Even during the winter season, the Steuben County Plan Commission continues code enforcement actions. This entry gives an update of these continuing efforts.
Environmental Nuisance. (Ordinance 658) The Plan Commission has received 3 new environmental nuisance complaints in January & February 2010. During the same period of 2009, a total of 53 new environmental nuisance complaints were received.
The following graph shows the new environmental nuisance complaints received by the Steuben County Plan Commission per month since January 2009.
Abandoned Vehicles. (Ordinance 771) The Plan Commission has received 1 new abandoned vehicle complaint in January & February 2010. During the same period of 2009, a total of 53 new environmental nuisance complaints were received.
The following graph shows the new abandoned vehicle complaints received by the Steuben County Plan Commission per month since January 2009.
Other Ordinance Violations. The Plan Commission has opened 18 new cases for other ordinance violations in January & February 2010. During the same period of 2009, a total of 48 new cases were opened. (Other ordinance violations include building without a permit or installing a sign without a permit.)
The following graph shows the new environmental nuisance complaints received by the Steuben County Plan Commission per month since January 2009.
Closed Cases. Winter has become the time when Code Enforcement has time to review all of the open files. This has especially be the case these past few years. Beginning in October 2009, the Plan Commission began a full review of all of the open files in the cabinets, including some dating back to 2000.
In January and February 2010, the Plan Commission was able to close 78 open files. During the same period in 2009, a total of 271 open files were closed.
Reforms are underway that will reduce the length of time that complaints are open to no more than 90 days. We are pleased to note that since January 2009, the Plan Commission has closed more cases than it received in 10 of the 14 months. The 4 months we opened more cases than we closed were March (18), May (7), June (7), & September (3).
The following graph shows the cases closed by the Steuben County Plan Commission per month since January 2009.
SE-10-01 Kevin & Jennifer Wall - APPROVED as presented with conditions (5-0) Special Exception Use for a mobile home in an Agricultural Zoning District Conditions: The special exception shall be reviewed in five (5) years. As presented. Notes: None.
V-10-08 Robert & Cathern VanLear - DENIED (0-5) Lakefront setback of sixteen (16) feet rather than the twenty (20) feet required. Conditions: None. Notes: Post-construction. Because the variance was denied, the structure will have to be removed.
V-10-17 William & Constance Carroll - APPROVED with conditions (5-0) Height of three (3) stories & thirty-four (34) feet eleven (11) inches rather than the two (2) stories the twenty-seven (27) feet allowed. Conditions: 1) Working drain in the driveway along the Getz property designed to prevent runoff from the driveway onto the Getz property, 2) The tile along the Carroll/Getz property line shall drain to the lake, 3) Landscaping per the plan prepared by Millgrove Landscaping, & 4) Erosion control shall be installed prior to construction. Notes: Post-construction.
V-10-18 Jean Hartman & Grabill Bank as Trustee of the Diane McAllister Family Credit Shelter Trust - APPROVED as presented (5-0) Lakefront setback of eight (8) feet rather than the fifty (50) feet required. Conditions: As presented. Notes:Proposed structure with the eight (8) foot lakefront setback is a single-story addition on the western side of the home.
The Steuben County Board of Zoning Apeals will hold a hearing on Monday, March 8, 2010. The hearing will be located in the Multi-purpose Room of the Steuben Community Center, 317 S. Wayne, Angola, IN. and will begin at 7pm.
The agenda for the hearing is located earlier in this weblog or on the "Home Tab" of the Steuben County GIS site.
The hearing will be broadcast live on the internet and recorded for later viewing. (Technical issues may interfere with the broadcast.)
P-10-02 Phillip & Patricia Zabst - APPROVED (7-0) Primary approval of a minor subdivision with two (2) lots on twenty (20) acres. Conditions: None. Notes: Plan Director will conduct secondary approval.
P-10-03 Jane Gates - APPROVED (7-0) Primary approval for a minor subdivision with thre (3) lots on eighty (80) acres. Conditions: None. Notes: Plan Director will conduct secondary approval.
P-10-04 Grace Ingledue Trust - APPROVED (7-0) Primary approval for a minor subdivision with one (1) lot on one and six-tenths (1.6) acres. Conditions: None. Notes: Plan Director will conduct secondary approval.
