It was a quiet night for a change and the Marshall County Board of Zoning Appeals as four cases were on the agenda with no opposition.
The only bump in the cases was for a variance requested by Lavone and Arlene Borkholder as part of two requests for an existing woodworking business on U.S. 6 in German Township.
The first was for a variance of use to allow a kiln for drying wood. The business had received approval in 1997 for their operation but due to wanting to expand, they needed to come before the board for approval for that expansion. With no objections from neighbors, the request was unanimously approved by the board.
The second of those variances was for a sideyard setback from the required 15 feet to four feet to allow the construction of the building for that kiln. Once again there were no objections from the surrounding neighbors but an issue arose over the distance from the property line. The board also had no objection if the setback could be set at five feet instead of four and Borkholder assured them that would be acceptable.
Currently, there is no development in the lot to that side of the business, and board members issued a caution to Borkholder about the property line suggesting that he might want to seek a survey for the sight to be sure that he did not cross the property line.
If the owner of the property decided to develop the lot and found that Borkholder’s building had crossed the property line, by precedent, the county would have no choice but to require him to tear it down.
Borkholder thanked the board for the caution and indicated that he would be certain that the structure did not cross the property line.
The first action of the night was for a reduction in setback and floodplain setback to allow for a patio deck on Birch Drive in Bremen.
Brian and Kathy Denk asked for the variance to allow them to construct an addition on their current patio and then rebuild the deck off of that. Once again there were no objections from neighbors and the request was approved unanimously.
Finally, another small business operated by Eddie Ray and Diana Borkholder requested permission to temporarily use a pole barn structure on their property to warehouse items for a hunting and land management business while they sought a better location.
Borkholder said that the mail order business had started out very small but had grown and they desired to find a location that would allow walk-in customers but needed a place to warehouse items until they could find that location.
The board once again received no objections and unanimously approved the variance.
Upcoming, the BZA is planning a special session addressing the solar energy issues in the county, and Plan Director Ty Adley said that the date has been tentatively set for Nov. 7 and Adley said that it was likely that meeting would be held in the auditorium at Plymouth High School to allow room for the expected crowd. The next regular meeting of the board will be Nov. 12.
