Former drive-in theater can't be used as vehicle storage
Sep. 22—The owner of the former Skyline Drive-In theater in Logansport cannot legally use it to store cars, the Logansport Board of Works ruled on Monday.
Owner Alejandro Sanchez, who's been parking vehicles there for about the three years he's owned it, has 30 days to remove them, based on city code.
Sanchez appeared before the BZA on Monday to get permission to use the property, located at 353 S. Indiana 17, to store overflow from the impound lot at his other business at 1400 W. Market St. — the former Motor Service Corp property.
The former drive-in property is zoned general business, and an automobile impound lot is only allowed by special exemption in an area zoned industrial, said Planning Executive Director Arin Shaver.
Neighbors in the area were against using the land for vehicle storage and loudly disagreed after former city employee Johnny Quinones, representing Sanchez, told the BZA that the vehicles cannot be seen from the road.
Some brought photos that showed they could see the vehicles from the road and said the matter gets worse in the winter, as trees lose foliage. Quinones said that the vehicles would be stored to the back of the lot, far from the road and view.
However, Sanchez also requested from the BZA the ability to have up to two cars just off the road for sales.
Quinones said it wouldn't be a used car lot, though. He also told the BZA members that people might also look at the vehicles stored on the drive-in lot for things like tires.
The drive-in lot wouldn't have had signs, business hours or parking because it'd just be for overflow, he said. He added that Sanchez uses the property and the shelter on the land for family gatherings.
Residents from neighboring properties who attended the meeting included Cass County Commissioner Ruth Baker (R, District 1), who said she's been watching the lot on her way home and that at the end of summer she sees how many more vehicles are on the lot.
"What is it going to look like with permits," she asked.
She also wondered who'd clean up the land if Sanchez abandoned it.
Other neighbors spoke against it because they felt it would lower property values, that some vehicles have been on the land since last summer (sometimes switched out for short times) and that if Sanchez was selling vehicle parts, the land would simply be a junkyard.
All board members voted against giving Sanchez the variances from the land's zoning except for Memi Rennewanz, who abstained due to past business dealings with Sanchez.
The drive-in opened in the late 1940s, according to residents at the meeting, and internet sources give the date as May 25, 1948.
It closed after the summer of 2013, according to Pharos-Tribune archives.
Its then-owner Billy Alger used it to house a garage for his auto racing team but sold the property in 2017.
Also at the meeting, the BZA reached a sort of resolution over an LED church sign that had been causing complaints from neighbors.
New Life Alliance Church at 3529 High St. erected the multi-colored, changing sign in early summer. At its Aug. 16 meeting, the BZA first took up the matter of the sign, agreeing to look at its brightness being reduced to 400 nits before it being shut off Aug. 23 until Monday's meeting.
Andrew Bergin of Clifford Signs of Kokomo said then that city lights near the sign caused it to be brighter than usual.
The church is willing to build a privacy fence between the sign and neighbor Rocky Buffum's house, and that the sign would be turned off from dusk to dawn but always off by 8 p.m.
Bergin agreed to the terms — as a representative for the church — and added that a photoelectric sensor would also adjust the brightness according to light conditions.
The church would also be willing to announce community events on the sign if they were compatible with the church's beliefs.
Reach James D. Wolf Jr. at james.wolf@pharostribune.com or 574-732-5117
Twitter @JamesDWolfJr
