PORTER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
REGULAR MEETING
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2006
6:00 P.M.

The regular meeting of the Porter County Board of Commissioners convened at 6:00 p.m. in the Commissioners’ Chambers of the Administration Center, 155 Indiana Avenue, Suite 205, Valparaiso IN 46383.

Those present were: Commissioners Robert Harper and John Evans, County Attorney Gwenn Rinkenberger, Melissa Hartig and Vi Wagner.

President Harper called the meeting to order with the Pledge of Allegiance.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Com. Evans moved to approve the minutes of February 7, 2006, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

APPROVAL OF PAYROLL

Com. Evans moved to approve the payroll of February 21, 2006, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING A COUNTY CORRECTIONS FUND FOR LEVEL 3 FUNDING—2ND READING

ORDINANCE NO. 06-03
PORTER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

AN ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING A COUNTY CORRECTIONS FUND
FOR LEVEL 3 FUNDING
PURSUANT TO I.C. 11-12-6-1 ET SEQ.
________________________________________________________________________
WHEREAS, the Porter County Board of Commissioners adopted the Porter County Municipal Code on Tuesday, December 2, 1997 pursuant to Ordinance No. 97-38; and
WHEREAS, the Porter County Board of Commissioners has deemed it necessary to pass a new ordinance for inclusion in the Porter County Code; and
WHEREAS, for the purpose of this ordinance, the Board of Commissioners of Porter County, Indiana, constitutes the County legislative body as per I.C. 36-1-2-9; and
WHEREAS, I.C. 11-12-6-1 et seq. provides that the Board of Commissioners of Porter County may elect to establish a County Corrections Fund; and

NOW THEREFORE BE IT AND IT IS HEREBY ORDAINED THAT:
1. Chapter 3.12 (County Corrections Fund) Section 3.12.010 (Fund established) is added to the Porter County Municipal Code to read as follows:
3.12.010 Fund established
Pursuant to I.C. 11-12-6-1 et seq., a County Corrections Fund is established and the County elects to receive deposits into the fund from the Indiana Department of Corrections on the basis of Level 3 Funding as set forth in I.C. 11-12-6-13(c).
(Ord. 98-10; Ord. 97-9; Ord. 96-7)

This ordinance passed and adopted this ______ day of __________________, 2006.
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PORTER COUNTY, INDIANA
s/Robert P. Harper
s/John A. Evans

Attest:s/Sandra K. Vuko, Porter County Auditor

Com. Evans moved to approve Ordinance 06-03 on 2nd reading, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

OFFICE HOLDERS/DEPARTMENT HEADS
Purchase Copier Discussion
John Thorstad, Expo Manager

Com. Evans, “Is this a repossessed one?”

Mr. Thorstad, “It’s a leased unit that was returned. It was only out for a year. I’ve had some pretty good luck in past jobs with those. Usually all the bugs are worked out by then and they are pretty good units.”

Com. Evans, “Same warranty as the new ones?”

Mr. Thorstad, “Yes.”

Com. Harper, “Do we have a lease to approve?”

Mr. Thorstad, “No, it is a returned unit, we are actually purchasing it.”

Com. Evans, “The cost?”

Mr. Thorstad, “I believe it was $3,200.00, well, $3,155.00.”

Com. Evans, “And this is the lesser of three bids and is an outright purchase as opposed to a lease?”

Com. Evans moved to approve the Ikon purchase for the Expo Center at $3,155.00, money to come from the CCD fund, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.


COMMISSIONERS REPORTS

North District: Com. Evans

1. The City of Portage requests several documents to transfer ownership of a small portion of the North Porter County Government Complex property to Portage for Willowcreek Road right of way and a temporary easement for drive reconstruction. Everything is in order. The documents included:
Resolution approving transfer of real estate,
Commissioner’s Deed,
Grant of Easement,
Sales Disclosure form

A duplicate resolution will be signed by Portage and includes wordage that Portage will replace the sign and lamp that is in front of the North Porter County Government Complex. Recommend approval.

Com. Evans moved to approve, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

2. Harborage Subdivision Road Agreement, located on the south side of CR 650 North at Pioneer Pass, hereby offer to contribute $750.00/lot for a total of $9,000.00. Owner and subdivider is NISA Enterprises, Inc.. Recommend approval.

Com. Evans moved to approve, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

3. Eagle Ridge Subdivision, Phase I, Performance Letter of Credit 2005-ILC-546 from Bank Calumet in the amount of $104,830.00. Expiration date is April 14, 2007.
Recommend approval.

