X park issue resurfacing (8/3/04)

A proposal to turn most of an industrial park into an extreme sports complex is about ready to come back into the public eye.

The concept, first proposed in early May by Glynn Barber, the owner of Qualtech Tool & Engineering, has gained preliminary approval from a local zoning commission and the Portland City Council.

A Fort Wayne man who is now working with Barber and Scott Bollenbacher on plans for the facility told Jay County Commissioners Monday that detailed plans are nearly complete.

Craig Adolph said those plans will be presented to the Portland Planning Commission on Thursday, Aug. 12. That meeting, which will be held in the meeting room at the Portland Fire Station, will begin at 5 p.m. The request is to rezone approximately 150 acres as a planned development-extraordinary — a zoning classification that allows multiple uses within a single zoning category.

Adolph said detailed plans on drainage will be submitted in the next few weeks to the commissioners, who also serve as the county drainage board.

Adolph said the plans for the park, which could include such features as a motocross track and outdoor and indoor paintball facilities, will not encroach on any existing county-maintained drainage tiles in the industrial park, which is located on the north side of county road 100 North, about a mile east of U.S. 27.

Adolph said the extreme park plans are being developed in conjunction with the original plan for the industrial park, leaving the land and infrastructure ready for industrial development if the park should be unsuccessful.

Commissioners Gary Theurer and Mike Leonhard said they have talked to several county residents who have expressed concerns that approval of the park is a “done deal.”

Both mentioned the fact that asphalt millings have been dumped just east of a spec building in the industrial park as evidence that the developers are beginning work before approval has been granted.

Adolph agreed that process has got-ten ahead of itself, and that more detailed plans should have been in place before the proposal was taken to zoning officials.

He said he also was surprised when he saw the millings.

In other business Monday, Commissioners Milo Miller Jr., Leonhard and Theurer:

•Told a representative from State of the Heart Hospice and Home Health they would discuss possible changes in Jay Emergency Medical Service policies regarding transport of hospice patients with JEMS director Teresa Foster-Geesaman.

Linda Metzger asked the commissioners for an explanation of county policy on transports. She was told that JEMS is for emergency transports.

Metzger said the transport of a bed-ridden patient from the hospital to a home or a nursing home is a problem her organization faces about four or five times per year.

The commissioners and Geesaman developed new policies several years ago to cut down on non-emergency runs.

•Approved the installation of a new drinking fountain in the north hallway of the first floor of the courthouse. Courthouse superintendent Roger McBride said the fountain will be $459 plus installation.

•Agreed to allow the Jay County Property Tax Appeals Board to work an additional 10 days.

•Passed a resolution establishing a policy on tracking and maintaining an inventory of county-owned assets — including buildings, roads and bridges. The adoption of the policy is required by the Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) statement 34.[[In-content Ad]]