approval for a residential development on 12.3 acres was continued to Dec. 1. The property is on the north side of Pickwick Road, east of East Shore Drive in Turkey Creek Township.
The Area Plan Commission meets at 1 p.m. on the first Wednesday of each month.