Com. Evans moved to approve, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

4. Eagle Ridge Subdivision, Phase II, Performance Letter of Credit 2005-ILC-584 from Bank Calumet in the amount of $106,980.00. Expiration date is April 28, 2008. Recommend approval.

Com. Evans moved to approve, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

Center District: Com. Harper

1. Vernon Wood Performance Letter of Credit #2400002402 from Sand Ridge Bank in the amount of $402,200.00. Expiration date is August 16, 2008. Recommend approval.

Com. Harper moved to approve, Com. Evans seconded, motion carried.

CORRESPONDENCE

Treasurer’s monthly report for January 2006 is on file.

Approval of Emergency Management to proclaim March 5-11, 2006 as Severe Weather Preparedness Week

Com. Evans moved to approve the request by Phil Griffith, of Emergency Management to proclaim March 5-11, 2006 as Severe Weather Preparedness Week, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

Approval of the South Haven Boy’s and Girl’s Junior Garden Club to proclaim June 4-11, 2006 as National Garden Week (This proclamation will be displayed at the South Haven Public Library)

Com. Evans moved to approve the request of the South Haven Boy’s and Girl’s Junior Garden Club to proclaim June 4-11, 2006 as National Garden Week, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

Approval of the Valparaiso Chamber of Commerce to use parking garage for “Rooftop Rendezvous” on August 4, 2006

Com. Evans moved to approve the request based on the submission of the necessary insurance coverage, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

Approval by the Valparaiso Elks #500 to hold a Flag Day ceremony on the Courthouse grounds June 14, 2006 at 7:00 p.m.

Com. Evans, “Do you have insurance that can name us as an additional insured on your policy?”

Jeanie Stevens, “Sure.”

Com. Evans moved to approve the request of the Valparaiso Elks to hold a Flag Day ceremony on the Courthouse grounds on June 14, 2006 with proof of insurance, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

Com. Harper, “You can call and talk to Gwenn about how to handle that insurance.”

Ms. Stevens, “All right, thank you.”

Request for Transfer of Funds-Commissioners

Fund 01.30 $13.00 from 2110 office supplies
Into 4440 furniture & fixtures over $100

To cover purchase of chair for Treasurer (Invoice was more than originally planned.)

Com. Evans moved to approve, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.

PLAN COMMISSION
Robert Thompson, Director

Rezone, Ag to RR, Keith Freyenberger, Owner, 1st reading

Com. Harper, “Bob, did you put out notices for the Plan Commission at 6:30?”

Mr. Thompson, “I didn’t send out any notices for this continuation.”

Atty. Rinkenberger, “I think its fine because at the last meeting you just continued it to this meeting. The first one was for 6:30. This is open to public hearing and continued it at that time.”

Com. Harper, “Okay, tonight we have the application of Keith and Valerie Freyenberger for a rezone from Ag to RR, Rural Residential on the northeast corner of State Road 8 and 450 West.”

Mr. Thompson, “This is Plan Commission Resolution No. 06-2, petitioner Keith Freyenberger requests that a parcel of land be amended from Ag, Agriculture and Open Space to RR Rural Residential. The Plan Commission heard this case at their January 11, 2006 meeting and recommended denial by 7-0 vote.”

Com. Harper, “Okay, tonight is the public hearing on that proposal. I am going to allow Mr. Freyenberger to make his presentation and then we will allow any one in the audience that wants to speak for or against this to speak. You can’t converse with Mr. Freyenberger, you have to speak and if you have any questions, he can then address them at the end of that, we will do that twice and then we will close the public hearing. Try not to interrupt each other. There are mikes if you will notice on the sides of the rooms so if you would, when you get ready to speak, stand up and come up a little bit closer to these mikes and give your full name and address because she is recording this proceeding. So if you give your full name and address, she has a record of who has spoken either for or against this. Mr. Thompson, did you want to add anything to that?”

Mr. Thompson, “No.”

