PLYMOUTH – A local couple will have 30 days to contest a Marshall County Board of Zoning Appeals decision if they are to place a banquet hall on their property.
Daniel and Beth Cashen of Leesburg came before the board seeking a variance of use for property they own on 3B Road in North Township to place a banquet hall on the property. The Cashen’s requested the variance to a parcel of property that is zoned A1 agricultural to allow the use. They told the board that they originally planned to put the hall up for family use but felt that it could be utilized to generate a small amount of income.
The property is on a mapped “county road” that is not maintained and there fore has limited access.
Larry Weil – a neighbor of the property led a group of a dozen other neighbors present at the meeting in presenting a petition with another 52 names against the variance. The neighbors felt that a banquet hall was not something that was either necessary of desireable in the neighborhood.
The Board had many questions based on the fact – pointed out by members Jeff Gustafson and Trent Bennett – that very little of the Cashen’s plans were actually presented. The board voted against the variance with the main objections being the lack of an adequate road in the area, and security issues for the neighborhood presented by the remote location.
The Cashen’s can contest the Board’s findings in Circuit Court in the next 30 days if they so desire.
