By PAULENE POPARAD

The town of Porter lost much of its land zoned for single-family homes to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, where private development can’t take place.

“We are one of the few (towns) with 35 to 40 percent open space,” said Porter Plan Commission President Eugene Chemma on Wednesday.

For that reason, the commission is proposing to shift some areas of town now zoned for multi-family to single-family to make up for the lost Lakeshore tracts. One of the major parcels so affected is the large “iron triangle” located north of Wood Street east of South Mineral Springs Road between two railroads. The current multi-family zoning there is no longer thought desirable, especially because access to the parcel is very limited.

The zoning changes are part of a new zoning map for the entire town now under review by the commission.

A public hearing on the new map likely will take place late next month. In the interim, property owners are encouraged to view the proposed map, which ultimately would be forwarded to the Town Council for final adoption. The council currently is reviewing an updated town zoning ordinance that would be a companion to the new map.

Individual notice to property owners is not required, even if a parcel’s zoning will be changed. Many however, will remain the same. Or in some cases, the name of the zoning district will change, such as from the current commercial to business, but the permitted uses will be virtually the same.

Town planner Jim Mandon said most zoning changes will occur on vacant property. He also said, in most cases, the town does not want to assign two zoning classifications to one parcel so property owners should alert the town if that is proposed. “Just the width of a line on the map can push things 25 or 30 feet.”

A few new zoning classifications, like open space, floodplain, planned business park/shopping center and planned-unit development, have been added.

The PUD zone is generally intended for more sensitive properties along major highways that will need more control exercised over their development, said Mandon. If a project is to take place in a PUD zone, “There is a negotiation between the developer and the Plan Commission, even down to where the garbage dumpster’s going,” he added. Once the PUD plan is approved, “You use it only in that way.”

Some areas, like west of the iron triangle and west of Lawson Lake, are being reassigned from industrial to less-intensive business zones. Mandon also said because much of current downtown Porter is zoned residential, more business zoning is being added to encourage such development there.

During Wednesday’s commission workshop, members and those in the audience posed several questions to Mandon.

He said there is some question whether the current zoning map is accurate in all areas, like showing apartment zoning in one section of Porter Beach, which is intended to be single-family except for a business use at the beach. He also said the planned business district in general will permit some industrial uses, but they must be clean, quiet operations that aren’t a nuisance to their neighbors.

Mandon said the town of Chesterton’s wastewater treatment plant, which is located in Porter, will be zoned an industrial PUD. If it were to be zoned industrial, more restrictions the plant might not be able to achieve would attach.

Mandon assured the audience that if a structure or use is legally built or operated, it becomes a legal, non-conforming use under the new zoning map even if the district or district regulations substantially change for that area. The properties can be sold but they would need special permission to be expanded, or to be rebuilt if they are destroyed.

Chad Brooks told the commission that his three acres on the south side of U.S. 20 across from Saylor Baskets at Beam Street is proposed to go from commercial to residential. He said he strongly objects and asked that a business zoning be assigned.

Chemma said the workshop revealed several areas of the draft map that needed to be changed, like the current single-family residential use rather than industrial along South Babcock Road beyond the mini-warehouse storage yard. When the maps are revised, they will be available at Hageman and Thomas libraries for public review as well as at the Porter clerk-treasurer’s office, 130 Lincoln. St.

Posted 3/15/2002