Board approves two variances for Lippert logistics facility at 25128 Cleveland Road with landscaping and berm conditions

The Area Board of Zoning Appeals for St. Joseph County on April 9 approved two variances for a proposed Lippert Components logistics facility at 25128 Old Cleveland Road, granting a reduced landscape buffer along the south property line and allowing loading docks on the building’s front (north) facade, subject to an amended landscaping plan and a requirement for a 6-foot berm in a specified planting area.

Staff had recommended opposing the landscaping reduction but supporting the loading-dock variance. “Staff does recommend denial of the landscaping variance and approval of the dock variance,” Area Plan Commission staff member Carl Brown Grimm told the board, citing state-law variance criteria and the parcel’s context.

The petition concerns a roughly 600,000-square-foot single building proposed by Holiday Properties for Lippert Components on a site rezoned to industrial in 2021. The petitioner asked to plant one continuous row of 106 evergreen trees along the south property line where the ordinance requires a double staggered row totaling 233 trees for an industrial use abutting a residential zone. The second variance would allow off-street loading spaces and docks to be placed between the front lot line and the building’s front façade on the north side.

Why the decision matters: the county’s 2045 comprehensive plan shows mixed-density residential use on the parcel to the south, and staff said reduced screening could affect a future residential development’s use and value. Staff also noted practical constraints on planting along the south property line, including a retention basin near the southwest corner and a…