Zoning board moves motel project ahead (12/02/05)

The mood in the packed room was tense, but that didn’t deter a local board from moving a planned motel project along.

A request by a developer to rezone land just north of Portland to make way for a Holiday Inn Express was moved forward by the Portland Planning Commission Thursday, but not before commission members heard why some local residents are opposed to the project.

The 60.92 acres earmarked for the motel currently are zoned as agricultural. The lot needs to be rezoned as highway service to allow construction and operation of the motel. The motel is expected to have 73 rooms.

After listening to local residents tell of their concerns with the project for about an hour, the commission decided to recommend the Portland City Council rezone the lot. The rezoning, however, will carry some stipulations that will address some of the concerns of the public.

Commission member Bob Loucks recommended the lot be rezoned as long as the project’s drainage plans are approved by the Jay County Drainage Board and the developer, Scott Daniels, obtains the necessary permits within a year. After the year is up, the lot will revert back to being zoned agricultural.

Before the commission voted, two women who live near where the motel is expected to be built stated why they felt the motel should not be constructed on land on the east side of U.S. 27, just north of Oakwood Mobile Home Park.

Betty St. Myers and Sharon Pyle, distributed a flier this week about their concerns with the project.

St. Myers said Thursday one of the main reasons she was concerned about the location of the project is because the commission voted to rezone a lot directly north of her home about 10 years ago, allowing R. Davis & Sons Construction and Excavating Inc. and a manufactured homes business to be located next to her home.

As part of the rezoning, the developer was supposed to create sidewalks, landscaping and buffers. None of these were ever completed, she said.

“I want you to see what I view because of a decision of the board,” she said to commission members while showing them photos of the property.

Bob Quadrozzi, executive director of Jay County Development Corporation, came to the defense of Daniels, a former local resident.

“I was at the planning commission meeting that (St. Myers) talked about,” Quadrozzi said. “She has a legitimate complaint, but please don’t jeopardize or penalize this project ... because someone else didn’t comply.”

Bill Milligan, Jay/Portland Building and Planning administrator, said the manufactured housing business near St. Myers’ property closed down last year. R. Davis & Sons put up the required fence and buffer last year, he said.

Bruce Munson, a Muncie attorney, also spoke on behalf of St. Myers and Pyle. He said the women were concerned that building a hotel on the lot will create more drainage problems and make the area more dangerous for travel.

“The site and the land around it ... is a drainage nightmare,” he said. “The retention pond (Daniels plans to build) will not solve the drainage nightmare.”

Pyle also expressed her concerns about the motel project.

“We take pride in our community out there,” Pyle said. “Why should we allow (the commission) to rezone agricultural land? We need to protect that (land). I will not approve if this goes through.”

After Pyle spoke, a short debate between Daniels, Pyle and St. Myers ensued.

Daniels said he had previously spoken to St. Myers for several hours about what he could do to make her more comfortable with the project. Pyle refused to speak to him, he said.

Daniels said he plans to put buffers around the property.

“I will try very hard to be a good neighbor,” he said.

After the meeting, St. Myers said she hasn’t given up hope that the motel project could be moved to another location.

“We’re not done yet,” she said. “We still have a job to do.”

Milligan said the city council could review the rezoning request as early as January. The council makes the final decision on the rezoning, he said.

Daniels said he hopes to break ground in the spring and open the motel in the fall. He plans for it to include suites, rooms with two beds, an indoor swimming pool, exercise room, meeting room and large banquet hall. He also would like to have a franchise-owned family restaurant on the property.

In other business Thursday, the commission held a public hearing on proposed changes to the Portland Zoning Ordinance.

Revisions include banning new billboards within the city and restricting where they can be erected in the two-mile area outside of the city limits, and adding massage therapy for both humans and animals to the list of authorized uses in areas zoned for similar businesses.

Milligan said this morning that no commission or audience members had anything to say about the proposed revisions before the commission voted to send them to the city council for final approval.

The council could vote on the changes as early as January, he said.[[In-content Ad]]