Photo provided The Bartholomew County Board of Zoning Appeals approved a conditional use request made by Cozy Bear, LLC for a three-acre property at 1351 S. Wolfcreek Road for a short-term rental cabin.
County zoning officials moved forward plans an applicant has for a short term rental cabin in Harrison Township.
The Bartholomew County Board of Zoning Appeals approved a conditional use request made by Cozy Bear, LLC for a three acre property at 1351 S. Wolfcreek Road referred to as “Cozy Hollow.” More specifically, the conditional use request was to allow a short-term rental with a capacity of up to 10 people in an existing single-family home.
Single-family homes are defined by the zoning ordinance as having no more than five adults, any one of which is not related to the others. The request came before the board because the capacity of the cabin would exceed that.
Cozy Bear’s Lindsey Bell said they own three additional cabins in Brown County as well. Although the maximum capacity for “Cozy Hollow” would be 10 people, the typical expected usage would be six to eight people, according to Bell.
The County GIS system indicates ownership of the property was transferred to Cozy Bear on April 12 of this year. Extensive home renovation was done on the property, according to documentation submitted along with the request to the planning department. Bell wrote the cabin had rotting decks and siding and structural issues that had been remedied.
“We regraded the backyard and believe that the eventual resale value of this home will increase the value of those around it,” Bell wrote.
A neighbor, Eva Cagwin, lives a few doors down from the property and said she and other neighbors weren’t opposed to the short term rental, but wanted to share some concerns they had relating to noise, parties at the site and potential use of firearms on the rural property. Cagwin also mentioned road safety concerns on Wolfcreek Road.
Rules at the cabin include no parties, no gas-powered ATVs and no discharging of firearms, Bell said. Quiet hours will be from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. and property would be monitored through camera surveillance.
“If there’s every anything, you guys can always let us know and we get it contact with our guests that way,” Bell said of concerns from neighbors. “… We’ve had one instance where a neighbor messaged us, we got a hold of the guests and we fixed it. So we’re very seasoned in this, and we want the community around our cabins to be great too.”
