On Tuesday, December 9th, the Laporte Board of Zoning Appeals approved the first step to rezone the 116-acres of land at the Briar Leaf Golf Course into a single-family residential subdivision.
At that meeting, Lennar Homes of Indiana, LLC was granted approval by the City of LaPorte Board of Zoning Appeals on three variances that would allow smaller lots to be placed on the Briar Leaf Golf Course.
The first variance would reduce the minimum home lot width from 50 feet to 45 feet.
The second will cut back the side-yard length from 15 feet to 10 feet.
And the last will reduce the minimum first floor square footage by 300 feet.
The Lennar Homes of Indiana legal representative Bill Nelson with Braje Nelson and Janes LLP claims overall home sizes will still be over 1500 feet.
There will be no reduction in overall lot size. R1D minimum lot size is 5,000 square feet. Minimum lot size and this development for the Core Home product line will be approximately 5,625 square feet” says Nelson.
Nelson states that all the homes will meet standard building codes.
It was also noted that the new homes are expected to be similar or higher value than existing homes in the area, meaning it won’t harm property values.
Management at the Briar Leaf Golf Course did confirm with WSBT 22 they are planning to close the course by spring of 2026.
WSBT 22 did visit the Villas of Briar Leaf and spoke with many residents off camera; neighbors had mixed emotions.
One neighbor tells WSBT 22 the golf course management has been trying to sell the golf course for years, and says the landscaping even lacked at times.
But, the course was the main reason why they moved to the neighborhood and would hate to see it go away.
WSBT 22 wanted to learn more about the potential redevelopment from a city perspective, so we reached out to The City of LaPorte Mayor’s Office.
The office referred us to the city’s Director of Community Development & Planning; we are still waiting to hear back.
With the Zoning Board approving all three variances, officials plan to move to the next step, and eventually for the city council to vote.
