Vacation Of Alleyways In Wooster Cause Concern

The request of a vacation of alleyways in Wooster, near Pierceton, caused concern among those in attendance at the Area Plan Commission meeting on Wednesday.
The Zorn family, who was not present for the meeting, had requested the vacation of alleys that run through the property line. Matt Sandy, Area Plan director, told the commission that to the east, there would be a home affected by this vacation, which causes the biggest concern.
“If we do make a recommendation to approve the vacation of those alleys, it should be with the condition that they’re all combined,” said Sandy. “Otherwise, we will end up with landlocked tracts.”
Lee Harman, APC president, asked if they knew what the rationale was behind the vacation of the alleys, to which Sandy admitted that they did not because the family nor the representation were present.
Several citizens attended the meeting in opposition of the vacation; one being Lori Schrader, whose home is located to the south of the vacation in question.
“My question is there’s a driveway right along the railroad tracks, are they trying to close that?” Schrader asked.
Sandy admitted that the drive came up in another committee meeting and is not a part of the vacation hearing.
However, the highway department questioned whether or not if and when the railroad would tell them to get it out of the way," said Sandy, who showed that there was another way for the homeowner on the east to make another driveway.
Schrader asked if, after the vacations, the petitioners were going to make the land one plot; to which Sandy clarified that would be the commission's recommendation. Schrader asked how the commission could take away the drive from a home that has been on the property for 50 or more years.
“Who does this property then go to?” asked Schrader. “Does it go to one property and get sold that way?”
“If it’s vacated all those would be divided among the lots that butt it, and at this current point that’s all one owner and family,” said Sandy.
Melissa Rogers, also a resident on the road, told the commission that she has dealt with abuses from the current property owners, and that no one has lived there in several years. She told the commission that it needs to be condemned, and how they would like to have a drive put in where one of the vacations may happen.
William Hutchinson was also there to contest the vacation. He stated that he had lived off of the long road by the railroad tracks his entire life, and by vacating that he would be landlocked on his property.
Martha Bays spoke her contention with the vacation of the alleys, telling the commission how if it happens, it will land-lock four different homeowners.
Harman stated that without the family or representation at the meeting, that they were "flying blind,” and they needed to table this vacation until the next meeting. Sandy admitted that the concerns needed to be addressed with some legal representation there.
The commission approved tabling the vacation until next meeting, and Harman asked for the stipulation be put in that if the petitioners do not show up, that they would deny the recommendation.
Rogers was not happy with the tabling decision and asked why the commission could not deny it now.
“When a petitioner doesn’t show, there could be an extenuating circumstance. We try to give them the benefit of the doubt,” Sandy tried to reassure Rogers. “Now a second month is another issue.”
“I understand, but it’s another day of work that we are all missing to come back,” Rogers said.
“We’ve got your recorded statement,” Kevin McSherry, APC vice president stated, “so you wouldn’t have to come back. For the best results, come back or have a spokesperson come back to represent all of you.”
As the meeting progressed, Tina Owens with John Kempel and Associates Land Survey was able to show up on behalf of the Zorn family.
“They would like to leave the south alley open to make an alleyway back to the back lot,” Owens said, “in case they want to make that into a separate parcel in the future.”
This allowed for the commission to have clarification on what could possibly happen for the future of the plats, and the other residents in the vicinity.
Sandy raised the concern that the county highway department had about the vacation and how close it is to the railroad. Owens agreed that it would be a concern and would talk with the family about this. She also stated that it was their first time doing anything like this for a customer and thanked the commission for their patience.
The commission made the motion to still table the decision on whether or not to vacate the alleyways, and that for the next meeting, the petitions need to have a new drawing with a signature on it stating that is what they want to have done.
In other business, local attorney Steve Snyder came as representation for Ryan Craft and Julie Martinez, who requested the vacation of a platted right-of-way in the town of Wooster. When asked if it follows the state code, Snyder told the commission it does. The motion to approve the vacation request was approved.
Snyder and Sandy asked for a recommendation to add under commercial exception uses, the use for duplex in a commercial district. Sandy stated that since they are working on ordinance amendments, that it would come back as an ordinance amendment, and give the petitioners an open door to move forward with the exception hearing for a duplex.
“If we allow exception uses to be heard for residential to be heard,” Sandy said, “why not duplex?”
Snyder, on behalf of the petitioner, stated that the two properties are commercial and they were wanting to have residences set above them.
“Since they are both commercial, have they checked with the health department about sewer?” asked Joe Irwin, commission member.
“We’re good on that,” Snyder said.
The motion to approve the duplex exception to recommend to the county commissioners was approved.
The next meeting of the Area Plan Commission will be at 1 p.m. Feb. 4.