TIMES UNION REPORTS – Concerns about the legal advertisement for the public hearing on the Greenbriar planned unit development (PUD) led the Warsaw Plan Commission to table the rezoning to its October meeting.
The proposed subdivision of 136 lots is at the southeast corner of CR 350N and Airport Road in Warsaw. The property is owned by Chandler and Erin Williams and is being developed by Oakmont Development, Fort Wayne, but Greenbriar will be sold in its entirety to a company called D.R. Horton, America’s largest residential home construction company.
The legal notice was first brought up by attorney Steve Snyder on behalf of remonstrators Tony and Mary Nicholas and The Dells Homeowners Association after he passed out some documents to the Commission.
“The top document that I handed out is the notice to interested parties of tonight’s hearing. And tonight’s hearing is not on approval of a subdivision. It is a rezoning from the current zoning classification of single-family residential to a planned unit development district, and I question, looking at that notice, whether adequate notice has been given to the public,” Snyder said.
He said certainly there were people who understood what Monday’s hearing was about and were there, but “there may have been a number of people who were misinformed by the notice and thought, ‘Oh, it’s a subdivision.’ And they looked at the bottom paragraph of that notice, which states ‘Under Indiana law, any subdivision which meets the requirements of the local subdivision control ordinance must be approved.’”
Snyder said it has to be assumed, under those circumstances, that the developer would not submit a plat that didn’t meet the requirements, so “why do I even need to show up because it’s a given?”
That’s not the case, he said, because there wasn’t a given Monday night. The Plan Commission meeting is for a recommendation from the Commission to the Common Council as to whether or not there should be a zone map amendment. “That’s the only purpose for tonight,” he said.
On the advertising issue, Thomas M. Niezer, Fort Wayne attorney for Oakmont Development, later said, “With a lot of deference to Steve, I will defer to your city attorney on the notice issue, the procedural issue. If that needs to be corrected, Oakmont believes that should be done now, not later.”
Once Niezer was finished rebutting to Snyder’s and the remonstrator’s comments that went about an hour, city attorney Scott Reust said there was every desire by everyone at the city to be transparent and give everyone an opportunity to be heard.
“I do have concerns about the notice that was sent out, specifically, I think … it does require … a description of the proposed change in the zoning map. And I don’t see that in our notice. I have concerns that it doesn’t say that and there’s a proposal to change it from a (Residential-1 zoning district) to a PUD. It does clearly say to rezone the acreage to the number of lots. But I think to this board, my advice would be, in the interest of concern and full disclosure, and I don’t want to see Mr. (Jeff) Thomas (of Oakmont) or his company move forward and have there be a technicality at a later time if it is one. My caution to this board would be, I think there should be a new notice sent out and it specifically states that the request of this petition is to change it from an R-1 to a PUD district. I think that is what the zoning ordinance would require,” Reust stated.
After a little bit of discussion among the Plan Commission members, Commission Vice President Rick Keeven made a motion to table the petition to give everyone proper notice. Commission member Jim Gast provided the second, and it was unanimously tabled by a vote of 8-0.
Greenbriar went before the Warsaw Board of Zoning Appeals July 26 for two petitions for variances, but the BZA denied both petitions 4-0 after hearing from the petitioner, Thomas, and a room full of remonstrators. The BZA denied the variances because they found no hardships on behalf of the developers.
The 80-minute hearing Monday night began with City Planner Justin Taylor providing his comments. He said the petitioner wants to subdivide a 42.26-acre lot into 136 lots containing a mix of detached single-family and attached single-family residential units. The attached single-family units will be on the eastern end of the parcel and have direct access to CR 350N. A connection is being proposed to the neighborhood to the south via Knollwood Drive in order to give residents of the Dells better access to CR 350N, he said.
Taylor said it was the opinion of the Planning Department that the Plan Commission could give a favorable recommendation to the Warsaw Common Council for the proposed PUD.
“We certainly empathize with the concerns expressed in the letters regarding this petition and the concerns and opinions that will be expressed at this meeting tonight; however, we implore you to not lose sight of the overall health and needs of our community,” he said.
“The lack of housing necessary for talent acquisition and retention has been highlighted over and over by studies and committees tasked with economic development. For those who fear change, I would encourage you to look at other similar neighborhoods that have been approved by this board like Bella Augusta or Gateway Grove. They have not had an adverse impact on the surrounding neighborhoods as some may fear,” Taylor said.
He said the housing market has been evolving and the type of housing products available to consumers must be diverse. This is not the first subdivision with single-family attached housing units proposed in the city and it won’t be the last. In the coming months, this board will see three or four more subdivisions similar in character.
At least 20 letters were submitted to the Plan Commission against the Greenbriar PUD recommendation, from Paul and Jean Rietman, Scott and Stacy Thomas, Brett and Katie Kalinowski, Kent Easterday, Melissa A. Kissling, Richard and Teresa Dick, Whitney Vanlaningham and Nastasha Hoffman, Kyle and Jennifer Bohnenkamper, Patricia Rathbun, Dave Warner, Alan Ashman, Nolan Jones, Steve Miller, Roger and Glenda Dutcher, Steve and Sandy Kiphart, Steven Matthews, Bill Penninger, Jim and Nanette Frantz, Jeremy and Criss Corson and Leslie Hart.
Niezer then spoke to the Commission in favor of the rezoning recommendation to the City Council. He talked about other subdivisions Oakmont has done in Kosciusko County, including Tuscany and Raccoon Run, both in Winona Lake. He said the single-family homes at Greenbriar will be in the price range of the upper $200,000 to $400,000, and just a little less for the attached villaminium lots.
He listed the property values of 11 homes in The Dells immediate adjacent to Greenbriar, which ranged from about $273,000 to over $400,000.
Once Niezer was finished, Snyder then took to the microphone and provided 17-18 minutes of comments about why the PUD with 136 homes does not fit in the area. He talked about many of the similar issues that he brought up at the July BZA meeting, including traffic flow, the noise from the airport, the developer can build about 80 homes on the property as it is now and a PUD just doesn’t fit.
Kissling and John Payton, homeowners, also spoke up against the PUD. Kissling said she could accept about 100 lots of single-family homes with similar aesthetics to The Dells, but the proposed PUD was too dense. Payton talked about street runoff into the pond which will affect the wildlife, the aircraft noise and the traffic. He also brought up that Greenbriar would be on sanitary sewer while The Dells homes are on septic and wells.
Niezer got a final chance for rebuttal before the meeting was closed to the public and the Commission tabled the matter.
