Culver

Culver’s Wolf’s Dilemma

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Can Culver survive Wolf’s Dilemma?  For those of you that don’t know, there are various versions of Wolf’s Dilemma, but basically it goes as follows:

This is the Dilemma.  A random sample of people are chosen to “play”.

  • You are each placed in a separate booth and cannot communicate with each other at all.
  • In each booth is a button and nothing else.
  • You are required to stay in the booth for 5 minutes during which time you can either press the button or not press it.
  • You do not find out if anyone else pressed the button until the 5 minutes are over.

The Payoff

  • If nobody presses the button during those 5 minutes, then each person gets $100,000.
  • If anyone at all presses the button, then:
    • Each person who pressed the button gets $20,000.
    • Each person who did not press the button gets nothing at all.

Except this is Culver.  Everyone knows everyone else.  Does that make it better or worse?

There seems to be a constant battle between the various factions in Culver.  The Mary Means Study that was completed several years ago referred to these groups as tribes and labeled the main tribes as the Academies, Town, Lake and Ag.  Unfortunately the chiefs and their allegances seem to change depending on what the issue is.  Pardon me for not printing my list here, but I think we can all name an issue or squabble.  If I name even one here I’ll be on one side or another of a group or individual with which I have to work!  At times this goes all the way down to issues between individual board or committee members that are unable to work together.

My point is that we all should quit pushing the button! If we work together for the common good, we would all be better off.  Occasionally we do come together for the common good.  The original formation of the Second Century Committee is an example of this for civic groups.  The Culver Union Township Public Library as well as the EMS and Fire that are under a Town and Township partnership are good examples in the public sector.  We should do it more often.

Culver’s Matrix

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No, Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss are not dodging  slow-motion bullets on the streets of Culver ala The Matrix.  It’s nothing that exciting.  The matrix I’m referring to is the one that appears in Chapter 3, Section 3.0 – Authorized Uses in the Culver Zoning Ordiance.  It was the topic of discussion at the last Zoning Ordinance Review Committee Meeting on January 21, 2009.

The Zoning Ordinance matrix specifies the district in which a defined property use is allowed.  Just to pick the first one from the list, “Apartment Units” are allowed  in the R-2, C-1 & C-2 districts as well as by Special Use in the S-1 and L-1 districts if specifically approved by the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA).  The matrix was set up as the first line of defense against district creep and spot zoning, which are considered bad things in Zoning Ordinances such as ours and the ones ours was patterned after.  Under our ordinance, where often R-2 is adjacent to R-1, you can have an apartment building (R-2 use) adjacent to a single family home (R-1 or R-2 use), but if that apartment building would want to expand across that line, they would need to go through public hearings at the Plan Commission and then at the Town Council in order to rezone the property to R-2.  This can be a tedious process and with the required advertising and required number of meetings generally takes 4-6 months.

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Impervious Pavement Discussions before Culver Boards

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At the Culver BZA meeting on September 18, 2008 there was a variance request for expanding a nonconforming use.  The request was to allow an existing two car garage to be expanded to a three car garage.  This was an old garage that sat across the setback lines.  There was no doubt that the the existing structure should be replaced.  The expansion of the nonconforming use in and of itself wasn’t a big deal, but in the overall big picture, it was not only a structure issue, but an impervious surface issue.

Just two days earlier at the Culver Plan Commission meeting, there was discussion regarding the poor condition of the storm sewers in Culver and their inadequacies.  That was regarding another section of town that has poor drainage and another project that was adding impervious surface.  Even if the solution of adding new and larger storm sewers to correct these issues was economically feasible, it wouldn’t be environmentally appropriate. 

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Maxinkuckee Village Preliminary PUD at Plan Commission

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On Tuesday, August 19th, Mr. Gary Aker introduced his plans for Maxinkuckee Village to the Culver Plan Commission.  He was assisted by Mr. Allen Collins of CMD Construction and his Attorney, Mr. Fred Jones.  This was the first trial of Culver’s revised PUD ordinance.  The ordinance was revised last year to add a preliminary concept review by the commission to determine if the developer was on the right track or if the commission had fundimental issues with the proposed development.  There are still quite a few requirements at this stage including a site plan, topography map, boundary survey and proof of financial capacity.  I watched this with interest as it should be a precursor of what happens with the Sand Hill Farm PUD I am considering.

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Culver Signs

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A few months back a group of Culver’s Realtors visited the Plan Commission at a regular meeting.  They had concerns regarding the sign section of the Zoning Ordinance and how it was being administered.  Most of the administration concerns were that, after years of lax enforcement, our current Building Commissioner has stepped up to the plate and is enforcing the rules that have been on the books for years… as he should.  I’m always frustrated that those of us that follow the rules are put at a disadvantage by those that ignore the rules because there are no consequences.

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