Revised: January 20, 2007
County Zoning Issues
Animal Protection Coalition has been working on this zoning problem for
several months, it has now been in the news and made the AP wire. APC/IHR has
always applied for and received building permits for the barns and structures built at the Frankfort, IN facility. When the property was purchased, 11 years ago, the plan was in place to start a horse rescue. We applied for a permit to build a horse barn, the Area Planning Commission issued that permit and we continued to operate and obtain
many permits over the next 6 years. The Area Planning Commission issued all the permits for our outbuildings, barns, septic system,
home and replacement home. We operated for 11 years believing that the property was zoned appropriately,
due to the fact that we had obtained permits for all the improvements.
Apparently a neighbor that has been encroaching on our property
with his bushes and fence and refusing (by his attorney) to correct his encroachment made a complaint because he does not like where we store
hay on our property (by his attorney). It was easier for him to complain to the Area Planning Commission than simply
resolve the encroachment with us, and ask us to store our hay somewhere
else. Since this dispute has become public, the owner of the property has
been quoted in the Lafayette
Journal & Courier as saying "he doesn't know anything about
the complaints and their aren't any problems." We do not know what to
conclude from this, however, we have not had any direct contact with Mr.
Schertzinger in 10 years, the only contact we have had is through his attorney.
The facts do not support that Area Planning
Officials made an error in
their interpretation of the zoning ordinance when they issued the permits. Only
approximately less than 1/2 of our property is zoned appropriately; the other
part of our property is not zoned appropriately for what we do, HOWEVER, it
was used agriculturally prior to the zoning ordinances they now cite. As per
state law, agricultural uses may be expanded to include other agricultural uses
without losing their protection under the grandfather clause
(http://www.ai.org/legislative/ic/code/title36/ar7/ch4.html#IC36-7-4-616). Apparently the
new zoning administrator feels the error remained overlooked for 11 years and 8 permits, until the
neighbor issued his complaint through his attorney.
We have met with Zoning Officials and their suggestion was to apply for rezoning and a special exception from the Board of Zoning Appeals to allow our current use.
We thought that we had a joint agreement with Area Planning to resolve this issue in a positive light; however, the attorney for our neighbor openly lied to the Area Planning Commission in a public hearing, negatively influencing their decision whether to support our zoning change. The executive director of Area Planning Commission said he would have to take enforcement action against the rescue if the Commissioners do not approve the zoning change. We had hoped that the necessity for legal action on behalf of Area Planning or Animal Protection Coalition had been averted by our mutual plan to rezone, and obtain a special exception for the current use of our property. The President of Animal Protection Coalition, Anthony Caldwell and the Executive Director of the Area Planning Commission, Mark Mills have acted in good faith to resolve this problem amiably. The ability to resolve this rests in the hands of the Clinton County Commissioners at this time. If the Commissioners vote to approve the zoning change we must still obtain an exception from the Board of Zoning Appeals to correct this honest mistake on the part of Area Planning.
Update
Until just recently we were relying on the Zoning Officials
to interpret the Zoning Laws and County Ordinances to resolve this issue.
After much research, our attorney and the President of APC have concluded that
rezoning is NOT in our best interest, nor is it appropriate. New reviews
of our position are taking place. Eventually someone has to follow Indiana
State Law. After decisions are made, updates will be posted.
http://www.ftimes.com/main.asp?SectionID=88&SubSectionID=244&ArticleID=38271
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/news/local/16383874.htm
http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=8602
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070104/LOCAL/701040519
http://www.jconline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070104/NEWS09/70104009
http://www.theindychannel.com/news/10671295/detail.html
http://www.jconline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007701050323
http://www.post-trib.com/lifestyles/198146,Horsies.article
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/16391111.htm