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WINONA LAKE – After approving a moratorium on “funneling” at its May meeting, the Winona Lake Plan Commission Tuesday reviewed an ordinance on the issue.
No action was taken so the commission members can review the ordinance more thoroughly before the July meeting.
Funneling refers to the division of lots where they’re cut into very thin strips, most frequently created and used to provide access to a waterway.
The issue came to the plan commission last month after a property owner in the Southtown Estates area recently sold 12 15-foot strips of his entire lot, going from a Southtown road to one of the channels. The funneling is near the intersection of Eastwood and Southfield Roads on Snake Island.
Commission President Dave Turner reported he and town attorney Jim Walmer spent time Tuesday afternoon working on the ordinance.
“One of the things that I asked Jim to add in there, it’s a change from when we last saw this, it’s on page 2 under (Section 1) funneling, I pulled this number a little bit almost out of the air, but I wanted a minimum square foot in the lot size so at least (Building Commissioner) Gene (Seiman) has enough criteria to say, ‘Hey, that lot is not big enough. You can’t do that.’ And I wanted a number,” Turner explained, saying he put the minimum size for a lot at 8,500 square feet.
Plan Commission Vice Chair Jill Serbousek said the way that the state and the Department of Natural Resources “has funneling, you can do one every 15 feet.” Turner said the ordinance would eliminate funneling altogether, though it can’t change what’s already been done, but going forward, no one else would be able to do it. “We need this,” Turner said.
Town Coordinator Craig Allebach asked Seiman for his opinion on the 8,500-square-foot minimum lot size. Seiman said he was currently using 9,000 square feet and 90 lineal feet as a lot width.
After further discussion, Turner said the minimum size in the ordinance should be increased from 8,500 to 9,000.
Under the proposed ordinance, if an individual or its additional owners happen to own a residential tract of land and another tract adjoining to the other tract, each lot could be a separate lot as it was platted or the two tracts could be joined together to form one tract upon approval by the town’s board of zoning appeals.
If two residential properties are next to each other and the owners seek to use both of the tracts, if the town plan commission permits that, then the properties “cannot be transferring part of one of those properties to another adjoining property. That process is a funneling process once it becomes a full property and therefore it cannot be transferred by funneling without” approval, the proposed ordinance states.
Any property owner who attempts to funnel property faces a penalty of $1,000 and must return the property to its original source. Any expenses incurred by the town to pursue the correction of the property will be billed to the persons who took the property from the other residential property without the approval of the town plan commission, the ordinance states.
After further discussion, the plan commission decided to revisit the proposed ordinance at its next meeting. Before then, Walmer will look at some issues brought up, including the DNR’s stance on the matter, and address those as needed.
In another matter, the board reviewed the latest information on the Tuscany subdivision.
Town engineer Aaron Carl said the developer, Oakmont Development, Fort Wayne, went through its plans and adjusted them as the plan commission had asked. The 33-lot subdivision is on 12 acres on South CR 250E. Lots will be 65 to 75 feet with a depth of 140 feet, and homes will cost in the $180,000 to $280,000 range.
One concern Carl had Tuesday was that Jeff Thomas, co-owner of Oakmont, said that the homes would be on wells instead of being connected to water lines. Thomas said a well was about $4,000 per lot, while the water lines would be about $8,200 a lot. Carl questioned those numbers Tuesday and said he thought the water lines could be done for less. Allebach said he thought it would be worth questioning the developer on their costs for a public water line.
After some further discussion on the matter, Allebach said he will ask the developer to come before the plan commission again at its next meeting to discuss the water issue. He said he will let them know what the plan commission’s concerns are.
