LAPEL — Lapel Planning Commission board members and gathered to to hear preliminary plans to rezone a five-acre lot of agricultural land off 700 South for industrial use by an outside storage facility.

It ends up, however, that the plans had changed.

Pavendeep Singh, a representative for the landowner,  started out the meeting by informing the board the proposal had changed and the owner no longer sought to use the land for outside storage use.

Singh said the owner instead wants to use the land for personal storage — to park his three semi-trucks and trailers.

The resident no longer wanted to rezone the property due to concerns from neighbors.

The personal plans, however, hit a bit of a snag as the planning board insisted a house should be built on the land before any kind of an accessory building, such as a large pole barn.

Gary Shuck, planning board president, said the town’s ordinances say houses must come first with accessory structures to follow.

While the board has allowed certain developments to go ahead with accessory structures, the stipulations on many were never met, Shuck said. He said he didn’t want the board to be a part of those kinds of decisions any longer.

Another resident, Clay Parkison, said he thought when the landowner bought the property it had been made clear they planned to build a house, and that is what they should do, Parkison said.

Council member Lindsay Washmuth said she felt while the landowners might agree to build a house, she said circumstances beyond their control could prevent them from doing so later.

In the end, after concluding the landowner  essentially would be running a trucking business out of the lot, the board asked that the landowner rethink the current plans and come back with other plans, ones designed to build a house before any kind of a personal storage unit.

In other planning news, the board suggested anyone who wishes to complain about the algae on the retention pond off County Road 300 South should contact the Madison County Drainage board at 765-641-9687.

The board also discussed setting up a schedule for the town’s new building inspector from RQAW to do building inspections every Wednesday, with the option of the property or homeowner paying a “rush fee” if they wanted the inspection done sooner.