LAPORTE, Ind. — A group of Indiana farmers will not be further squeezed by urban sprawl, at least not in the near future.

A proposed subdivision on 166 acres of mostly wooded undeveloped land was given a unanimous thumbs down April 6 by the LaPorte County Commissioners.

The potential of adding 1,000 or more new residents at one location in a heavily farmed area that’s become more residential over the years was among the primary concerns outlined by decision makers.

Farmer Jim Paarlburg estimated more than 1,000 people, based on average household size, could have ended up calling the proposed development home.

He said that’s about twice the population of the nearby village of Rolling Prairie in the northwest part of the state. “In my view, this is not a subdivision. It’s a city,” he said.

Paarlburg said his industrial farming operation, which raises crops like tomatoes, onion sets, garlic and seed corn, is adjacent to the proposed development.

He expressed fear a child from the subdivision might wander out into the field and get seriously hurt or killed by a combine or some other piece of farm machinery.

“The dangers are of the highest price,” he said.

Part of the land targeted for the new housing is already zoned residential. 

The developer, Sloan Avenue Land Opportunities, requested the zoning on the remainder of the parcel be changed from agriculture to residential.

Todd Leeth, an attorney representing the developer, said there’s room in the proposed subdivision for as many as 308 homes on one-quarter acre lots.

Leeth said the homes valued at $300,000 to $400,000 would not come as a shock to the surrounding area because it might take 10 years or longer, depending on demand, for all of them to be constructed.

“The service industry, the economy, the government will all have time over that period of time to react to the growing population,” he said.

Last month, the commissioners, expressing a need for more new housing, gave preliminary approval to the zoning request after the LaPorte County Planning Commission, on a split vote the previous month, endorsed the project.

At the request of the commissioners, Leeth said he recently met with landowners near the proposed development to address their concerns.

He said one adjustment in the plans was an increase in the space between the development and farmland to reduce any risk of chemicals drifting over to the subdivision while being sprayed on crops.

Farmers, already weary over complaints about the smell of manure from city dwellers moving to an agricultural area, didn’t budge in their opposition.

Paarlburg said he also didn’t want to see the middle fingers of even more angry drivers while passing his tractor from behind on the local roads. “Sometimes we get saluted and it’s usually not a friendly salute,” he said.

Commissioner Rich Mrozinski said there were still too many unanswered questions for him to put his final stamp of approval on the project. He also said the parcel on the drawings for each home did not seem large enough.

“To me it looks like a trailer park.  I don’t like small lots,” he said.

Leeth said the lots are standard size for most subdivisions.

The developers will have to reapply for a zoning change and go through the approvals process again from the very beginning if they want to further pursue the project, said Shaw Friedman, the attorney for the commissioners. Friedman said it would take about one year for another zoning request to come back to the commissioners for reconsideration.