Tom Tarpley and John Ayala want to turn what housed a Porter butcher shop decades ago at 200 S. Franklin St. into two residential apartments, and their project advanced Wednesday.

The Porter Board of Zoning Appeals voted 5-0 to set the Tarpley/Ayala request for a use variance for public hearing May 16. An additional variance for a reduction in the number of required off-street parking spaces was authorized to be added to the hearing if necessary.

Ayala said two upstairs apartments of about 500 square feet each exist but haven’t been rented for about one year. He wants to renovate the ground floor into one approximately 1,000 square-foot apartment and a second one about half that size.

Tarpley said the pair have done extensive remodeling to the over 100 year-old building including brickwork, the roof, new glass for the windows and a second-story staircase so it’s no longer in dangerous condition and not an eyesore for the neighbors.

Since the main-floor commercial area was vacant for some time, it lost its grandfathered commercial status so retail can’t come in again. If the lower apartments can’t be built, said Ayala, it would remain unheated vacant space affecting the comfort of the tenants above.

And if the non-conforming building were to be torn down, said the men, it would be difficult to rebuild on the site using current zoning codes.

Even though a use variance is required, it won’t affect the town’s comprehensive plan by having a four-unit apartment building in the downtown, said Ayala. The property is zoned Residential-2.

BZA member Bill Sexton said for a four-unit rental building, town code requires eight off-street parking spaces. Ayala said behind the building at least six, probably eight, cars can be parked and he will confirm the size of the spaces.

BZA members also asked that a plat of survey showing lot dimensions be submitted as well as a sketch of the proposed floor plan for all apartments.

A second petition was set for public hearing May 16 when the board unanimously advanced Mary Lou de Groh’s request for a development standard variance so a four-season room she plans to build can be situated 9.1 feet into the required 35-foot setback. Groh’s attorney, Greg Babcock, said a 15-foot utility easement at the back of his client’s yard won’t be impacted by construction of the 14 foot by 16 foot sun room, which will be adjacent to an existing deck.

Babcock said when de Groh purchased her home in 1995 the rear-yard setback was only 20 feet and no variance would be required now if that were the current standard.

In other business, the BZA voted unanimously to ask the Town Council to allow the Porter Clerk-treasurer’s office to provide zoning petitioners with the list of names needed so they can give adjacent property owners notice of a scheduled public hearing. Currently the Porter County Assessor’s Office provides the names but has no legal obligation to do so.

Town planner Jim Mandon said having the city/town provide the names is used by almost half the larger municipalities. Sexton asked if Porter would incur liability if a name is left off the list; Frost said yes but there’s more potential for mistakes if the petitioner gets their own names somewhere else.

Posted 4/19/2012