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WINONA LAKE - Winona Lake families could see a limit in the number of non-related occupants allowed to live in their households if a zoning ordinance is approved.
The Winona Lake Plan Commission met Tuesday night to discuss the number of occupants that should occupy a home and parking on residential lots in the town.
Brent Wilcoxson, manager at Winona Restoration, shared his concern at the commission's Aug. 8 meeting about a single two-bedroom house being rented to six individuals.
He expressed concerns with health and safety issues and parking problems with the closeness of the properties in the old section of Winona Lake.
Clerk-Treasurer Retha Hicks presented an e-mail at Tuesday's meeting to the commission she received from the Michigan City Council providing a definition of a family.
The definition identified a family as one person or two or more persons each related by the other by blood, marriage or legal adoption or a group of not more than four persons maintaining a common household in a dwelling unit.
Adopting the definition would limit the status of unrelated individuals allowed to live in a home occupied by a family to four instead of six.
"This would make sure the definition of a family falls in line with the wastewater requirement," Hicks said.
The requirement says that a family must apply for a variance if there are unrelated roomers who live in the home with them to assure they pay for waste and water services.
The commission also discussed concerns with Winona residents parking cars in the grass areas in front of their homes instead of on driveways.
Hicks said she has received complaints from residents whose neighbors have complained of residents who live by them parking vehicles and RVs on their lawn and using the area for storage. She said the current ordinance states that if cars have license plates, they can stay on the grass, but if parked on the street they must be moved within 72 hours.
Hicks presented a definition she received from Munster Clerk-Treasurer Dave Shafer to help define parking on residential lots.
The Munster Municipal Code states that is unlawful for any person to park a vehicle for a period of more than three days in the side yard or front yard of a residential lot as defined by the town zoning code except on a hard-surfaced driveway.
No more than one vehicle, including recreational vehicles, may be parked in the rear yard as defined by the town zoning code, providing a vehicle is parked on a hard-surface material (concrete or bituminous).
The definition would require residents to park on a hard-surfaced material such as concrete, gravel or a bituminous material if approved.
Winona Lake Town Building Commissioner Dick Leaf presented the commission with a list of zoning and planning issues and questions to consider for the town.
The list included issues such as what the town should look like in 20 years, how restrictive zoning should be and parking in certain sections of the town.
The commission requested he prioritize the questions and they would review them at a future meeting.
The commission will continue to discuss zoning ordinances, parking and housing occupancy issues at its next meeting.
Hicks said it would take six to eight months of meetings to get the zoning ordinances approved.
The plan commission and Winona Lake Town Council would have to approve the ordinance changes for the household and parking issues.
