Planning committee forwards Florentina Bonilla’s home-daycare special-use request to council; other petitions rescheduled

The Gary Common Council Planning and Development Committee on an unspecified date agreed to forward a special-use permit request from petitioner Florentina Bonilla to the full council for a home daycare at 1239 East 30th Avenue and rescheduled multiple other petitions for later committee or council consideration.

The committee’s counsel, Attorney Molina, told members the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) heard Bonilla’s petition on Dec. 12 and “unanimously decided that a special use permit should be granted,” and staff verified that Bonilla resides at the property. The petition will be placed on the council agenda for Tuesday, Feb. 11, at 6:00 p.m., with a correction to a typo in the draft ordinance that currently lists the wrong street address.

The petition for Bonilla was filed for a property zoned R2. Molina summarized the city’s required review by reference to the seven factors in the zoning chapter used for special-use permits, saying, for example, that “the establishment, maintenance, or operation of the special use will not be detrimental or endanger the public health, safety, morals, or general welfare.” He told the committee the BZA found the factors weighed in favor of granting the permit and noted there were no remonstrators at the BZA hearing; one neighbor told the board she would welcome a daycare in the neighborhood.

Florentina Bonilla, the petitioner, told the committee she is “just beginning and starting” and does not plan to care for more than eight children initially. Bonilla said she has not yet been inspected by the state because “they expect for me to get my GBL first.” (GBL was referenced in the meeting transcript; no further definition was provided in the record.)

Committee members also discussed a broader state short-term rental law that previously required cities to adopt local ordinances. Molina explained the state law distinguishes between owners who reside in a home — who may rent short-term “as a matter of right” — and non-resident owners who must obtain a special-use permit and satisfy the same seven review factors.

Because a petitioner named Deborah Cooper was not present, the committee set Cooper’s separate petition for 2424 Malcolm X Boulevard aside and agreed to bring both Cooper’s and Molina’s ordinances to the Feb. 11 council meeting. Two other petitioners, identified as Kenya Shelton and Mark Maroney, did not appear and their petitions (CPO2025-04 and CPO2025-05, as discussed) were reassigned to a future Planning and Development Committee meeting so questions can be asked when petitioners attend.

Committee members asked staff to correct a typo in Bonilla’s packet that lists “4954 Massachusetts” in a paragraph; Molina said staff will make the amendment before finalization. The committee did not take a formal roll-call vote on Bonilla’s petition at the committee level; it instead voted procedurally to forward the corrected ordinance and related petitions to the full council or to a later committee meeting as described above.

Next steps: Bonilla’s corrected ordinance will appear on the Gary Common Council agenda for Feb. 11 at 6:00 p.m. Petitioners who did not attend were reassigned to the next Planning and Development Committee meeting for further questions and action.