Dave Baumgartner, left, takes the oath of office from Warsaw Mayor Jeff Grose, right, for the Warsaw Plan Commission. Baumgartner, who has served on the Plan Commission before, will also serve on the Board of Zoning Appeals as the Plan Commission’s appointment. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union.

By David Slone
Times-Union

WARSAW — Builders of a storage facility on East Winona Avenue may have their costs increased after a decision by the Warsaw Plan Commission Monday night, Sept. 9, on what type of materials they have to use.

In presenting the case to the board, City Planner Justin Taylor said, “So, tonight, we have something that we don’t see a lot with this board, but it isn’t uncommon for us to have to do this. We don’t see these cases come through all the time, usually we’re dealing with subdivisions and ordinance issues, but this is something that is in the ordinance. It’s a cladding material for a building in a (Commercial)-2.”

The storage facility, which will be able to store larger things like campers, is planned for 600 E. Winona Ave., according to Colin Eley, with Michiana Builders.

Taylor said section 13.6.3 of the municipal code states that the predominant exterior building materials for commercial districts have to be of high quality. Examples of high-quality building material include wood, limestone, tinted and textured concrete masonry units and other natural or other manufactured stone products.

Prohibited materials are non-architectural metal panels or smooth concrete masonry units.

“If there’s a questionable material, this section of the ordinance says that if the petitioner wishes to still use that material, that material needs to be brought to the plan commission for approval. That way the plan commission can be the determining board on whether or not that material is appropriate for the context of the proposed development,” Taylor said. “That’s why we’re here tonight: to take a look at material.”

He pointed out the proposed development is on the southeastern corner of Park and Winona avenues and is within a C-2 zoning district.

Taylor brought with him to the meeting the proposed material, which is all metal, along with two other material examples. One example was a prohibited material — typical pole barn siding — in a C-2; another was an architectural panel, which is permitted in most commercial districts.

A lot of buildings in commercial districts have a combination of materials that have “gone through this process to have that ability or were grandfathered in because they existed,” Taylor said, adding that there’s a lot of example along Winona Avenue of buildings that have a stone veneer on the front and metal on the side.

Plan Commission President Rick Keeven initially didn’t understand what the issue was. “Are they not in compliance with the statute with what they’re proposing, or are we just given the option of, maybe having some input?”

Taylor said there’s just a question mark. “So anytime there’s a material that’s somewhere in between architectural panel and the barn siding, I would like to bring that before the plan commission per the ordinance for you guys to say, ‘Yes, this is something that we would want in the commercial district,’ or ‘No, this is not something we would want in the commercial district.’”

City Engineer Aaron Ott said the 26-foot tall side of the building would face Winona Avenue.

Eley showed the commission the color scheme of the building, which included a dark and light grey with some horizontal red to break it up.

Michelle Boxell, commission member, said, “What concerns me is that we’re trying to elevate that area of town and the corridor of Winona Avenue to look better than what it does, so I’m not sure what this would look like and how that falls within what the goals are, but that is my concern.”

She said she wanted to make sure they’re doing it properly the first time so three to five years down the road if the building doesn’t fit in, it doesn’t have to be redone.

Eley said the building is “going to brighten that whole end of town, in my opinion. For one, it’s a very massive structure. These colors, I think it’s a nice, attractive color scheme that we’re putting on it. We’ll also highlight the building, the colors of the building, with lighting. There’ll be decorate lighting … in addition to security lighting around the building. It’s really going to dress up that end of town, so I don’t see that as a concern from my perspective.”

He said not only does the metal have longevity, but it’ll also look very good.

Councilwoman and Commission Vice President Diane Quance agreed with Boxell’s concern, adding that just down the road Cardinal Services put a lot of money into renovating its building. Fellowship Missions also has building plans, which are similar in looks to what Cardinal Services has now. They have some metal siding, but it has stone along the bottom.

She said she wasn’t sure the storage building would look cohesive with what other plans are right now for the Winona Avenue area, or if it would look like a metal building stuck in the middle of it.

Eley said some stone was originally proposed, but he thought it looked better without that in this case.

Ott pointed out that there is a landscape buffer area almost 20 feet wide with several plantings and trees along that frontage. Taylor said the trees will definitely help bring the scale down of the very tall structure next to the sidewalk.

Boxell said they needed to take away the building’s look of being a pole barn.

After some further discussion about color and sizes of various aspects of the building, Quance made a motion to “approve this plan with the amendment that they need to include at least a 36-inch wainscot constructed of the materials listed” in the municipal code.

Those materials include brick, wood, limestone, other natural and manufactured stone, and tinted and textured concrete masonry units.

Commission member Jim Gast seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

In other business, with the resignation of Bob Coffelt from the plan commission, Dave Baumgartner was appointed to the board and sworn in by Mayor Jeff Grose Monday. Baumgartner then was unanimously voted by the plan commission to serve as their appointment to the Warsaw Board of Zoning Appeals.