Plan Commission elects 2026 officers and establishes plat committee

The January 6 Plan Commission meeting included highlights such as the establishment of a plat committee, and the election of the Planning Commission officers for 2026. The meeting began with said elections. Attorney Lisa Fleming led this item of the agenda and asked for nominations for president, vice-president, and secretary. Todd Ewen nominated Kevin Baird for president, Marsha Dailey was nominated by Lori Gilstrap for vice-president, and Ewen also nominated Lisa Fleming for secretary. All three passed unanimously.

The next item of business was, “hearing on Samuel N. Wengard petition for vacation of certain right-of-ways/alleys in New Philadelphia area, filed pursuant to Indiana Code 36-7-3.” surveyor Daniel Blann came forward to speak on this.

“I'm here tonight representing Mr. Wengard and his farm and what he's trying to accomplish here,” began Blann as he laid maps in front of the commission for reference. “So, I'll do the very best I can to explain this... So, November 30th, 1837, this plat right here was a subdivision performed by what Travis and I think was Mr. Morrison. In 1837, a subdivision plat was created called Hamilton's Addition. Hamilton's addition to the town of New Philadelphia. And as you can see in that diagram, there were several platted right-of-ways for proposed streets and alleys. Somebody had high hopes for New Philadelphia, but it never came to be. Only two streets ever came to be built within this subdivision. That is what's shown on the large survey as an existing paved road that runs east and west, called Ewen Road, which is a county road. And then the county road to the east, which is on what is currently called Bryant Road. Those two roads are current county roads and are the only two roads to ever be built within this old Hamilton's Addition. And for reference, the names have changed. So, when you see the Ewen Road on the current survey plat, that was what was called Broadway in 1837. What is now Bryant Road was Jefferson Street in 1837. I just want to clarify that those names have changed over the years.

“So, the existing streets and alleys only exist in one place,” continued Blann. “And that's this paper. None of these streets or alleys currently run through these Amish farms. And that's what these are. This is an Amish farm that Mr. Wengard has, and this is an Amish farm to the north. There are no constructed streets. There are no constructed alleys. These run through the middle of cow pastures and goats and sheep and things like that. We were ordered to do a survey of Mr. Wengard's property, and what we found was, the title to his property – the legal descriptions and the title of his deeds – revert back and are described to this 1837 plat. No new deeds were ever filed to redescribe [sic] his property. So, when you pull his deed, his deed refers to the lot numbers within the old 1837 plat. So for example, lots 17, 18, 23, 25, 26 and so forth that you see within this red boundary, that is how his deed was described. So a typical metes and bounds deed would course out a perimeter. His still called for the original lots which created a title issue for my client. He technically doesn't have title to these alleyways and streets that revert back from this 1837 plat that runs through his pasture and his barns and where he conducts his small family farm. He wanted to make sure he got his property lines right. So when he builds his fences, he knows exactly where his lines are. When we sat down with our client and explained to him that he's got platted alleys and streets from the 1830s that run through his farm, he was shocked, to say the least. And once we explained that this is basically a technicality from this old recording plat, we advised him to get this cleaned up to help with the title of the interior of his farm. So that's what we're here to do tonight. We have sent notification to all adjoining landowners via certified mail. We have run a public notification. You have here before you tonight the plat that we intend to record that has the descriptions of the areas that we are proposing to be vacated.”

After much deliberation, the commission voted to accept the proposal to vacate the areas outlined by Daniel Blann. This essentially dissolved the alleys and right-of-ways from 1837 that no longer exist throughout the Wengard farm, ensuring that the Wengard family will not have deed issues in the future.

Following this, the commission decided to establish a plat committee to handle future issues regarding minor plats.

A plat committee typically:

Reviews minor subdivisions or land splits
Ensures plats comply with local zoning and subdivision ordinances
Checks access to roads, utilities, and drainage
Confirms property lines and easements are properly shown
Approves or recommends approval of plats without requiring a full Plan Commission meeting

The commission decided that whoever holds the following positions will serve on the plat committee: county surveyor, highway superintendent, and the building commissioner. The motion passed unanimously.

Due to time constraints, the commission had to postpone their discussion regarding the proposed solar ordinance. The meeting was then promptly adjourned.