Property owner Jason Potthoff approached Winamac Town Council members last week, seeking permission to section off a portion of Franklin Street that carries onto his property.
Potthoff first stated that the section in question is much more like an alley than a street.. He explained that he currently owns the old Co-Op property at the end of Franklin Street. He told council members that he recently obtained the last building in the area that he didn’t own and clean-up crews have started some work on the structure.
He said now that the entire property is being utilized, safety concerns are what brought him to the council to propose a potential solution.
“You walk around the building, there’s a lot of high speed through there.” Potthoff went on to say, “A young kid must’ve been doing some doughnuts last week and actually ran into one of my buildings, it’s a cement building so his car parts were there, it didn’t hurt me none but it’s something I’d like to do, probably going to be in the spring if it’s allowed.”
Potthoff added that he’d be willing to put up a fence or some other type of barricade to allow residents of the nearby trailer court to still utilize necessary roadways.
Council members agreed that Potthoff’s request was reasonable but since he’s not looking to do any work until the springtime they didn’t take any official action during last week’s meeting. Town Manager Brad Zellers said he would look more into the specifics to ensure that everything will be done correctly when the time comes.
