Rezoning sought for day care center

The owners of land along Staeger Road east of Celina are seeking the rezoning of a 2.65-acre tract that could pave the way for construction of a day care center.

Mercer County Commissioners have scheduled a public hearing for 3 p.m. Dec. 5 to discuss the request and accept public comment. The Mercer County Regional Planning Commission already has given the rezoning request its approval.

The day care center could be located on the northwest corner of state Route 703 and Staeger Road. The property is owned by the Linus Braun Trust.

The property is now zoned agricultural-residential and is farm ground located south of Celina Aluminum Precision Technology (CAPT) and east of Grand Manor Mobile Home Park. The owners seek to have the tract rezoned to commercial-light.

Regional Planning Commission members gave the rezoning their tentative approval at that group's Nov. 15 meeting. The proposed day care center would sit on land inside an area designated as a "development area" and is adjacent to property zoned "industrial-commercial."

At a Mercer County Zoning Commission meeting held Nov. 16, only Alan Braun, a trustee of the Linus Braun Trust, spoke in favor of the project. He told commission members about general plans to build a day care center at the site, without offering specifics.

On Friday evening, Alan Braun would not comment on any plans for the acreage.

No one else at the Nov. 15 meeting addressed the commission and members voted unanimously to recommend approval of the rezoning request to county commissioners.

The Dec. 5 public hearing will be held in the commissioners' office on the second floor of the Mercer County Central Services Building in Celina.

The Mercer County zoning code covers the eastern half of Jefferson Township, outside the corporate limits of the city of Celina.

All other areas of the county have municipal, village or township zoning codes, except for western Jefferson Township, which remains the last unzoned area of the county.