Planning commission votes not to recommend rezoning near Wyandotte/Wyland area after neighbors and drainage officials object

The Kosciusko County Planning Commission voted not to recommend rezoning six acres owned by Ben and Danielle Barkey from agricultural to residential after multiple neighbors and the county surveyor raised concerns about drainage, septic systems and water quality in the Wyland/Wyandotte watershed.

Scott Royce, representing the Barkeys, said the petitioner planned two residential building sites if rezoned and had already prepared a proposed plat. "If it's rezoned, then our next step would be to come in and ask you to approve, and that's the plat they're likely to ask you to approve," Royce told the commission. He said soils testing had been done for one of the proposed lots and that septic feasibility for the other lot remained to be proven by the health department.

Several nearby residents and landowners urged denial. Don Zollman, who farms acres drained by the Wyland Ditch and Cherry Creek, presented water‑sampling maps and said E. coli levels in the watershed exceed state guidance in the area. "Every septic you add is a potential to add a higher level when we're already at an unsafe level," Zollman said. He urged that development in the area hook up to sewer where possible.

The county surveyor told the commission the parcel contains two open drainage ditches and that a 75‑foot top‑of‑bank setback applies; he said the Drainage Board would not support reducing setbacks and recommended keeping the parcel agricultural. After discussion, a motion not to recommend rezoning passed on a voice vote. The commission chair said the recommendation to the county commissioners would be to not rezone; commissioners will consider the recommendation at a March meeting scheduled at 9:15 a.m. in this room.