PORTER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
REGULAR MEETING
FEBRUARY 18, 2003

The regular meeting of the Porter County Board of Commissioners convened at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, February 18, 2003 in the Commissioners' Chambers of the Administration Center.

Those present were Com. David Burrus, Com. John Evans and Com. Larry Sheets and Attorney Gwenn Rinkenberger.

President David Burrus called the meeting to order with the Pledge of Allegiance.

APPROVAL OF PAYROLL

Com. Sheets moved to approve the payroll of February 10, 2003, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

APPROVE COURSE FOR "TALTREE TEN RACE"-OPPORTUNITY ENTERPRISES
Todd Henderlong, Development Administrator
Christine Schneidt, Volunteer Coordinator

Mr. Henderlong, "Good morning, I am with Opportunity Enterprises. Opportunity Enterprises, in conjunction with the Porter County Foundation, is proposing to conduct a foot-road race of 10 miles out at Aberdeen this April 19. The route would go through Aberdeen subdivision and out through a back access road to the Links, and back. We do have copies of our race application with the map on there. We have been in contact with Dave Schelling of the Highway Department as well as Sheriff Reynolds who both have given their endorsement of this. We will work with Dave to provide volunteers throughout all the intersections to insure the safety of the runners. Our plan right now is to utilize half the road through the subdivision and out on the county roads. In fact, we would shut down one lane of traffic and then the other lane of traffic would be secure as one way for ingress/egress of the local residents. The race will start at 8:00 in the morning. We anticipate being through the subdivision within a half hour and probably tying up the one lane of traffic for no more than 2 hours and 15 minutes. We have been working with several race directors of other races in the area to help finalize this process and work the ins and outs of this race to make a smooth and easy transition for everyone."

Com. Burrus, "You will be maintaining the traffic flow on 100 North during the race?"

Mr. Henderlong, "We are going to shut down and maintain at least the local traffic and we will have barricades up and Dave Schelling is providing the barricades and cones. We will be barricading off the thru traffic. We will leave a lane open for emergency vehicles and in the event any of the residents need to ingress or egress. We will have volunteers at all the corners to direct that. There will be no thru traffic."

Com. Burrus, "The sheriff is comfortable with that as well?"

Mr. Henderlong, "Yes, we have discussed it with him."

Com. Sheets, "They have done all the things we have asked them to do. 100 North is never that busy and this is on a Saturday morning. They only use a short portion of 250 West then 100."

Com. Evans, "I don't have any problem with this, but with the frost coming out of the ground pretty soon, you might want to go over the route again and see if there is any patching that needs to be done, or potholes to be fixed, then contact Dave Schelling. I think he will help you with that."

Mr. Henderlong, "Yes, with the access that was just cut slag right now. Luckily, I have a cousin who is a landscaper and we will go and fill in any spots if needed."

Com. Sheets, "Well, you could have said since this is in my district that the roads are perfect, but you didn't say that."

Com. Sheets moved to approve the request for the foot race, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.


OFFICE HOLDERS/DEPARTMENT HEADS
Ed Melendez, Porter County Parks Department

Mr. Melendez, "What you have in front of you is a final blue print that was submitted to the state of Indiana for the building and construction of a gazebo, a 14' by 24' out at Sunset Hill Park. It was started about last Fall and due to the death of one of the NIPA members' wives, had made a request to have a gazebo built. NIPA had gotten together and had the memorial funds that was for the lady, which was Charlie Hardesty's wife, Nancy. Funds were raised by the NIPA group for the gazebo. When it came down to it, it well succeeded past what they wanted. The additional money was put up for landscaping and having a memorial garden around it. They had stayed with a local contractor who had worked with them. The contractor who is building the gazebo, which is a cedar gazebo, has donated his time to assemble it and we have a contractor locally that is donating the concrete and labor. NIPA themselves are donating the electrical and water hook ups and have set some funds to the side for maintenance for a few years. Once that is all completed, it will be turned over to the Parks Department so we can use it for rentals for weddings or any other functions we want to tie in with our festivals. I wanted to bring it in front of you. We have completed the state forms, we have met with Ray upstairs and he gave us the okay. The Park Board has approved it; the NIPA board has approved it; and now we are bringing it to the Commissioners to make sure we have followed all of our steps. If you have any questions, I will try and answer those."

Com. Sheets, "It is nice when you get people to work together and all the donations for the betterment of the entire community is just great."

