Gump Road Rezoning Coorespondence

May 17, 2010


From Kirsten LaSalle, A Friend of Cedar Creek:

The property at Gump and Coldwater has been sold, as we’ve all probably seen. Mr. Maggos sold the property to Gump Road Holdings LLC., which is comprised of several local residents who are willing to give us time to raise money to purchase it for green space. I have heard back from Mr. Don Duff with Northwest Allen County Schools that they would be willing to accept it (there had been some question about whether they’d take it because of environmental clean up concerns.)

The cafeteria of Cedar Canyon Elementary School has been reserved for 6:30 on Thursday, May 20th, for a meeting to get started on this project.

We will need to decide a number of things.
1. A name for the LLC which will be set up to receive the donations intended to purchase the property. Contributions will be tax deductible.
2. A means to solicit donations – a flyer or something to e-mail or hand out or something
3. Someone (or several) to research and acquire some grant or corporate or foundation monies to supplement individual contributions
4. A committee to track our progress, plan additional future fundraising events and publicity campaigns
5. Several people to function as contacts for the new LLC
6. Help to do some cosmetic clean up on the property to make the cost to NACS minimal after they take control: ie brush and stump removal, debris removal (concrete and roofing shingles).
7. More ideas and more innovative ideas for fundraising.

I can also address other questions such as the billboard, future appearance of the property, and the method by which the transition of ownership will take place.

If we aren’t able to accomplish this purchase then all our efforts to protest the past three re-zoning attempts will be for naught because future owners know what the DPS and Plan Commission consider acceptable for that parcel, and the Commissioners who ultimately overturned the most recent request will likely support the next recommendation because they know that we were unable to make a difference after all.

Come with enthusiasm, optimism, ideas and endurance!



January 15, 2010


From: Kirsten LaSalle (kirstenlasalle@verizon.net)
Subject: Counter offer has been received

Hello all,

I have received a counter offer from Mr. Maggos. I am relieved that he is actually going to speak to us and not dismiss our offer out of hand. A 2nd offer will be made by next week.

I would like to schedule a general meeting for either the 27th or 28th, or for February 4th, so that I can give everyone updates on where we are at that time with both the negotiations as well as what organization if any might be interested in taking the property, as well as possibly some additional information from Department Planning Services and/or Plan Commission. Will keep you posted.

All of you, please put on your thinking caps as to how we can ensure we get sufficient participation in donations and fund raising (some have already offered their talents for a fund raiser) in order to come up with the money necessary to get the property into the hands of the school system, Northwest Allen Trails or any other non-profit entity which would retain it as open green space. When the time comes there will only be a moderate amount of time to raise the money. We will need to motivate and organize quickly, so perhaps we can start laying some strategies at the meeting so that if a purchase agreement is reached we will be ready to move immediately to begin acquiring the funds.

Thanks all, Have a good weekend. Kirsten


January 11, 2010

From: Kirsten LaSalle [mailto:kirstenlasalle@verizon.net]
Subject: Gump and Coldwater status

Hello all, hope everyone had a good Christmas and the snow didn’t interfere with any plans.

An update:

1. Survey stakes went up before Christmas. I was hopeful it was because we were asking questions of the real estate agent about the actual size of the C-1 space because of discrepancies in various official documents I was reviewing.

2. Trees are being cut down. I don’t know why. I called the real estate agent as soon as I saw it on my return home this morning at 10:00 am. Also called our attorney. I have been in touch with the real estate agent and our attorney multiple times throughout the Christmas holidays getting information regarding the property in order to determine an initial offering for purchase. The offer was supposed to have happened last week. I should hear back from Mr. Maggos representative by Wednesday regarding his response – something. It is not, I wouldn’t think, for lack of our communication of our serious intent to purchase.

3. I will work on setting up another citizens meeting sometime about two weeks from now, as I would assume we should hopefully have an agreed upon price and time frame. I will be able to update everyone further at that time, but for now some information needs to remain controlled while in the negotiation process.

4. I have asked the member of our group who has agreed to keep an eye on filings with DPS to check if any building permit/plans have been filed for the C-1 site, which would not require a hearing or any supervision. Will keep everyone posted.

5. I HAVE APPROPRIATE documentation that the gas tanks have been removed and the site has been cleaned up to EPA specifications (that came as part of our conversations with the real estate agent).

Additionally – regarding much of the information that has been circulated about this area: I have researched it (thanks to those of you out there who have helped me in this process) and everything that I have been told is incorrect...

*Mr. Maggos has not filed for bankruptcy.
*The fuel storage tanks HAVE BEEN REMOVED.
*The property on the north side of Gump Road, belonging to Joseph Seyfert,
   still shows him as the owner according to the tax records and so has NOT apparently been sold outright.
*These same properties are still habitable-there is no conflict with Right of Way due to road widening.
*These same properties have not been acquired by Allen County nor by the state of Indiana due to issues
   regarding Gump Road widening.

I hope to have good news regarding an accepted offer, but there is nothing compelling Mr. Maggos to sell to us below his current asking price. Please keep this in thought and prayer. Unfortunately, if he does agree to sell, then comes the hard part of raising the necessary money.