Mr. Freyenberger, “Good evening. I am here tonight to get a rezoning of this property. This property, if you have had an opportunity to look at it, you will notice it is not in a low density area. There are building sites on all three sides and there is agricultural land to the north. It is nestled between the woods and the highway and I believe it is an area that has been left behind by a previous residential development. I am proposing twenty two lots. I took the time and the effort and the money to lay it out exactly for you, exactly what we are trying to do, so there it cuts down on the guess work so there is a little less speculation. I have taken considerations of the first meeting and we have lots 1 and 6, which fronts County Road 450 East and on these lots here we would like to put up more expensive homes and make this more exclusive. I think that would serve that purpose very well since there is excellent homes on the western side of this. Also known on the western side of this property across the road on 450 East, it is divided into four ten acre parcels and that property is divided out, I learned last meeting, that there is another house going in across the road there. Also, on the other part, you will notice that we tried to make this as least obtrusive and offensive as possible, obstructive as possible. We have put a road in there and we took the houses back off the highway as far as we can to minimize lots along the state roads since there are some houses across the highway up from there. And it moves everything back and we’ve got a proposed drainage system. By the way there is a legal easement that runs directly through the center of it which is ideal for everybody. 75 foot is required by the county for easement which we have provided in the green area with the proposed green space in that area there and it works out real nice. With my question about soils, we found that the hybrid soils are also in that area so it works out real nice, these soils are very good for construction. Its very sandy, I’ve got many farms, this is the worse farm land I have actually. Its very droughty, you will notice by the irrigation systems all around it. It doesn’t work too well for agricultural and often times in the summer when it gets hot. I took a wind shift survey several weeks ago as I mentioned before, its not a low density area within a quarter to three eights of a mile radius there’s approximately fifty homes. It is a nice area, people are nice, people are great. I think I have seen two or three for sale signs; people like the area, people aren’t moving out of the area, a lot of the people in that area have been there a long time. They mentioned at the last meeting about seasonal high water tables which all of south Porter County occasionally has, but it doesn’t really seem to be an issue since there isn’t a big exodus moving from this area. I would like to again propose this, I am not asking for a special exemption, I am not asking for even a special favor, what I am simply asking for is the opportunity to move ahead with this and to put this before the Plan Commission and the various commissions of the county for a working out of a development. I was not ignorant of the deadline for a minor subdivision. I realize that I considered it long and hard of being able to put four houses in along the highway. I have also had plans to do that. I had it drawn up and surveyed to do so, but I believe this is a better process. A community hearing, have the DNR involved, have the Highway Department involved, have all the departments involved. I also realized I could break this up and put it into four lots. I am not ignorant of that also. I still believe that as hard as this is, and as strenuous as this is, that this is still a better recourse to do this. But I need a rezoning so I can move ahead and work with the various agencies and at this time being restricted by an RR, I am deadlocked. Pleasant Township has very few areas that are adaptable that are good for development. I believe this is one of the few areas where we probably, Pleasant Township probably makes up 1% of the construction trade in Porter County. People want to come to south Porter County. There is not a lot of area they can do that because of various reasons. This is a good area and this area should be developed in this manner. There is a lot of people in the Pleasant Township area that are involved in the construction trade. Not only am I a farmer, I am also in the construction business. I dare say there’s more people in the construction business than there are farmers in Pleasant Township. I know that is a strong statement but I think that is probably true and this creates a lot of jobs and a lot of opportunities for a lot of people and it is needed since this has pretty much stalemated construction in south Porter County. Thank you.”

Com. Harper, “Did you have a sign in sheet, Bob, or not?”

Mr. Thompson, “No, I did not.”

Com. Harper, “All right, is there anyone here to speak in favor of this petition who would like to talk in favor of it? Is there anyone to speak against the petition? Why don’t whoever starts it off, if you could come up here and give your name.”

Don Hamann, “I live on 450 East at 679 S. I have lived there most of my life. I think it is a shame to see good farm land turned into subdivisions. Subdivisions need to be put into the outskirts of town. I don’t want to see the increase in traffic on the road. That’s about it.”

Com. Harper, “Thank you. Who else is here to speak? You can come to either side, there is a mike over here, too.”

Darl Jarnecke, “487 E. State Road 8, Kouts. I wanted to just make the comments that I think this is going to be a classic case of if the approval is given to this request, it will only be a matter of time that there is already property located on 450 North that is available for sale and I think it would be just another issue that if this gets rezoned that you will have other properties and other builders coming to you under the same circumstance of wanting to rezone additional farm ground right along 450 just immediately north of this property so I think there is a major, major issue developing here. I have also lived in this area for many, many years. Mr. Freyenberger is indicating about the drainage, that is still a big, big issue. It is one of those deals where that many more properties, that much more black top, is going to continue to cause issues with drainage in our area. I would encourage you to please consider not to grant this zoning because of the future possibilities, because of the future possibilities there will be other groups, if not including Mr. Freyenberger coming to you again for additional properties just north of this location.”