Com. Burrus, "One thing I wanted to mention was that any real assets that are built on the property out there would be just as they are at the Expo Center and would become the property of Porter County Government."

Mr. Melendez, "That is correct. We have talked about that at the NIPA board meetings and the Park Board has relayed that to them also and once it is completed NIPA knows that it becomes part of the property of Sunset Hill Park."

Com. Burrus, "One other thing is the fact that it becomes a fixture to the extent that there is a requirement for potential liability insurance that falls into our budget. We appreciate you coming in and keeping us informed like you are doing. Should there be any other facilities in the pipeline, for example, I think you mentioned one time possibly, then we are going to need to stay coordinated on that, too and make sure if it comes on line we have the resources to provide the necessary insurance."

Mr. Melendez, "We have some blueprints that I will bring in and drop off at your office. You will see the project that has been going on for some time as "Raising the Barn." That is an activity center to replace the old structures out at Sunset Hill. Another one that the foundation has raised money for is the interpretive center for our naturalist program. It is a smaller building and right now we have met both of those on Saturday to clarify some expenses. There is still a lot more to be done. Before anything takes off, I will report it to the Park Board and get back to you gentlemen."

Com. Burrus, "You are doing a terrific job with finding resources and volunteers and donations for these projects and then the ongoing obligations are there as well and we need to make sure that we have those resources."

Mr. Melendez, "I will make sure we keep expressing that to that existing boards."

Com. Evans, "I appreciate that you are using all local people and that they are willing to help you."

Mr. Melendez, "It has been fantastic for us."

Com. Burrus, "Thank you."

Severe Weather Proclamation-
Phil Griffith, Emergency Management Director

Mr. Griffith, "I took a weather dynamics class a few weeks ago and the meteorologist from IU told me that anyone that predicts more than 3 days in advance is guessing and he has a doctorate in that and I don't so I will take his word for it. But in theory, Severe Weather Week is approaching us. Indiana has declared March 2 through March 8 as Severe Weather Awareness Week. During that week, on Wednesday, they will actually have a statewide tornado drill which all schools, government agencies, police, and fire, will be involved in a statewide tornado drill. It will be sometime between 1:00 and 1:30 p.m. and 6:00 and 6:30 p.m. our time. The local government leaders and our schools are going to be involved in that so we are asking for this proclamation. The state has issued one for the state. We are also going to be doing quite a few severe weather awareness classes for different agencies and school groups that week also."

PROCLAMATION
SEVERE WEATHER AWARENESS WEEK
MARCH 2-8, 2003
Whereas, the months of March through June present the highest risk for severe thunderstorms and tornados to strike Porter County; and
Whereas, Porter County is located within the nation's "Tornado Belt" becoming a prime target of devastating tornado outbreaks and other types of severe weather; and
Whereas, A statewide tornado warning exercise will be held on March 5, 2003, for the purpose of testing communication systems, equipment and procedures; and
Whereas, During this week, the Porter County Emergency Management Agency is emphasizing its safety procedures involving tornado activity;
Now therefore, we the Porter County Board of Commissioners do hereby proclaim March 2-8, 2003 as Severe Weather Awareness Week in Porter County and encourage all citizens to become aware of tornado signs, and to learn how to safeguard the lives of their families, friends and citizenry in the event of severe weather activity in our area.
This Proclamation passed this 18th day of February, 2003.
S/David L. Burrus
S/John A. Evans
S/ Larry D. Sheets

Com. Sheets moved to approve the Severe Weather Awareness Week Proclamation, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.


CORRESPONDENCE

Treasurer's monthly report for January 2003 is on file.
Veteran's Service Officer monthly report for January 2003 is on file.
Building Dept. monthly report for January 2003 is on file.
Court Security monthly report for January 2003 is on file.
Health Dept. Vital Records report for December 2002 is on file.

Acceptance of late enrollee to Porter County Employee Health Benefit Plan

Com. Sheets moved to approve the acceptance of Nicole Charpentier to the Porter County Employee Benefit Plan with coverage effective February 1, 2003, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

Approve catering contract for Kelsey's for Expo Center

Com. Evans moved to approve the contract for catering service at the Expo Center with Kelsey's Steak House, Com. Sheets seconded, motion carried.


Contract for Human Resource consulting services-Ray Temple

Com. Burrus, "If you recall, this was scaled back considerably last year. The Council has indicated that they were not in a position to pay their share as they had in the past. Last year we had decided that with the situation of cut backs and employee changes and so forth that we were of the opinion that it might be well to keep this on hand to provide the necessary direction and guidance that might be required as we dealt with some of these issues. The time has come to decide again and this is open for discussion."