I am still in contact with NACS regarding whether they will accept the property, and whether/how much they will contribute towards the purchase price.

Feel free to keep in touch with any information you may have, or if you have contacts who could facilitate this process, so much the better!

Thank you for your patience, Kirsten



December 21, 2009

From: Kirsten LaSalle [mailto:kirstenlasalle@verizon.net]
Subject: Re: outcome of vote and 'now what?'


Hello all, it was a hectic Friday and weekend. I hope you all were able to enjoy the snow.

The vote on Friday by the Commissioners went against the rezoning request. Bill Brown and Linda Bloom voted against rezoning, Nelson Peters voted to support the rezoning request.

Despite a very full agenda and with another important meeting immediately following, almost forty minutes was spent on the topic with questions for Department of Planning Services staff: Kim Bowman and Michelle Woods. Most of the questions came from Mr. Peters.

In regards to Mr. Peters comment on wanting to respect property owner rights: my opinion is Mr. Maggos has the right to use his commercial property as such, and the right to use his A-1/R as such. We, also, would like the right to have the area in which we bought property to remain as initially zoned or as currently being developed. That would be A-1/R or planned residential, NOT commercial!

This means that Mr. Maggos will have to wait one calendar year before submitting a new plan and new rezoning request. However, that does not prohibit him from building something on the commercially zoned property. He did apply, in December 2008, for a permit for a professional office building using ONLY the commercial property, which of course was approved as that was well within his rights. He did not act on it for reasons unknown.

In the meantime, the next step is to continue with negotiations to buy the property. Please continue to network with people you know who would care to see this remain as green space, in order to develop contacts who will be willing to donate funds, of any amount, no matter how small, to support the acquisition. I will communicate when we have a better idea of price as well as an organization willing to accept it.

In 2008, I contacted multiple organizations. ACRES and Cedar Creek Wildlife Project said they didn’t want it because it was small, separate from other acreage they handle, and didn’t fit their organizational goals. I appreciate their time to discuss the project with me as well as their adherence to their directives. Another organization, Allen County Parks, said that they would prefer not to take it because it was small, separate from other parks areas, and would be additional cost to maintain because of its distance from their other holdings. However, I was told that if no one else WOULD take it, please bring it back to their attention, as they might take it in order to maintain open green space. The two most likely candidates were Northwest Allen Trails or Northwest Allen County Schools. I have already approached NACS as they had been interested in the purchase of the property several times in the past. They did apparently discuss it in their executive meeting. At this point, there is no decision, but there will be ongoing communication. I am concerned, obviously, that the current budget issues are going to make it more difficult for them to approve funding for this, when so much is being cut from their support monies. I think they also have the same concerns as many of us: ie; what is on the property that may need to be cleaned up. That is information which we are actively seeking from Mr. Maggos via the real estate agent. Until we have a better understanding of what has or has not been done already, we won’t know what additional liabilities remain for bringing the property up to acceptable standards and usability. I am expecting IDEM reports and/or other documentation soon.

Northwest Allen Trails was potentially interested to acquire the property in 2008, but was in the final stages of preparation for the Oprah Winfrey fundraising project and did not know how much money they would have to assist with this. This property was, and still is an intersection of an east/west trail between Huntertown and Grabill as well as the north/south trail between Fort Wayne and Garrett. I have not yet contacted them this year, in part because I first wanted to know what NACS currently thinks. I also have spent so much time on research related to the zoning issue that I haven’t had time. Northwest Allen Trails is on my agenda in the next two weeks. Our other ‘next’ step is to continue to research how and where to organize as a ‘neighborhood’ or ‘concerned citizens’ organization, as well as how we will fit into existing governmental agencies, if even possible. I have additional information and will follow up tomorrow since it is late and I have other important family things to attend.

However, before I close, I need to thank all of you behind the scenes who continue to feed me information. Each of you have come out at key times to tell me bits of info of which you are aware, as well as give me leads to follow regarding all sorts of links between people, places, things, histories, etc. You have also given me information or contacts about where to start looking for answers to the many questions which have arisen during this process. We would not have been able to do what we have without the stream of information from many of you, which allowed me to do the effective research to follow the leads you give. Thank you to all who have helped without wanting any recognition or limelight. We are very grateful. Please continue to contact me with anything that you think pertinent to the situation. I cannot stress how important this teamwork has been, and ask any and everybody to let me know about anything that could be of import. You will remain confidential if you so request.

Sincerely, Kirsten



December 18, 2009

A Victory at last! I will have to eat my words, in an up and down and around discussion by the Commissioners this morning concerning the Gump Road rezoning, Commissioners Bloom and Brown voted down the rezoning. Linda Bloom called for the vote by saying she could not see that type of development there, and Bill Brown said there was just too much opposition to it.

Of course, it is not a completely dead issue, as the owner can come back again for a building permit on just the corner lot. Still there is talk about raising funds to buy the property which is now worth less than before. I personally think that anyone who built on that property would find that most citizens this direction would boycott business there and the builder could find himself in financial trouble in that case. So, time will tell and Kirsten will certainly keep the troops organized. The vote was certainly a nice Christmas present.

Al Diefenbach

Friends of Cedar Creek President