County hearing denies home-based cabinet shop exception after neighbor complaints about outdoor mess

An unidentified Kosciusko County hearing denied an exception request from petitioner Glenn Bontrager to operate a home-based cabinet-manufacturing business from a property in Aetna Township, citing unresolved neighbor complaints about outdoor trash and storage.

Unidentified staff introduced continuance case 2025117 and said the petition had been postponed twice to allow for notification and to give the petitioner time to work with an adjoining landowner who had remonstrated. Daryl Miller of Green Day Services, speaking for the petitioner, said the cabinet business began as a side gig and had become a full-time operation; he said the petitioner planned to move from a neighbor’s shed into the existing on-site building and build two additions. Miller said the operation was arranging waste control through PNB Waste Management and intended to keep materials inside the new building.

A neighbor, Blake Walls, opposed the request and told the board the mess remained despite prior conversations. “We’ve let these people have the grass from our front yard there … they realized then … that was a problem, and it stayed a problem till this day,” Walls said, urging the board to delay any approval for at least 12 months to see whether conditions improved.

Board members pressed the petitioner’s representatives about employees (Miller said the business would be the petitioner, his son and possibly one additional worker), building sizes (two proposed additions of 48 by 24 and 32 by 24 onto an existing 64 by 48 building), storage and solvent handling, and fire-suppression requirements under Indiana state code. Staff said any permit or operating approval would be reviewed by the fire department and would need to demonstrate compliance with state code.

After closing public comment, the board said the ongoing trash and outdoor storage cited by neighbors was a sufficient basis to deny the exception at this time. The board and staff left a path for reconsideration: if the petitioner addresses the neighbor concerns, documents proper solvent-waste handling with a waste-management contractor, and removes outside storage, the board said it would be willing to re-evaluate the petition at a future meeting.

The transcript records the board’s determination but does not include a formal recorded vote tally on the denial. The board’s staff also advised the petitioner to contact county permitting staff about required permits and compliance steps.