Photos by Edwin Faunce
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A little misinformation goes a long way. An angry crowd assembled at the Jan. 2 Kokomo Board of Zoning Appeals, ready to fight against the arrival of popular chicken restaurant Chick-fil-A. Their anger turned out to be unfounded, but that didn’t stop them.
At issue for those in attendance was Imperial Drive, the frontage road that runs parallel to Ind. 931 and terminates at the parking lot for the Hobby Lobby plaza where Chick-fil-A intends to locate. Thanks to some false information disseminated on social media, people were led to believe that Chick-fil-A was asking the city to open the frontage road, as well as Belvedere Drive, which also terminates at the parking lot.
It wasn’t true.
"There's a lot of misinformation I believe going on what's happening," said Kokomo Plan Commission Director Greg Sheline. "I'm not sure where all this information got started. I can guarantee you, it did not come from the city administration, and it did not come from my office.
"I just talked to folks representing Chick-fil-A. It did not come from their office. I just want everybody to understand that this board only votes on the variances that are presented before us tonight. If you're here to talk about roads being widened, and all this other stuff that's going around, this board does not have those answers."
Sheline explained that, once Chick-fil-A submits a formal site plan for approval, the plan commission will consider all details of the project in a public hearing. Since there is no site plan at this point, there is no scheduled meeting.
Sheline's statement drifted away on the hot winds of anger from the crowd. His words meant little as the remonstrators began their assault on the project.
Resident Sheila Off lives in one of the three properties adjoining the Hobby Lobby plaza. Armed with her notification letter, she took to the microphone.
"If this is not true, (which is) what you're saying, how come I got certified mail delivered by the postal girl to my front door?" asked Off.
Sheline asked to see the letter, and once he realized it was the notice for the zoning appeals meeting, he tried to explain that each adjoining property owner to the project, by state law, has to be notified by certified mail. There was no statement in the letter suggesting anything happening to Belvedere or Imperial drives.
"Any property that touches this property has to be notified," said Sheline. "That's why you were notified of these variances. This is the notice of public hearing. As you can see, the only thing talked about here are the variances. There's nothing in here about roads being widened or anything like that."
Off was one of three property owners to receive the notification letter, but she traveled the Cedar Crest subdivision, warning residents of her misplaced belief that Chick-fil-A wants to route traffic through their subdivision. Therefore, Sheline's explanation was disregarded by many of those in attendance.
The misinformation had taken root so strongly that the people in the room couldn't help but continue their tirade against the project. What started as a concern about traffic evolved into a general "Not In My Backyard" argument against Chick-fil-A locating in the Hobby Lobby plaza at all.
Because of the confusion and frustration palpable in the room, board member Mike Besser asked that each of the requested variances be voted on separately, and that each variance be described in detail.
The variances included:
* Allowing the restaurant's drive-thru lane to run parallel to Ind. 931 with the service window facing west.
* Allowing the restaurant to be located 12 feet further east, away from Ind. 931, than the zoning ordinances allow.
* Reducing the amount of impermeable surface (asphalt) in the project area by 18 percent in order to add greenspace.
* Since the restaurant would be considered an accessory building to the larger Hobby Lobby plaza, a variance was needed to allow it to be located in front of the larger building.
* Permitting the construction of an awning that is unconnected to the main building.
* Permitting sign lettering three feet larger than allowed by ordinance.
* Allowing two additional wall signs on the restaurant in addition to the standard single sign.
Justin Markham, the development representative for Chick-fil-A, had a chance to speak after the variances were explained. He confirmed the variances and refuted the misinformation.
"Chick-fil-A is not proposing to make any connection that is not existing today," said Markham. "The existing connection off of State Road 931 stays as is, and the connection on Markland Avenue stays. We're not proposing any other connections into that center.
"We're just looking to take some asphalt away and then put our ability to drive through there and add some greenery."
Not hearing anything about the alleged road access that had incensed them, the speakers turned other topics. They voiced concerns about trash and rodents, traffic flow in the parking lot, parking on the dead ends of Imperial and Belvedere, the difficulty of getting out of the plaza due to heavy traffic on Ind. 931 and Markland, excessive sign regulations, light pollution, and of course, more complaints against opening the two roads, which isn't proposed.
Those complaints aside, the board did act on the variances. It approved all but one of the requests. The request to increase the sign lettering height by three feet was voted down unanimously.
"I don't believe we've let anyone go over three feet on the signs since we changed the ordinance," said Besser. "We've had a lot of people come in front of us and ask for different dimensions. We have not wavered more than three feet."
"The goal has always been to decrease signage, not increase signage," added Sheline. "We have we have allowed up to three feet before, and I think this board would be okay with that. My fear is, if we go against what our ordinance says, we've opened up a can of worms that we would never be able to close again. It would defeat all the work that's been done in the last eight or nine years."
While nothing is scheduled at this point, Markham disclosed that once the site plan is submitted and approved, construction will follow quickly. It takes about six months to construct the store, he said. Should everything proceed without further impediment, Chick-fil-A could open in the fourth quarter of 2024.