An Osceola used car dealer who paved and started to fence a parking lot without permits, angering neighbors, received some bad news Tuesday as they try to win county approval after the fact.
The St. Joseph County Area Plan Commission voted 7-0 to send S&H Auto Group’s rezoning request to the county council with an unfavorable recommendation. The car dealer’s attorney, George Lepeniotis, told the commission it was an unintended mistake, and that his client didn’t realize the land they paved over was zoned residential, rather than commercial.
Lepeniotis said they paved the lot for employee and customer vehicle service parking. It’s on Toledo Avenue, a neighborhood with 32 homes that abuts the business, on a lot where a home once stood.
If the council denies the rezoning, it was unclear whether they’ll make the business tear out the parking lot. But neighbor Barbara Stafford, who said she complained to the county about the issue, said the solution is simple.
“Every step they did illegally, I called about it," Stafford told the commission. "I want it back to grass. He did everything illegally. He ought to have to take everything up. Tear everything down.”
