By DAVE SCHULTZ
Issac Zent, the new president of the Zanesville Town Council, went to the Wells County Area Plan Commission Thursday night to ask a question: What can his town do about dilapidated buildings?
There are garages that pose a threat to public safety, he said, with large holes in the roofs. He wanted to know what options the town has to remove them.
Mike Lautzenheiser, executive director of the APC, said that Bluffton and Ossian have unsafe building ordinances but Wells County does not. He suggested that Zent contact those two communities for ideas.
Another suggestion made reference to Zanesville’s geography in that the town straddles the county line and is partially in Wells County and partially in Allen County. If Allen County has an unsafe building ordinance, perhaps it could be applied in Zanesville.
In other business, the APC:
• Approved a minor subdivision for property at 3930W-1100N, which has a Markle address in Union Township. The request was to split off 7.05 acres from an original parcel of 16.44 acres which is zoned A-1 (agricultural) and is owned by Judith K. Booth. The request was approved 10-0.
• Reviewed three violations. Two of them, at 803 S. Main St. in Bluffton and at 3815E Ind. 124, were cleared, and a third one, at 602 W. Mill St. in Ossian, was continued for 90 days.
• Heard from Lautzenheiser that his office is in the process of drafting ordinance amendments that will fit with some of the goals of the Wells County Vision 2035 Comprehensive Plan.
Members present for Tuesday night’s meeting were Chandler Gerber, Melissa Woodworth, Becky Stone-Smith, Kiera Lance, Harry Baumgartner Jr. John Schuhmacher, Tyson Brooks, Jarrod Hahn, Jerome Markley, and Tim Rohr. Bill Horan was absent.
daves@news-banner.com