David Sharp, “I live at 483 E. State Road 8 in Kouts. I took issue last month with Mr. Freyenberger when he said it was a heavily densely populated area. I drive up and down 450 every day coming to Valparaiso and if you go from Route 8 to 450 North, 600 and 500 and you count eight homes. If you go 450 South across Route 8, there may be eleven homes all within a mile. And if you go on Route 8, east or west, there’s even less homes than that. I think the fifty homes he is talking about are back in the subdivision nearly a mile away from there in Summerwood. I, too, moved from the city and wanted to come to the country. I hate to see the property being taken and four subdivisions put in. We’re three miles from downtown Kouts, from 8 and 49 to my house. 2.9 miles to be exact. I think that is a good size distance from town. To say we are going to put in another subdivision in, that falls within the perimeters of what the county commissioners do, or whatever the planning board is. But it is a three mile stretch. We are out there in the country and we sort of like to keep it that way without having the additional traffic on Route 8 and on 450.”

Glen Hoeppner, 486 East State Road 8, Kouts, Indiana I live just east of the property a little bit and across the street. Summerwood, where he was talking about, there is there 23 or 24 homes behind me. That is another down 8 and behind me on 500. We’ve been out there forty years, and we lived there because they told us it was strictly agriculture, if you want to raise hogs, you can. My wife said that’s good, we probably will. But we’ve got people behind us. All we’ve got is mini horses and donkeys and a few goats, but we got people behind us that still complain. They want to come to the country but they don’t want the country. So let’s leave them someplace else. This is a nice piece of ground, it is agriculture ground, it has been farmed for years and everybody in our area already does have a water problem with our basements. You can ask any of us, we all do. We have to keep our sump pumps up running all spring. They’ll quit running in June, depending on how wet of a spring we have. There is a lot of farmers in the area. I have worked for a fertilizer company all my life and every time a place gets spot zoned, when you are spreading fertilizer beside it, there’s someone complaining that’s living there. You are spraying something you shouldn’t be spraying; they don’t even know what you are spreading but they’re complaining. I just think we need more complaints. There’s other places.”

Craig Snyder, “I live up on 69 East ___ Drive in Kouts. We have a farm at 511 East 700 South in Kouts. This farm is located about one mile to the north of the proposed development. We have about 540 acres there. Just south of the development we have 188 acres and the legal drain that Mr. Freyenberger spoke of as the Hannon Ditch, we have 7/8’s of a mile that is running through our property. It is not uncommon for the water table to be within two feet of the top of the ground. And actually it can be right on top of the ground. I went to the library and found the soil survey of Porter County. It says there are four soil types on this piece of property. It mentions the water table on these soils are seasonably one to three feet. And it also mentioned there are sever limitations for septic systems due to high water table and also poor filtering capabilities. I probably don’t have enough time here to list all the number of times that we had drains flooding when trying to plant a crop, harvest a crop, or losing a crop. My parents live, and my mother is here, she has a house there, and the basement is three feet into the ground and there have been numerous times we stayed up 24 hours a day trying to run dry vacs to keep that basement from flooding totally. So I think there are some real drainage concerns here. As has been mentioned, the precedence will be set here. There is a farm that is 160 acres, I believe they are currently attempting to sell off about 22 acres of wooded land, but I think for the right price they could potentially sell the entire piece and currently the price is not feasible for farming, it is really priced for development. So, it is kind of out of reach for most of us farmers to purchase but I think you could have 160 acres. I could be looking at similar type zoning. The Hannon Ditch was cleaned in 2002 and 2003 by the county. The ditch is as good as it can get and as far as drainage purposes and if this subdivision or other subdivisions were to impact that drainage, I don’t believe that a whole lot can be done to improve the situation. We are already influenced by drainage from the north, anything south of the Valparaiso Morraine obviously drains our way. After a major rain event, often times the sun could come out and two or three days later the water is actually coming up even more and is more of a problem after the rain event has occurred. I would also like to remind you that a few miles south of here was once the Grand Kankakee Marsh and it was up until 1917 from what I could find that basically that land in this area was uninhabitable for humans. So I think a lot of drainage pressure could revert this back to its natural state. Then I would just like to mention that land is a natural resource this country is blessed with a lot of good farmland, but we know that at some point that is going to be dwindling. We all know the effects of shortage of oil and the price increases that are occurring. The land is a valuable resource to this country. I had a professor at Valparaiso University back in 1985 say to me that he thought it was foolish for the United States to be at arms race against the Soviet Union and his reasoning was that they do not have the land or the climate to support an agricultural base. That’s a strength that this county has. I know we are fighting with the growing populations and I think we have to find a balance and do what we can for as long as we can to preserve the land that is our land. Thank you.”

