By VICKI URBANIK

A pending rezoning in south Porter County highlights the dilemma facing a growing county with rich farmland: At what point is a landowner’s right to develop outweighed by the goal of preserving one’s rural heritage?

That issue will be among the many to be hashed out in the months ahead as county planners work to overhaul the zoning and subdivision control ordinances affecting the unincorporated areas. The current land use plan calls for farmland preservation, but that plan is only a guide. It will be up to the rewritten ordinances to spell out precisely how farmland can be protected in the face of development.

A case that was heard at a public hearing last week points to some of the challenges ahead.

The case involves a request from the Birky Family Trust to rezone 185 acres on the east side of Ind. 49 in south Morgan Township to residential for a large-scale subdivision. After a public hearing at which numerous Morgan Township residents spoke out against the rezoning, the planners voted unanimously, 8-0, to give the rezoning an unfavorable recommendation.

Plan commission member Robert Poparad, also a county council member, spoke directly to the opponents in the audience, as he asked how many of them moved to Porter County within the last 30 years. Though some residents said they’re second or even third- generation Porter County-ites, a fair number of other hands did go up.

So, Poparad argued, it was okay for them to move to rural Porter County but now they want to close the door on others?

Despite the fact that he voted against the rezoning, Poparad said the issue of farmland preservation is irrelevant. “The Birky Family Trust has some rights,” he said.

But plan commission member Robert Harper, also a county commissioner, argued differently. The property in question is in the middle of an agricultural area, so if the county wants to rezone it or any other similar request, it should stop holding meetings and just rezone everything.

But the trust’s attorney, Todd Leeth, disagreed that the rezoning amounts to “spot zoning” since residential zones exist just across the road. Harper responded that the nearby residential zones don’t involve large subdivisions but scattered housing. Poparad, on the other hand, questioned if the land involved only 40 acres, “would this room be full of people?”

Plan commission member Eric Biddinger said building large-scale developments “in the middle of nowhere” increase the county’s costs for emergency response.

But he agreed the issue was a tough one, boiling down to “property rights versus protection rights.”

“We have to take a stand somewhere,” he said, adding that if everyone “moves to the country” there would be no more rural life as people now know it.

“Do we want to become suburban Chicago or do we want to maintain our rural character?” Biddinger asked, noting that agriculture in Porter County produces $56 million in gross revenues annually.

The audience members were overwhelmingly opposed to the rezoning, with some citing drainage problems and impacts on groundwater supply. But most of the comments focused on the disruption to the area’s rural character and the need to preserve farmland as a food source.

When farmers hear about proposed subdivisions, they “cringe, cope and compromise,” said Jane Maxwell, representing the Porter County Agricultural Society. She cited the increasing conflicts between farmers and people who move in to the country who don’t have much patience for slow-moving combines or late-night loud farming operations.

Maxwell said she supported the county’s open space ordinance because it was one step toward preserving land at a time when rapid growth could lead to helter skelter development. “Farm land is a hot commodity right now,” she said.

John Remster, also of the Ag Society, said the county should promote the production of agriculture, the major industry in south county. Like others, he said the land in question is prime farmland that should stay that way.

But Leeth said that generally speaking the best agricultural soils are also the best for septics. He said it would be bad public policy if the county told landowers that they could put septics only in bad soils.

Some residents cited the impact of more housing, and more children, in the local school system, but Leeth said schools will grow regardless of any particular rezoning and that when a new school is needed, it will be paid for through the tax base, which will increase with more homes. He added that the marketplace, not developers, create the need for housing.

The Porter County Commission-ers are scheduled to hear the matter on Jan. 18.

Posted 12/14/2004