03-08-2025
Porter County moves to define ‘barndominium' housing category
In a move not unfriendly to barndominiums, but designed to help them better coexist with more traditional forms of housing, the Porter County Plan Commission voted unanimously Wednesday evening to forward a favorable recommendation to the Board of Commissioners that it pass a resolution better defining the housing category and how it may be situated on a property.
'As a principal, we don't object to these,' said Porter County Director of Development & Storm Water Management Mike Jabo. 'They can be quite attractive, but they can also be quite large.'
He gave a presentation that included artist renderings of a variety of barndominiums, both small and large, and started off by dashing the fallacy that they are pole barns. 'That's false too,' Jabo said. 'It can be metal. It can be stone. It can be wood.
'We're trying to compare these things with the footprint they consume,' he added. 'The UDO (Unified Development Ordinance) is very silent on these kind of structures.'
Porter County Building Commissioner Mike Haller said the popularity of barndominiums rises and falls with the state of the economy. He said he tends to field calls from young people looking to build housing for less, but in the end the finished product rarely costs less than traditional housing. 'They're very nice. They're very safe,' he told the commission.
Jabo and Haller said Porter County has only approved around seven barndominiums so far.
Under the proposed ordinance chapters 2, 5, and 12 of the UDO would be amended to give guidelines on barndominiums in the General Agriculture (A1), Prime Agriculture (A2), and Rural Residential (RR) districts in unincorporated Porter County. After considerable discussion, during which the eight plan commission members present were each given the opportunity to raise questions, concerns, and comments, it was agreed to recommend the proposed ordinance in its draft form.
Porter County Attorney Scott McClure stressed that the label of barndominium was technically unimportant as the percentage of the structure given over to storage was the true classifying characteristic. The proposed ordinance reads, 'The attached non-residential utility space of the structure that is greater than fifty percent (50%) of the total structure footprint is considered to be a Barndominium.'
It also explains that the residential portion of the barndominim is typically characterized by large, open space with high ceilings. Minimum setbacks in the A1, A2, and RR districts will be 100 feet at the front, sides, and rear, while barndominiums adjacent to residential districts R1, R2, R3, R4, or RL will have setback requirements of 200 feet on adjacent sides of the structure. 'The farther away you are from something, the shorter it looks,' Jabo explained.
Minimum lot size is as set forth in districts A1 and A2 and a minimum of five acres in RR districts. Minimum lot width as proposed is 250 feet and maximum height as proposed is 35 feet with the typical exceptions for agriculture districts. The non-residential utility space portion of the structure may not exceed 75% of the total footprint and garage or indoor vehicle parking is not included in the residential portion of the calculation.
Plan Commission members were concerned with a few issues: aesthetics, how modifications to barndominiums or even existing traditional residential structures might surpass the 50% limit, and residents attempting to run businesses out of barndominiums. 'The aesthetics was a question,' said Board of Commissioners Vice President Ed Morales, R-South, who sits on the Plan Commission, 'but with the 100 ft. setback I think it's a good first step.'
'I like the 50/50,' added Plan Commission President Rick Burns of the living to storage ratio. 'I don't think we should go over 50%.'
Member Pamela Mishler-Fish was concerned that as barndomiums changed hands they might become appealing to those looking to run businesses where they live. 'It could be a totally different situation than what it started out as,' she said.
Fellow commission member Craig Kenworthy was skeptical on that front. 'How do you tell somebody, 'You can't run a business'? That gets really muddy to me.'
Haller said nine times out of 10, people running businesses do so from a separate structure. 'I probably know of one that's attached to the house,' he said.
Commission member Luther Williams asked if a homeowner could house horses in a barndominium and McClure confirmed that was an acceptable use.
The proposed ordinance and the commission's recommendation for approval now moves on to the Board of Commissioners for consideration.
