City BZA approves Elm St. duplex where triplex was once planned

Thursday, April 8, 2021

Going back to the future, a petitioner has received approval from the Greencastle Board of Zoning Appeals to build a duplex on a site where he once received the OK for a triplex.

Petitioner Jeremy Black plans to build a duplex at 502 Elm St. on a lot where a previous two-story apartment building was razed following a 2015 fire.

In 2018 he had received a special exception to rebuild the three-unit structure with a development standards variance for reduction in parking and setbacks.

“My reason for asking for an amendment to the originally granted special exception,” Black noted in his application, “centers around concerns regarding the continuation of the aesthetics of the neighborhood.”

He cited preservation of a “very old and impressive tree,” which he estimated at four feet in circumference. Its position on the east property line caused Black to shift his building to the Illinois Street side of the Elm and Illinois street lot in the city’s South End.

Out of concern for neighbors to the east -- represented favorably by Kindra Huff, 504 Em St., in the audience Tuesday night -- Black sought a 10-foot front yard setback, which would allow more space between the rear of his building and the neighbors’ garage and backyard. That allows him to have a 10-foot rear setback instead of just the required five feet.

“After careful thought about these potential issues,” Black added, “I feel I can solve these issues by constructing a two-family dwelling instead of a triplex.”

In designing two one-bedroom apartments in the building, Black was granted a variance for a reduction in living space from the required 1,000 square feet.

Black said there aren’t too many one-bedroom apartments available locally. He said as a test, he placed an ad in the Banner Graphic, offering one-bedroom units and received 14 calls in one weekend.

Black also explained why he backed off his original triplex project. While the entire building was designed at 1,600 square feet, he said the state was going to require a sprinkler system, which made the project no longer cost-effective, he said.

The building that burned down six years ago was close to the road, Black said of the 120-x-55-foot site. “It’s a tight lot.”

The BZA unanimously voted to award Black a special exception for a two-family dwelling in a Traditional Neighborhood (TN) and a development standards variance for required living space square footage, required parking spaces and required front-yard setback.

In other business, the BZA also unanimously awarded a development standards variance to Chris and Rhonda Brotherton and their Owl Ridge Event Center, 3333 U.S. 231 South, to allow a monument sign in a single-family dwelling (SD1) District.

The sign is to be less than 21 square feet in area and no more than four feet tall, located at least 10 feet from the right-of-way and two feet from the entrance drive.

Chris Brotherton said the sign will be wooden (with brick supports at each end) and he will likely use big timbers like he used for the porches at the site.

City Planner Scott Zimmerman, in his report, noted that “it has become apparent that more permanent and clear signage is required to direct guests and vendors to the appropriate location of the retreat center.”

The plan, he said, “will promote driver safety and convenience, as well as limiting disruption to surrounding property owners.”

With a curve in the road and the speed of traffic on U.S. 231, drivers can miss the turn and end up turning around in neighbors’ driveways to backtrack to Owl Ridge, Zimmerman pointed out.

Chairman Andrew Ranck, who excused himself on the Black request because the property is adjacent to a home owned by his employer, was joined for the meeting by BZA members Doug Wokoun, Jon Clark, Paul Champion and John Phillips, who was serving as an alternate due to an unfilled BZA spot from the Plan Commission.

Clark and Champion were attending their first meetings and were sworn in by Mayor Bill Dory at the outset.

The next regularly scheduled Greencastle Board of Zoning Appeals meeting is set for 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 4 at City Hall.

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