The Chesterton
Board of Zoning Appeals will meet at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 22, at the
town hall.
At that meeting
members are scheduled to hold a preliminary hearing on the petition of
Prepared Services Contracting LLC for a use variance to allow the firm to
use the old Pioneer Lumber building at 505 Grant Ave. as a “special activity
center.”
The Zoning
Ordinance’s use table does not include “special activity center,” but
attorney for Prepared Services, Tim Kuiper, told members at their July
meeting, during a concept review, that the facility would be used “for small
concerts, gatherings of over 100 people.”
Members, however,
indicated a need for far more specificity than that and advised Kuiper and
his clients to be able to provide more information at the preliminary
hearing: a comprehensive business plan stating hours of operation, seating
arrangements, capacity, parking, exits, and specific examples of uses.
In a separate
petition, Prepared Services is also seeking a sign variance. The sign would
be located on the North Fourth Street side of the warehouse, but Kuiper was
unable in July to say just how much bigger the sign would be than the
maximum permitted by ordinance. He guessed it could be as large as 300
square feet, compared to the maximum allowable of 80 square feet.