Kosciusko County Area Planning Commission approved Dec. 3 a resolution to conform with a plan of development for a proposed tax increment financing district located near Mentone, on the south side of SR 25. The boundaries of the district are CR 700W on the east, CR 1000W on the west, CR 700S on the south and SR 25 on the north.
The district, according to county attorney Chad Miner, would capture increases in tax revenue for 20 years from the two businesses located in the district and from any new ones choosing to locate within it.
North Central Co-Op LP and Midwest Poultry Services, which are the businesses operating there now, are agricultural in nature and use the surrounding roads heavily, Miner said. Any new business coming in would likely also be agricultural and add to that heavy use, so the funds captured by the TIF district will be earmarked for improvements to those roads.
“In fact, creating this TIF district is a good way to get these road improvements accomplished,” Miner said.
The proposal recently received a favorable recommendation from the Kosciusko County Redevelopment Commission, and with the APC’s support now goes on to the Kosciusko County Council for consideration.
The planning commission also discussed, but took no action on a request that is expected to come before them for the vacation of a platted roadway between the Animal Welfare League and Marathon Industrial Park, between East 100 South and US 30 in Warsaw. Miner told the APC the roadway was never actually developed, and he believed the league intends to create additional parking in the area. He also pointed out both the AWL and Marathon have direct access to other county-maintained roads, and added that putting a bridge over a ditch that traverses the property would be cost prohibitive anyway. Because the vacation request was not advertised before the meeting, however, the request will be acted upon in January.
In other business:
• The commission granted preliminary plat approval to Devon and Laura Hochstetler for a two-lot development in an agricultural II zone, located in the southwest corner of the intersection of CR 700W and CR 1350N in Jefferson Township. Each lot will be 6.75 acres in size.
• Because there were no changes or corrections regarding preliminary plat approval given in November to Terry and Margaret Likens for Hardwood Trails, a one-lot residential development in Tippecanoe Township, the proposal met with final plat approval Dec. 3. The property is located on the southeast edge of North Webster. The lot is about 14,200 square-feet in size, and at present is heavily wooded.
• No action was taken on a petition for preliminary plat approval of a small subdivision on the west side of Chapman Lake. Patrick Higgins sought the approval last month for what will actually be storage facilities for lake residents, located on 8.768 acres. At the November meeting, when the petition was submitted, commissioners felt the proposal qualified more as a planned unit development than a subdivision and requested the idea be brought before the Kosciusko County Board of Zoning Appeals. That meeting had not yet taken place as of the Dec. 3 APC meeting, so the commission continued that particular agenda item.