Com. Evans, "I kind of think we leave ourselves wide open to some liability issues if we don't have somebody to guide us in these endeavors. Its never easy to lay people off and it is always wise to do it in a proper manner. I would say we probably need to re-enter into this agreement."

Com. Sheets, "Is this entire $9,000.00 in our budget now? Could we have any comments from the Council as to whether we ought to continue this at budget time?"

Com. Burrus, "I think the general consensus last year was that they thought it was worthwhile but yet they weren't prepared to fund it. Therefore, we had cut back in scope to half."

Com. Sheets moved to approve the contract with Ray Temple for human resource consulting at a cost of $750.00 per month,

Com. Evans, "When the Council did their 10% cuts, this was the only place they could cut
and that is why they did it. They did express they wanted us to retain the services if we could. Mr. Temple has been very generous with the cuts that were given."

Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

Approve toxicology agreement with Great Lakes Laboratories for 2003

Com. Burrus, "The figure for this contract is $194,031.12. John, do you want to shed any light on this?"

Com. Evans, "These are the people that do the drug testing for the narcotics unit, adult probation, juvenile probation, and the court system. They also do the coroner's work and anything the sheriff needs done. They are the ones that get out of bed in the middle of the night to verify something is what it is supposed to be to make an arrest and to follow through on the court system, they give testimony. They earn their money."

Com. Evans moved to approve, Com. Sheets seconded,

Com. Burrus, "Prior to voting, I would like to make a comment on this, too. I have met with these people personally and the cost they are charging us for tests are generally based on the cost of doing the test only. John mentioned the fact that they do in fact testify as expert witnesses on our behalf. This is at no additional charge. The services they are providing are far and away more expeditious and probably more economical than any other alternative that we have. John, if you could comment on the alternative of the state police lab and what that situation is."

Com. Evans, "Well, from my experience in the Coroner's office, the only samples sent to the state police lab were if the state police were involved in the case. In other words, if it was a case investigated by our sheriff's department it would be given a lessor priority. Most of the time the turn around time was about six months. I did have some that were over a year; year and a half. These people usually get it back to you within 10 to 14 days tops and if you need a rush, you will get it overnight."

Com. Burrus, "Plus they are a local firm. I believe they are located in Michigan City."

Com. Evans, "Right. And the owners live in Porter County."

Motion carried.

Proclaim April as Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention Month

Com. Burrus, "This request is from LuAnn Shirley for a proclamation to have April designated as Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention Month. They would also like permission to hang blue ribbons on trees around the courthouse and the Administration Center. Do we have any additional information on this?"

Com. Sheets, "We have done this in the past and certainly child abuse awareness is important. It seems like every year they ask for it and we take it seriously. It ought not to happen. We don't make light of this, it is unfortunate that we have child abuse."

Com. Burrus, "This is actually for the week of April 6th through the 12th. As you mentioned it has been an annual event here for several years. Lets also address the request for a proclamation if we could. They have drafted a proclamation and I will read it."

CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION MONTH PROCLAMATION

Whereas, child abuse prevention is a community problem and finding solutions depends on involvement among people throughout the community;
Whereas, statistics of children who are abused and neglected escalate each year;
Whereas, the effects of child abuse are felt by whole communities, and need to be addressed by the entire community;
Whereas, effective child abuse prevention programs succeed because of partnerships created among social service agencies, schools religious organizations, law enforcement agencies and the business community;
Whereas, youth serving prevention programs offer positive alternatives for young people and encourage youth to develop strong ties to their community;
Whereas, all citizens should become more aware of child abuse and its prevention within the community, and become involved in supporting parents to raise their children in a safe, nurturing environment;
Now therefore, we the Commissioners of Porter County, Indiana, do hereby proclaim April as Child Abuse Prevention Month in Porter County, Indiana; and call upon all citizens, community agencies, religious organizations, medical facilities, and businesses to increase their participation in our efforts to prevent child abuse, thereby strengthening the communities in which we live.
Dated this 18th day of February, 2003.
Porter County Board of Commissioners
S/David L. Burrus
S/John A. Evans
S/Larry D. Sheets

Com. Sheets moved to approve April as Child Abuse Prevention Month, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

Concerts in the Park-courthouse square July 23, 2003

Com. Burrus, "We have a request from the Valparaiso Department of Parks and Recreation to conduct a performance of their annual summer Concert in the Parks series on the west lawn of the Porter County Courthouse on Wednesday, July 23, 2003. The 7:00 p.m. concert is open to the public free of charge and will feature 100 band students from the Valparaiso Community Schools summer music program. They also request the Valparaiso Board of Works to close northbound traffic on Washington Street from Indiana to Lincolnway, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. for the safety of the patrons. In case of rain, the concert will be held at Valparaiso High School."

