By KEVIN NEVERS
On Thursday, May
28, the Chesterton Board of Zoning Appeals held the first in-person meeting
by any municipal body in Chesterton since Gov. Eric Holcomb issued his
stay-at-home order on March 23.
The meeting was
held in the east bay of the fire station, as early in-person voting was
being held in the meeting room of the town hall. The mask-only meeting went
altogether smoothly, thanks to the combined efforts of Town Attorney Chuck
Parkison, who formulated safety protocols which all participants adhered to;
Fire Chief John Jarka, who unrolled the red carpet at his fire station,
provided masks, hand sanitizer, and disinfectant wipes, and generally acted
as emcee and usher; and Town Engineer Mark O’Dell, who ensured that the
petitioner’s table and chairs were disinfected between each hearing.
All petitioners
waited outside the fire house until it was their turn, alerted by Jarka
standing at the door. All participants maintained a six-foot distance at
least. And all participants wore masks. At none of the five public hearings
were there remonstrators, making logistics easier than they otherwise might
have been.
The only
inconvenience: the fire station’s accustics left something to be desired,
with trains to the north and traffic noise to the south, exacerbated by
folks unaccustomed to speaking, and speaking loudly, while wearing masks.
109 Westchester
Ave.
Members voted
unanimously to grant a variance to Barbara Homme which will permit her to
enclose a deck at the rear of her home at 109 Westchester Ave. and make it a
three-season room.
The variance in
question allows an increase in the maximum lot coverage of 30 percent to 34
percent, as the new structure will occupy an additional 4 percent of the
property.
“The porch will
look like the rest of the house,” Homme’s attorney, Greg Babcock said, and
there will stil be a “substantial distance” between the three-season room
and her rear lot line.
No one spoke in
favor of the petition at a public hearing prior to the vote and no one in
opposition.
The BZA did receive
two letters in support of the petition, one from a neighbor, the other from
the developer of the subdivision, Paul Shinn.
1840 S. 11th Street
Finally, members
voted unanimously to grant two variances to John Deal, which will permit him
to build a parking shed for his RV at his home, currently under
construction, at 1840 S. 11th Street.
The first variance
allows the construction of an accessory structure in the front yard; the
second, an accessory structure 17’ 6” in height, 18” taller than the maximum
16’.
Deal sought the
first variance because parking the RV behind his house isn’t feasible, given
the configuration of his rear yard. He sought the second so that his RV can
fit in the accessory structure.
Deal noted that his
house is located 440 feet to the west of South 11th Street and is screened
from almost all public view by a dense tree line. “It’s a little bit
different circumstance from an in-town lot,” Deal said.
No one spoke in
favor of the petition at a public hearing prior to the vote and no one in
opposition.
762 S. Calumet Road
Members voted
unanimously to grant a variance to BenLew Enterprises which will permit the
R-1 use of the B-2 building at 726 S. Calumet Road. The building,
constructed late in the 19th century or early in the 20th, was originally a
single-family home and was used as such for much of its history. More
recently, however, the house has been occupied by businesses, most recently
by Winey Insurance, per its formal B-2 zone.
Brian Lewandowski
noted that the surrounding neighborhood is almost entirely residential and
that the house will do just fine returning to its original single-family
use. “All smoke detectors, windows, ingress and egress comply with R-1
requirements,” he said.
No one spoke in
favor of the petition at a public hearing prior to the vote and no one in
opposition.
Parkinson
emphasized, as he did at the preliminary hearing in April, that the board’s
action did not constitute a rezone of the house. Its zone remains B-2, and a
variance was simply granted to allow the R-1 use of it.
2017 Terrano Drive
Members voted
unanimously to grant a variance to William and Marci Stone, developers of
the Stone Meadows subdivision, which will allow the erection of a six-foot
fence on the corner lot at 2017 Terreno Drive.
The Zoning Code
limits the height of fences on corner lots to 4.5 feet, so as to preserve
unobscured lines of sight at intersections.
As Williams Stone
noted, though, the fence will be located well back of the roadway and behind
the sidewalk and won’t impede any views at the stop sign for people turning
off Terreno Drive onto 1100N.
No one spoke in
favor of the petition at a public hearing prior to the vote and no one in
opposition.
1008 Broadway
Members voted
unanimously to grant three variances to Jonathan Hicks and Amber Hensell
Hicks which will permit them to lease the modular building behind the former
offices of Frontline Foundations Inc. at 1008 Broadway.
Leasing the modular
building will make it a second principal structure on the lot, so that
variance was needed, as were two others: one to permit the new second
principal structure to be located 7’ 7” from the sideyard setback, 2’ 5”
less than the 10’ minimum required by the Zoning Ordinance; the other to
permit a shed at the rear of the property to be located 5’ from the new
principal structure, 5’ less than the minimum 10’ minimum.
The backstory:
Frontline Foundations Inc. has merged with NorthShore Health Clinics. The
latter will be providing treatment services to young adults addicted to
substances and will be doing so in Frontline’s former offices at 1008
Broadway. Frontline, meanwhile, is remodeling the former Spike & Buddy’s
location--also the former Hopkins Ace Hardware location--at 320 S. Calumet
Road, where it will continue to offer recovery services.
As a condition of
the variance, the Hickses agreed to exclude a long list of possible B-3 uses
when leasing the modular building, including bar and nightclub.
No one spoke in
favor of the petition at a public hearing prior to the vote and no one in
opposition.