Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Housing Permits topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Jennings County resident seeks permit and rezoning to legalize pole‑barn dwelling
Summary
A Jennings County resident told staff the family converted a pole barn into two rental units without realizing a permit was required and said the property must be rezoned to multifamily for a mortgage to close; the resident said safety fixes and a $3,900 window bid are already in progress.
Speaker 1, a Jennings County resident, asked county staff for help legalizing living space they said was built inside an existing pole barn so their parents could live there in 2014 and later so the resident could rent parts of the structure.
“We, we did not know that we had to have a permit to build inside of an existing structure, until I come and talked to Miss Marie, about trying to get 2 addresses there,” Speaker 1 said, describing separate downstairs and upstairs leases.
Speaker 1 said the downstairs is rented under one lease with three occupants and the upstairs efficiency is on a separate lease. They told staff they want two addresses assigned and to complete required upgrades that a county inspector named “Dan” identified so the units meet code. The resident said they already paid half the cost for replacement windows after receiving a ProExteriors bid for $3,900.
The resident also described a safety incident that led the fire chief to remove an interior wall: “we saw a spark in the metal wall and the fire chief took the wall out,” Speaker 1 said, adding the chief provided guidance on repairs. Speaker 1 said the visible hazards “don’t even really have power to them, but they do need to be removed” and that they had the capital to complete work and wanted to proceed quickly.
County staff and attendees discussed scheduling a follow-up inspection; Speaker 2 and others confirmed a check or meeting was expected next Monday. Speaker 5 noted the property is currently zoned commercial and said it will need to be rezoned to multifamily to allow the mortgage to close, linking the county’s permitting and zoning status to the owner’s financing timeline.
The inspection and rezoning steps represent distinct processes: county staff must confirm the building is brought up to code before a permanent change of use or address is finalized, while zoning changes require separate administrative action.
Next steps recorded in the meeting were a planned staff follow-up and a scheduled check of the property’s compliance status. The resident said contractors are lined up and some payments already made; the county did not record a formal approval or vote during the comments.