Com. Sheets, "We need to make sure Charlotte from maintenance is notified so any cooperation they need from us, she will be aware of."

Com. Sheets moved to approve the request to hold the concert on July 23, 2003 at 7:00 p.m. on the courthouse square, Com. Evans seconded,

Com. Burrus, "I think one comment we made recently on some of the other events that have been held there is that when they are completed with their event, the housekeeping be restored back to the condition they found it or better. That means picking up any litter and debris and so forth and leaving the site in a positive condition. Valparaiso Parks Department would take care of that, but I would like to make that part of our agreement."

Motion carried.

Frost law to be put in effect
Jack Jarnecke, Highway Superintendent

Com. Burrus, "Later this morning we have a Poor Relief Hearing at 11:30 a.m. with the
Center Township Trustee and then this afternoon at 1:30 we have two issues with the Plan Commission, both PUD requests for approval. Is there any other business from the audience?"

Jack Jarnecke, "I just have a couple things this morning. One is the frost law. I was wondering about the posting of that if I can't get any support out of the Sheriff's Department, it does me no good to post it."

Com. Sheets, "Are you talking about enforcing it?"

Mr. Jarnecke, "Yes."

Com. Burrus, "What kind of experience have you had along those lines?"

Mr. Jarnecke, "It hasn't been too good lately. When we call in where we have roads posted, I don't get any support back from the Sheriff's Department."

Com. Sheets, "I think a call needs to be made by this Board during the recess to see if we can't get something done. I know in years' past, we have asked them to assign a particular officer to work with the Highway Department so that you have communication one on one so something gets done. I would suggest that this Board follow-up and make a call. We are trying to make gains on our roads and we can't allow heavy traffic, specifically trucks to destroy those gains."

Mr. Jarnecke, "The roads are not looking good going into this spring."

Com. Burrus, "I think this frost law exercise is obviously an imposition and a burden on everybody. We recognize that but the payback is in the fact that you try to preserve what road condition that you have. That is what we need to do. This year with the cold temperature we probably have frost penetration a lot deeper than we would normally have. The deeper the frost goes, the more we disturb that subgrade and we have more risk of damage. I think we need to contact the Sheriff and see if we can work out some kind of agreement for support."

Mr. Jarnecke, "By the time of posting the roads and trying to keep an eye on them, if we don't have any support, it is a wasted cause."

Com. Sheets, "I have a suspicion as soon as this meeting is over, there will be reporters contacting the Sheriff's Department and there will be items in the paper tomorrow and I think we will get a response. Out of courtesy, at your earliest convenience, David, you should give them a call."

Mr. Jarnecke, "In our sign shop, we have a stack of computers out there, everything has been stripped out of them. They take up a lot of space. You are not going to get anything for them, they need to be disposed of."

Com. Sheets, "Talk to Solid Waste."

Com. Burrus, "Whose computers are they? If they belong to Data Processing, you need to talk to them."

Com. Sheets, "Well, all computers go through Data Processing but what you need to do is find out what their intent is, I assume they are following the county rules of sending all non useable equipment out there to have the opportunity to have an auction. I think you need to check with Sharon, then talk to Therese in Solid Waste. They have a way of disposing of those things. I don't think we will get anything out of them at auction."

Mr. Jarnecke, "When we had a whole truck load of them from the Sheriff's Department we only got about $25.00 for all of them."

Com. Evans, "We do need to check to make sure they are from Data Processing because the Health Department had a few new ones come in and I don't know if those might be some of their old ones. Sharon will be able to tell you."

Com. Sheets, "She can tell you and then they can be discarded. See Therese and they might even come out and pick them up. That is my suggestion."

Com. Burrus, "Follow up on that Jack and if you need any help, we can push it further."

Mr. Jarnecke, "I have a problem with one of the leases, the payment was not made on time. I just want to say it was not any fault of the Highway Department. I talked to the auditor in January on these and thought they were paid but they didn't get paid."

