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Kosciusko County Board of Zoning Appeals continued a request for the allowance of permanent residences to stay at a seasonal mobile home park in the Barbee Lakes area during a meeting Tuesday.
The petition for an exception was presented by Brian Kieffer with Turtle Cove, with the request asking for the change and alteration of a granted exception by allowing two units to remain as constructed within the park at 73 EMS B61 Lane, Warsaw.
Kieffer said he acquired the property in 2022 and explained the various steps he's taken to improve the area through his ownership. With the new structures related to the petition, Kieffer told the BZA the two buildings were constructed in 2024.
"I was running into issues with something very selective in terms of the size of it," said Kieffer. "So, the idea came up to do like a mobile shed, so that's how the idea came about to build these. It is built like a roll-off shed, it is set on posts."
Area Plan Director Matt Sandy said in Kieffer's online permitting process, he noted the structures would be 13 feet tall but that they ended up being 40 feet. A total of 15 units are allowed at the park.
BZA member Dan Richard and Hearing Officer Randy Cox expressed concerns with one of the structures appearing to be a duplex. Kieffer told the board that the structure in question, as it stands, has three entrances but is hooked up to one sewer site.
"I struggle that they're not mobile units, as what was approved within the original mobile home park or recreation area," said Richard. "And how would the state board of health be treating permanent units ... within a mobile home park or RV park, or how it's currently being evaluated at?"
Richard also recalled previous issues in that area with traffic congestion.
"I don't think we're doing much of a favor to anyone by allowing permanent structures to be built out there," said Richard.
Sandy's department received two letters in opposition of Kieffer's petition. The BZA voted to continue the petition to their June meeting for further review, including the possibility of BZA members individually visiting the site.
In other business, the BZA approved a petition from Jason Paulus for a variance permitting a second-story open deck at 79 EMS B42E Lane, Leesburg, near Sechrist Lake, to remain 3 feet from the side property line. Sandy also noted stairs on Paulus' property that encroach upon an adjacent property owned by Erik Kropa.
Paulus and his attorney, Steve Snyder, attended the meeting. Snyder said the stairs "don't require any setback from the property line, but they were constructed with an erroneous assumption of where the property line stake was located. And when my client bought it, he really didn't think anything about it because it was in the same place where it had always been."
"If you approve the deck remaining as it is and the stairs remaining at zero feet from the sideline, we will obtain Mr. Kropa's signature on this encroachment agreement ... allowing it to remain as it's been for the last nine years," said Snyder.
Paulus said in spring 2025, Kropa had shown no objection to signing an encroachment agreement. However, Sandy noted Kropa had contacted him on May 8, 2026, and wouldn't sign any type of encroachment agreement presented to him.
Bev Ganshorn, Kropa's realtor, attended the meeting on Kropa's behalf and said Kropa wouldn't sign an agreement as he's currently closing on the property. Ganshorn said she and Kropa lost a previous offer on the property due to the encroachment.
The board approved Paulus' petition, with the stipulation that the stairs in the area be cut back so they are not encroaching on the Kropa property.
The BZA also continued three requests from Site Works Property 21 for property at 4916 N. Ind. 15, Warsaw, to the board's June meeting. The requests are in regard to allowing an excavation business in an agricultural district; allowing two uses on one tract of ground; and expanding outdoor storage.
Branden Wood with C & E Excavating said there's still ongoing communication with the Indiana Department of Transportation but that they are still waiting on reports from them. They're also working with the town of Leesburg on hooking the business onto the town's sewer system.
"We do have a budgeted number now of $40,000 to $50,000 to hook to sewer, which sounds extreme," said Wood. "But to try to find another place to put commercial septic on that property ... it's the most cost-effective way to hook to sewer."
Wood told the board he's currently leasing the property to eventually own it, with his focus being to help its current owners get the property into a "saleable condition."
The board requested documentation from County Surveyor Jim Moyer and the town of Leesburg regarding the ongoing work and discussions.