Roger Martin, “My address is 1405 E. Indiana Street. I operate a dairy at that location. I also own property just to the northwest of this property which is catty corner across the street of 200 acres. We have a cattle operation there and we haul in abundance 1,000 ton manure there every year. So houses and manure don’t go together.”

Com. Harper, “How far is that from this property?”

Mr. Martin, “Actually it sits catty corner across the street so if you walk on this part of his property, across the street, that is where my property starts. We are right northwest of his property.”

Com. Harper, “Anyone else who would like to say something? No one else? All right then Mr. Freyenberger, we will give you a chance to respond to these comments.”

Mr. Freyenberger, “These drainage issues keep coming up. I have a hard time with that. I am a developer, I am a farmer. I don’t promote basements. People take responsibilities for the properties, I take responsibilities for that property when I sell it. Yes, there is a seasonably high water table there as in all south Porter County. That goes with south Porter County. We deal with it. I know the soils are good for septics, I’ve had them tested. We pass the state codes, easily meet the state codes with the septics. Again, I am not asking for something special here. Again, people in this area know that there is a water table problem at times, but like I said before it doesn’t seem to be an issue with a lot of people. We seem to deal with it. Again, I don’t advocate basements. I will stand with that. My survey at the 3/8’s of the mile radius of my property line, there is fifty homes, or fifty one actually. I will stick with that. Also, there is a ditch that runs through that. There is probably not much water in this right now. It often times runs at a trickle, its not a big ditch, it is an adequate ditch, it is maintained. I don’t see it being a problem. And also, the __ house, the ___ issues, I don’t think you have ever had a petition to shut the farm down (inaudible)… the way he has been handling his business. I really don’t believe that is an issue either. Of course, that is a problem I have to deal with trying to sell houses. That is one of the reasons why I picked this area. Yes, there is some agriculture in this area, there is livestock farmers in the area but they handle their waste in a very professional manner. I am not afraid of that. the other people here I am sure would attest there isn’t a problem with that. So, I believe these are all issues that we can deal with. Thank you.”

Com. Harper, “Now has he said anything that causes anyone to want to ask anything else?”

Darl Jarnecke, “There is right next to my property there is a mini subdivision granted a few years ago. Three homes were built on a five acre parcel. All three of those homes have mound systems. And immediately across the road, there was a piece of property that was built on in the last five or six years, that home also has a mound system. So I do question whether the septic is going to be available when those four homes within the last five or six years have all been forced into mount systems.”

Com. Harper, “Anybody else like to speak?”

Joe Willis, “I live on 450 East, 653 south. We just bought a house last year that we had to put a mound system in because of (inaudible)….. just one of my concerns.”

Craig Snyder, “I do take exception to Mr. Freyenberger dwindling the effects of this ditch. County records show that he purchased the property, I believe, back in March of 2004. 180 acres that we had running through our property first in 1979. The water stream through that ditch is really quite rapid, very strong. My father and I did a lot to keep that ditch maintained. I appeared before the county Drainage Board in 2002 to ask the county to go ahead and re-clean that ditch so that is a very good water flow through that ditch. The fact that mound septic systems are not needed I would still think that they probably would have ___ piles would be necessary and if we are adding 22 perimeter tiles to this ditch that would seem like that would be an open conduit for even more water to pour into that ditch. Thank you.”

Com. Harper, “Is there a couple big cattle operations in that vicinity down there, someone has 100 cattle?”

Man in audience, “I have 250 head of cattle there.”

Com. Harper, “And you have the property right next to this?”

Man in audience, "Yes . And just about a half mile, Chris Birky has a hog facility, it is a confinement facility with a pit under it and he does pump that pit out.”

Com. Harper, “Anybody else?”

Don Hamann, “I would just like to reiterate about the farmland being turned into a subdivision. I grew up on a farm about not quite a mile north of there. Myself, and Roger, we are used to the smell of farms but other people move in out there, they are not going to appreciate it too much. There is also a field barn, Steve Hannon has a field barn that is just south of me, so it would be less than a mile than the proposed site. Thanks.”