Com. Evans, "Can you help us out, Sandy?"

Ms. Vuko, "I think we had a problem with them, Jack, because they weren't turned in on time. I think they have since been paid."

Mr. Jarnecke, "That is all I have."

Com. Burrus, "Any further comments from anybody? How about a motion to recess?"

Com. Evans moved to recess, Com. Sheets seconded, motion carried.

AFTERNOON SESSION-PLAN COMMISSION
Steve Nigro, Interim Plan Commission Director
Rezone, Jeff Bann, 1st reading

Mr. Nigro, "This is a request for rezone along with the ordinance and the written commitments from R1 zoning to PUD. When this went before the Plan Commission, it received a unanimous 9-0 vote for favorable recommendation. The Commission felt the evaluation criteria was satisfied correctly by the petitioner at that time."

Todd Leeth, "I am here on behalf of Edgewood LLC. The petitioner, Mr. Bann, joins me from DVG. He is the design consultant on the project and we appeared before the Plan Commission for public hearing on January 8 and received a favorable recommendation at that time for a PUD and returned to the Plan Commission and they have adopted their recommendations. I have provided each of you a copy of those. I also provided to you a copy of the ordinance that we are asking you to adopt today which is the PUD district ordinance that your ordinance requires for PUD's, you have to adopt this special ordinance. That ordinance incorporates by reference this document I am showing on the board which is the site improvement plan, or looks like a plat but for PUD process it is the site improvement plan. It is a 24 acre parcel we are talking about. US Highway 30 is the northern property line of this development. Along the east is Shorewood Forest and then a small parcel L-shaped in this area currently under option for purchase by the Shorewood Property Owners Association. Then the Shorewood Forest development surrounds the L-shaped parcel on the other two sides, the south and the west. We've had some negotiations over many months that resulted in an agreement with the property owners' association and utility company. The utility company has agreed to provide sanitary sewer service to the development. The property owner's association has agreed to support this petition publically and I have provided that to you as well. In order for the property owners' association to grant their support of this petition, they have been provided and we have agreed to construct certain architecturally styled homes in this development which is consistent with some of the Shorewood development. Of most concern, on the east you will notice the plan shows for the largest lots in the entire development. There are nine lots that join the eastern property line. That is the exact number of lots that are in the Shorewood Forest property to the east. We've also agreed to leave the tree line there and to add some additional screening along the eastern property line which is set out in that agreement. As for the ordinance, there are two changes I made from the last time I appeared before you February 4th, and I want to bring those to light. Those were suggested when we went back to TAC on February 7th, three days after we appeared before you. Those changes are to the section with regard to sidewalks. My ordinance said there would be no sidewalks yet the site improvement plan does show sidewalks so we have those things now matching. The ordinance was changed to show the sidewalks are provided pursuant to this plan. The other change was made to reinforce that this 11 or 12 acre out lot parcel, the maintenance of that will be by the property owner's association. So we clarified that by adding a sentence in the ordinance. There were two clerical changes and I will point those out if you ask. Those were the only changes since February 4th. I think that is the thumbnail of the plan. I will be happy to answer any questions you may have."

Com. Burrus, "Since we are in the public hearing portion, I will offer the opportunity for any remonstrators, which apparently there are none."

Com. Evans, "Has everybody been notified?"

Mr. Leeth, "They were through the process, but I don't about for this hearing today, but as for the Plan Commission where the public hearing is required by state statute, they were notified."

Com. Burrus, "With that then, we can close the public portion of the hearing. Any discussion?"

Com. Sheets, "This has been going on for a long time. I met with his client and I made it clear there was a serious problem with what he proposed. I told him there were three items that I as an individual could not accept. They needed to be corrected. One is as you see along the east side, even though this is a site, it does show the lots there, they had in one case, five lots backing up to one yard. That should not be allowed and it was suggested they change it. They did that and it looks pretty good. Secondly, they need to visit with Shorewood's water, sewer and utilities and tie into them rather than going with their own. Third, I suggested they follow through with meeting with the homeowners through their board or a representative to have some dialog and hopefully get a recommendation on behalf of this rezoning. They have met the three serious criteria that I asked them to. It is a much better plan than originally presented. They are here for rezoning and I don't have a problem with it."

Com. Evans, "I'm glad Larry is back on the Plan Commission."

Com. Burrus, "I want to thank both Barb and Todd for their assistance in trying to add some clarity in what we have been doing. We are going to be looking at the approval of the ordinance as well as the zoning issues. I don't have any negative thoughts whatsoever. If Larry's concerns are met and John doesn't have any, then I think we have the documentation we need."

