Kosciusko County Area Planning Commission held its first regular monthly meeting of 2015 Wednesday afternoon in Warsaw and it took less than 15 minutes.

The only agenda item was a preliminary plat for a commercial subdivision for Michael Mettham on a 5-acre tract of ground east of SR 13 and south of CR 500N in Tippecanoe Township. Dan Richard, area planning director, noted a tract of ground is being “carved out” of an existing tract of ground owned by Bruce Cavell.

Richard added when the technical committee reviewed the petition, the only concern was surface water drainage. “It is OK the way it is now, but if there is any future development on the property, it will need a full drainage review,” he said.

Mettham was not present at the meeting, but was represented by his father-in-law Jerry Johnson. Johnson said his son-in-law wants to move his dog kennel business from the town of North Webster to the 5-acre tract. It was noted road access to the dog kennel will be off SR 13 and eventually for the remaining acreage access will be off CR 500N.

There was brief discussion among APC members about the road access, but eventually they unanimously approved the preliminary plat.

Also during the meeting, 2015 officers for the planning commission were elected and they will remain the same as in 2014: Lee Harman, chairman; Chuck Haffner, vice chairman; and Dick Kemper, secretary.

And Richard provided planning commission statistics for 2014 to each APC member. He noted the number of hearings for 2014 (329 and also including the county board of zoning appeals) was up 24 percent compared to 2013. The year 2014 was the fifth highest in construction dollars ($92,534,588) since the APC was formed in 1975, but was actually 16th highest when adjusted for inflation.

APC meetings are held beginning at 1 p.m. the first Wednesday of each month in the old courtroom of the county courthouse and are open to the public.