It's hot

 Notes

We are having a heat wave. Unfortunately the pool is closed for the season.

The City had an auction last Friday. There were over a hundred bikes for sale. Unfortunately for anyone wanting to buy just one bike, they were sold in lots of about a dozen. 

Several vehicles were in the sale as well as a pop machine that may not have worked and an old recycling trailer. I wonder how much it sold for. I did not stay around long enough to find out.

The picture below is from last week and shows work on water line replacement on Van Rensselaer.

A shelter house is under construction in Filson Park. This picture was taken last week. Since then a metal roof has been installed.

On the other side of Front Street, the City parking lot has been seal coated and painted. Tree removal began and then seemed to stop in Potawatomi Park along the River.

The building next to Ayda's that previously was an optometrist's office is now the office of VanHouten Wealth Management. I believe he was previously with Edward Jones on Washington Street. That office is still open.

Willow Switch is in its final days but will be replaced with another business. The new business, Cup of Joy, will expand the coffee part but drop the home goods part of what Willow Switch has. It will open after Labor Day. NuBloom Naturals is closing. The owner had a long statement on Facebook saying that the Police Department is shutting them down even though they are doing nothing illegal. Dollar Tree plans to close its existing store on September 18 and open its new store in the former Walgreens on September 21.

Markit Arts is hosting a showing of a short film about Rensselaer murals and mural week this Friday at 7:00 pm. 

We are less than a month away from the fall equinox and days are rapidly shortening. 

Jasper County BZA and Plan Commission meetings

The Jasper County BZA met Monday evening with one item on the agenda, a request for a variance for lot size and frontage for a property in Wheatfield Township. The case was a strange one. The owners had restored an old barn, converting it into what is called a barndominium, with living quarters on the second floor. However, they did not get a building permit for this even though they had checked with the Planning Office about what steps they needed to take before they began. The fact that they had made the changes and the people were living in the barndominium was discovered by accident as something else was being checked. The Planning Office threatened enforcement and the owners then hired a surveyor to retroactively correct things. He and the Planning Office decided they should go back to the start and the first thing that they should have done was to apply for the variances. After discussion, the variances were granted, with one member of the Board voting "No."

The second step was to apply for a two-lot subdivision from the Jasper County Advisory Plan Commission, which met immediately after the BZA meeting. Here there was even more hostility because the applicants seemed to have intentionally ignored the permitting process. The Commission decided to table the application to the next meeting, assess a $2500 fine for violations, and have the owners hire an approved building inspector to see if the barndominium is up to code. The next meeting will be on September 18.

The Plan Commission is short one member and has another member who has missed three consecutive meetings, which the bylaws say is the same as a resignation. They are concerned about getting enough present to have a quorum.