Com. Sheets moved to approve the ordinance on first reading, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

Rezone-amend PUD Ordinance, Aberdeen Phase I, Benchmark Ltd.
Barb Young, President

Mr. Nigro, "This was before the Plan Commission on the 12th of February. It received a favorable recommendation with a vote of 8-1, however, within that motion it was recommended that the lot size of 8,500 square feet be increased to a number we did not come up with a number in that motion but that is going to be a main concern of any remonstrators we had that evening. The rezone was approved, this was taken a little differently-what I am going to call a two-phase step. What we are looking at this afternoon is strictly the ordinance they are proposing."

Barb Young, "My name is Barb Young and I am president of Benchmark, Ltd. one of the developers of Aberdeen. As Steve mentioned, this is the second stage before you as an ordinance to adopt the standards for this. This generated from the fact that the seven acres was not included in the original Aberdeen. When you rezoned it, you thought it was a PUD so that piece along with what was already incorporated, about 13 acres, the major issues that were presented at the Plan Commission the first time and at your last hearing dealt with the preservation of trees and the concerns of the architectural control of lots sizes and other issues in this vicinity. When you approved the rezoning, you did recommend we increase the lot sizes to 8,500 square feet and this site plan does that. All these lots are minimal 8,500 square feet and we have incorporated what is marked as OS58, that is the major portion of the tree preservation area that will be designated as a preservation easement on the final plat. There can be no building that will be owned by the homeowner's association as with the rest of the amenities throughout Aberdeen. We believe that the 8,500 square foot lot size is appropriate. There was only one remonstrance from the individuals from Aberdeen that attended the last hearing. They are not here this afternoon. I am sure they continue to be concerned about that but when you take in consideration the number of people that were here previously, and the compromises we made, we only had one individual from within the development and one from outside that appeared at the hearing. Our architectural control standards are incorporated in the restrictive covenants which have already been presented and they are consistent with all other neighborhoods in Aberdeen so we feel that the compromise we reached last time was still appropriate. I ask that you consider to adopt the ordinance as presented."

Com. Burrus, "With that presentation, we will have the opportunity for anyone to rebut, since there are none, we will close the public portion of the hearing. Larry, any questions?"

Com. Sheets, "In this case, there were three items we addressed at our last meeting. One was we felt that the property that was annexed was better served by being inside Aberdeen rather than outside. We were unanimous on that. The other one was the agreement with the residents of Aberdeen to protect the tree stand so there is a barrier between them and the new housing. The third item, I know we talked about lot size, I couldn't remember what it was before being 8,500, they were running about 6,800, is that correct?"

Ms. Young, "They were about 7,200 or 7,400."

Com. Sheets, "Somehow we worked out a compromise and we got them to the size they are. I apologize to Barb that I could not remember and not able to make a presentation at the Plan Commission. I am under the impression that the people who live across the fairway were somewhat satisfied with that agreement. None of them were at the meeting last week, in fact, but one gentleman."

Com. Evans, "I think there were a couple lots around 6,800 and some were 7,200. The stand of trees seemed to be the focal point of everybody's argument. We try to accommodate everybody. The nicest thing is to connect those roads, it connects the whole development back together and I think we need to keep in mind that this is mainly for empty nesters and I think if I was in that category, I don't know that I would want much more than 8,500 square feet to take care of. The landscaping is going to be in conformance with the rest of the project, on the golf course side anyway."

Com. Evans moved to approve, Com. Sheets seconded,

Com. Burrus, "I think that open space that you are dedicating is a significant amount and I think that would offset any decision we may come up with here to keep the minimum lot size at 8,500 feet with the Plan Commission's recommendation to go larger, I don't think that is an appropriate request. Barb, do you have any idea what the area of that open space is in terms of acreage?"

Ms. Young, "I don't know. Its not listed on here."

Com. Burrus, "Proportionately speaking, it is a significant piece of real estate and you could do it in terms of open space or in terms of larger lots but I can't see where you could be expected to do both. We are very pleased with the layout also."

Motion carried.

Com. Evans moved to recess, Com. Sheets seconded, motion carried.

With no further business to discuss, the meeting was recessed.

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PORTER COUNTY, INDIANA

David L. Burrus
John A. Evans
Larry D. Sheets

Attest: Sandra K. Vuko, Auditor