By VICKI URBANIK

A 20-acre parcel on the west side of Meridian Road was rezoned Tuesday, over the objections of neighbors who made a last-ditch effort to keep the last of their rural surroundings.

The Porter County Commissioners voted 2-1 to grant the developers of the proposed Timberland Farms subdivision a rezoning from Rural-Residential to R-1 for property immediately north of the Fox Chase Farms subdivision. That 20-acre parcel will be part of a larger subdivision, on both sides of Meridian, projected to total 246 lots.

Commissioners Robert Harper and John Evans voted in favor of the rezoning. Commissioner Carole Knoblock voted no.

A few of the residents who spoke out at last month’s public hearing at the Porter County Plan Commission appeared at the commissioners’ meeting to reiterate their objections. One of the residents, Guy Wallace, who lives on Meridian Road, referred to a comment made at the plan commission meeting: If people want to live in a rural community, they should buy the land themselves.

“We thought we did,” Wallace said.

He said he can understand and accept change, but not a “total destruction” of one’s community. He said the area along Meridian Road used to be rural, but then subdivisions like Timberland changed that. He cited in particular Timberland’s street lights, a component of “city life” that contrasts with rural living.

“You don’t even comprehend how people live” in rural areas, he said.

Similarly, Tim Trowbridge said he moved to the area specifically because he chose a rural community. He questioned why he and others in the area should have to deal with “city living.”

The three commissioners gave different reasons for their votes.

Noting that the 20 acres is proposed to have 61 lots, Knoblock said the number of houses is too dense for the area. She questioned the location of the proposed detention pond and the prospect that it could flood the Wallace residence. Her questions prompted Mike Duffy, an engineer with the Duneland Group retained by Timberland Farms, to say that the pond’s location is conceptual only and that the pond will likely be moved to the southwest corner of the 20-acre parcel when the subdivision’s plat comes up for review.

Evans spoke in support of the rezoning by saying that people view Porter County as a good place to live. “To stop it is not something we’re here to do,” he said. Rather, he said, the county must ensure that growth is orderly. He added that it is difficult to tell someone what to do with their property if they meet all the rules and regulations, which Timberland Farms appears to do.

Harper, who voted in support of the rezoning as a member of the plan commission, said he disagrees with the implication that the county should allow land divisions whenever they’re requested. But he said he was in support of the rezoning, only because neighboring property -- such as Timberland, Fox Chase Farms and the rest of the proposed Timberland Farms -- is already zoned R-1.

However, Harper also said he’s not sure if the county should have ever allowed any of the other subdivisions in the area in the first place. But it did, he noted, and now the proposed R-1 zone is consistent with what’s already there.

Timberland’s attorney, Bill Ferngren, also said the R-1 zone represents a “responsible growth pattern” in the area and that the proposed subdivision will set aside more than the required open space. “There’s a tremendous amount of balance,” he said.

Ferngren also disputed a concern raised at the plan commission meeting -- that that section of Meridian Road is dangerous. He said that over a four-year period, there have been eight accidents on the stretch of road, none of which occurred this year.

Posted 11/21/2007