SE-10-01 Kevin & Jennifer Wall - APPROVED (7-0) Special exception use for a mobile home in an agricultural zoning district. Special exception will not have a negative impact on the comprehensive plan. Conditions: None. Notes: Petition is forwarded to the Steuben County Board of Zoning Appeals. (March 8, 2010)
Amendment to the Steuben County Plan Commission Rules of Procedure - APPROVED as presented (7-0) Amendments include: addition of a code of conduct and ethics, changes to the agenda setting process, updates to language, & correction of grammatical errors Conditions: As presented. Notes: None.
A version of the following article appears in "The Higher Standard," the newsletter for the Builders Association of Northeast Indiana. www.ba-ni.com. (That article was shortened to allow it to fit in the available space.)
With the daylight growing longer, the frost will be breaking soon, and a new building season will be upon us. The Steuben County Plan Commission is looking forward to this spring and wants to alert the builders of some very important upcoming changes.
As we all know, there were many changes between the old zoning ordinance and the new zoning ordinance adopted in 2008. For good or ill, the Plan Commission decided not to fully enforce all provisions of the new zoning ordinance. The rationale was that because of the number of changes, it would be less painful to enforce in stages rather than all at once.
Effective Monday, April 5, 2010, the Plan Commission will fully enforce Chapter 16. This chapter describes what information must be on a site plan, required for non-residential projects, and what information must be on a sketch plan, required for agricultural and residential projects. (A complete list of which plan, sketch or site plan, that different types of projects require can be found in Section 16.02 on page 16-1 of the Zoning Ordinance.)
Most sketch plans this office receives contain most, but not all, of the required information. Section 16.03 on page 16-2 of the Zoning Ordinance lists the required information. Here is a basic review of what the Plan Commission will be looking for on sketch plans: • Name, address, & seal of the professional engineer or land surveyor who prepared the site/sketch plan • The address of the property • Photograph(s) of existing site conditions • Property survey showing topography, existing structures, utilities, and floodplain elevation • Property boundaries, including dimensions • Net lot area (exclusive of road right-of way, easements, or submerged land) • Building and impervious surface coverages • Drawing scale and a north arrow • Zoning of site and adjacent land • Rights-of-way (with street name and classification labeled) and easements • Drainage courses, floodplains, lakes, streams, and wetlands • Required yards and setbacks • Adjacent buildings, structures, or pavement within 100 feet of site, including buildings and decks on adjacent waterfront lots • All existing and proposed structures or other site improvement with the dimensions of such improvements • Height of all structures • Distances from all proposed structures to the property lines • Location of any existing or proposed septic field or grinder • Well sites • Location of any existing or proposed driveway and/or parking areas • Fences or walls • General grades on-site to determine positive drainage • Flood hazard areas, including the finished floor elevation, base flood elevation, and flood protection grade for all structures
The Plan Commission is developing a sample sketch plan with all of the required information. We expect to have this available in the middle of March.
Starting Monday, April 5, the Plan Commission will not issue an Improvement Location Permit unless the site plan is complete. We understand that this will require more information up-front and may increase the cost of construction. However, these requirements are included in the Zoning Ordinance.
We believe that staff will be able to review applications more accurately and more quickly once this is implemented. It will reduce the amount of time spent at the counter and greatly reduce the number of errors and stop work orders resulting from incomplete information.
The Steuben County Plan Commission will hold a hearing on Wednesday, March 10, 2010. The hearing will be located in the Multi-purpose Room of the Community Center, 317 S. Wayne, Angola, IN. and will begin at 7pm.
The agenda for the hearing is located earlier in this weblog or on the "Home Tab" of the Steuben County GIS site.
The hearing will be broadcast live on the internet and recorded for later viewing. (Technical issues may interfere with the broadcast.)
The Steuben County Plan Commission and Steuben County Purdue Extension will host a Purdue Extension video seminar on Monday, March 1, 2010, from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. The topic for this seminar is “Board of Zoning Appeals in Depth.”
The interactive program will help new and experienced members, elected officials, and interested citizens understand how Boards of Zoning Appeals can and should function. The program will explore BZA duties, the decision-making process, appeals, methods to reduce the BZA's workload, and legislative updates.
The program is free and open to the public.
Presenters include Jamie Palmer, Center for Urban Policy and the Environment, and K.K. Gerhart-Fritz, the Planning Workshop.
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