Chesterton Tribune

 

 

Rezone sought of two lots on 11th St south of Val's Pizza from R3 to B2

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By KEVIN NEVERS

Over the years dentists and veterinarians both have run their practices from the building on 11th Street immediately south of Val’s Pizza.

It’s an R-3 neighborhood, though--zoned for multi-family--while dental is minimally a B-1 use and vet a B-2.

It’s with that property’s history in mind that the owner, Laura Gerhardt, is asking the Chesterton Advisory Plan Commission to approve a re-zone of the parcel to B-2, which is actually comprised of a total of five lots.

As Gerhardt’s attorney, Greg Babcock, told the commission at its meeting Thursday night, the re-zone would only apply to the northernmost two lots, those with the building and adjacent to Val’s. The southernmost three lots would remain R-3.

Babcock noted that his client has rehabbed the building and “wants the opportunity to put a B-2 use in there.”

Not every B-2 use, however. Seven would be excluded from the list permitted by the Zoning Ordinance: auto part sales; auto repair/minor; auto service station; bar/night club; billiard room/arcade; bowling alley; and video store.

Members voted unanimously to hold a public hearing on the petition at their next meeting, Sept. 17.

“For years it was a vet and it never occurred to me that it wasn’t B-2,” Member George Stone noted.

Easton Park PUD Amendment

In other business, members also voted unanimously to continue a public hearing to its next meeting on a proposed amendment to the planned unit development ordinance governing Easton Park--or what used to be known as Sand Creek Farms--located east of 250E at the eastern terminus of East Porter Ave.

Seven years ago, in 2008, the commission granted the PUD primary plat approval. Then, a few months later, the global economic meltdown put something of a dent into real estate development, and the owner of the acreage, Eric Gastevich of Olson Farms LLC, opted to back-burner the project.

Now, however, he’s ready once again to put a shovel in the dirt but is keen on making a number of changes--most of them minor enough--to the PUD. Those changes include reducing the density of the subdivision from 362 homes to 346, by eliminating some lots; and shifting the main east/west road on the north side of the subdivision--what is essentially an extension of East Porter Ave.--slightly to the south, so as to avoid encroaching on a wetland.

Those were the chief issues on the table on Thursday when planners opened a public hearing on the proposed PUD amendment. No one spoke in favor of the amendment. One person had questions, Barbara Bolesh, who lives in the Village on the Green at Coffee Creek Center.

Bolesch expressed an interest in seeing drawings of Easton Park and wondered how far east of 250E it extended.

Gastevich’s attorney, Todd Leeth, summarized the boundaries of the project this way: south from the Norfolk South railroad right-of-way approximately 1,800 feet, and east from C.R. 250E about a quarter of a mile. As for drawings, Leeth said that he would be happy to provide a copy to Bolesch.

In the end, Gastevich and Leeth weren’t quite ready to proceed to a vote on the amended PUD, having not quite collected all of the necessary documentation, so asked the planners to continue the public hearing to their next meeting. The planners voted unanimously to do so and unanimously as well to close the public comment portion of the hearing.

The commission did signal its willingness, at the next meeting, to hold a preliminary hearing on primary plat approval for Easton Park.

Brassie Estates

Meanwhile, members voted unanimously to grant secondary plat approval to Phase I of the 100-lot Brassie Estates subdivision--located immediately north of the Brassie Golf Course--contingent on the town’s receipt of the appropriate performance bonds.

Phase I is comprised of 16 lots, eight on either side of a central roadway running parallel to, and accessed from, Pearson Road.

Secondary plat approval clears the developer, Schilling Development, to begin the construction of homes in Phase I only. Primary plat approval--which cleared the developer to install infrastructure in Phase I--was granted to Schilling in November 2014.

 

 

Posted 8/24/2015

 
 
 
 

 

 

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