Com. Harper, “Anyone else? Then I am going to give Mr. Freyenberger one last chance.”

Mr. Freyenberger, “You need to realize that the dairy operation you are talking about is a half mile up the road, the barns and stuff. It is true that there is a farm that is adjacent to mine, catty corner across the road, but I wouldn’t expect them to dump all their manure in the corner of the field. I would expect him to continue to spread it over 240 acres. It is rather a big farm. He spreads it out real well. I know it can be dealt with, lets put it that way. Also, Mr. Snyder mentioned that this ditch doesn’t have a good heavy flow to it and that is because its probably six foot higher than this farm. We could probably dam this ditch up and not even run across the highway, and keep the water down because he is up stream. I can appreciate his concern. Again, it will not have an effect on that farm whatsoever. And the perimeter drain tile by the way, they are just one big perimeter drain, one on each side of the ditch, no different than a field tile. It would probably be a four or six inch tile. It is no different than (inaudible)…. There’s no law against putting tiles in. It would have no effect. Also, as a farmer I know I have concerns about farmland but the reality of it is, corn price last fall was lower than when I started 31 years ago, we are still producing way more corn than we can possibly hardly use. We had a tremendous bean crop last year and we had some really dry weather. The corn acres, if you look at the stats, have not dropped considerably in the past 80 years. Corn acres are stable. This is something we talk about as farmers but please don’t put the weight of the world on my shoulders. If we are going to save farmland, put that in a tax incentive to keep land out of development. Give farmers an incentive not to do this. This is my 401K, this is what I do for my business and I think it is terribly unfair to ask me to solve the world’s problem of the farmland crisis. It is a big problem and (inaudible). So I appreciate your willingness to listen and I will close with that.”

Com. Harper, “We will close the pubic hearing at this time. John, do you have anything on this?”

Com. Evans, “Yes, first eight lots, of 1 through 8 which front on the county road 450, each one would have a driveway cut and permit to the county road? And the rest of the lots would have access off State Road 8, down the cul-de-sac?”

Mr. Freyenberger, “This is about 40 acres, there’s 22 lots. All I can get in here is 22 lots, that is the only way you can configure it. By the way, I don’t do mound systems. I haven’t in the past and I don’t plan on it in the future. If I had to put my own systems out here, I probably wouldn’t do it because I value that as I explained. I have no intention of putting mound systems out there. I don’t think I have to, I really don’t.”

Com. Evans, “The proposed green area is just to remain as part of the ___ soils and for drainage, no park or no proposed green area?”

Mr. Freyenberger, “Yes, I’ll work with the Plan Commission and various agencies. It is kind of late ___, this is the way it works. I would like to put houses out there but you can’t. If I can’t its because of the restrictions, 160 foot on the roads. This is basically wasted ground so I am not making green space, I might use it as drainage, I might use it as buffer. It works out.”

Com. Evans, “But the layouts of the land all come back into this area and would then be required to have an easement into the green space, is that what you are proposing?”

Mr. Freyenberger, “Yeah, we can do that. This is just a proposal, you’ll notice. This is basically how it will work; how the county really wants to do it, I am willing to work with them. There is a lot of ground here, as a farmer, its looked at being wasted. But its okay because it will help drainage, it will buffer the water and everything. I really think it will be better than what it is now.”

Com. Evans, “Is it currently being farmed?”

Mr. Freyenberger, “Yeah, I farm it now. I farm it from the ditch to the fence row. I farm it all.”

Com. Evans, “It is listed in here as a proposed green space and it is currently being farmed.”

Mr. Freyenberger, “Oh yeah, I think it will be better than it is now in that respect. There will be trees and grass out there whereas now it is all farmland.”

Com. Evans, “No more questions. Normally, in these situations I tell people if they don’t like their view they should buy the property, problem is nobody is giving the property. The rest of the subdivision and the developments are aways away and can’t be seen. We have a Plan Commission and they took this into consideration and don’t feel that the use is currently something they can condone changing the zoning and I have to concur. Motion to deny.”

Com. Evans moved to deny the rezone request, Com. Harper seconded, motion carried.








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

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PORTER COUNTY, INDIANA


Robert P. Harper
John A. Evans
Carole M. Knoblock


Attest: Sandra K. Vuko, Auditor