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Board approves variances for small office on U.S. 41 with sidewalk condition
Summary
The zoning board granted multiple variances for a proposed 3,000-square-foot office at 10625 Wicker Avenue, including relief from frontage-road and parking-location requirements, and required an eight-foot sidewalk across the property's 100-foot frontage if the pedestrian/bicycle-path relief is granted.
The St. John Board of Zoning Appeals approved multiple developmental variances on May 7 for a proposed office building at 10625 Wicker Avenue, owned by Michael and Kimberly Naughton and represented by agent Tyler Clotier. The board voted 3-0 to grant relief from several U.S. 41 Overlay District standards, with a condition requiring an eight-foot sidewalk across the property's 100-foot frontage if the variance from pedestrian/bicycle-path requirements is approved (STJMC 24-3-53).
The applicants sought relief from overlay-district standards to allow a roughly 3,000-square-foot office on a lot smaller than the 15,000-square-foot minimum, to place the parking lot in the front yard, and to waive the frontage-road requirement (requests framed against STJMC 24-3-46-1, 24-3-46-5, 24-3-47 and 24-3-53 in the hearing record). An agent said the property had been a legal lot of record when the overlay district was adopted and that the site formerly contained a demolished house.
Agent Tyler Clotier told the board the lot "is already zoned C-1" and that "it's hard to get parking in the back of the property" because of the lot configuration. He said there are no existing sidewalks along U.S. 41 in that immediate block and that prior variances have been granted elsewhere along the corridor for front-yard parking and frontage exceptions. Clotier also said he had discussed curb-cut limits with INDOT and that the agency indicated a maximum curb opening of 26 feet with limited permitting.
Town planning staff briefed the board on the overlay district's stricter standards and recommended a condition if the pedestrian/bicycle-path variance were granted: construction of an eight-foot-wide sidewalk along the property's U.S. 41 frontage (approximately 100 linear feet). The staff presentation noted similar sidewalk and path improvements required at nearby projects, including a sidewalk required across the street where the Franciscan property is under construction.
A public hearing produced no in-person comments and no written remonstrances. The board took each variance request in turn; motions to approve the variances were made and seconded and each motion carried 3-0. For the variance tied to the pedestrian/bicycle-path requirement (STJMC 24-3-53), the board's approval included the staff-recommended condition that the applicant construct an eight-foot sidewalk across the 100-foot frontage.
The approvals allow the applicants to move forward with site-plan work subject to the conditions discussed in the hearing and any INDOT permitting for driveway access. No formal design or building permit was approved at the hearing; those permit processes and any required engineering for drainage and curb cuts remain separate steps.
