The American Legion, Department of Indiana
  • Home
  • About
    • About
    • Commander
    • Cmdr. Visitation Request
    • Staff
    • Calendar
  • Join
    • Join
    • 10-Year Membership
  • Legacy Foundation
  • Members
    • Membership Reports
    • Forms
    • Public Relations Tools
    • Benefits
    • FAQ
    • Post Locator
    • Spring Conference
  • Programs
    • Programs
    • Americanism & Government
    • American Legion Riders
    • Baseball
    • Bowling
    • Flag Education & Etiquette
    • Golf
    • Hoosier Boys State
    • Law Cadet Academy
    • Junior Shooting Sports
    • Oratorical
    • Scholarships & Awards
    • Scouting
    • Sons of The American Legion
  • Services
    • Services
    • Legislative
    • Service Office
    • Financial Assistance
    • Honor Guard
    • Insurance
    • Heroes Among Us
    • Vetforce
  • News
    • News
    • Newspaper
    • Media
    • Events
    • Bricks
    • 9/11 Coin
    • Poppy Coin
    • Dogtag
    • Masks

For God & Country,
We Associate Ourselves Together

Fort Wayne Couple see house as ideal Legion post

3/14/2017

Comments

 
PictureLawrence and Helen Thiele believe the house would make an ideal headquarters for the post.
FORT WAYNE, Ind., | Journal Gazette – A Fort Wayne couple wants to provide a new home for some area military vets but faces zoning challenges.

Lawrence E. “Larry” and Helen Thiele say they’re donating a residence at 4606 Woodridge Drive so American Legion Post 82 will have a place to meet and host ceremonies and activities. 

But planning department staff members are recommending denial of the couple’s request for a special-use variance, needed because private clubs are not allowed in a single-family residential district.

In a telephone interview last week, Helen Thiele, 84, said she and her 71-year-old husband are longtime members of Post 82. She belongs to the post’s auxiliary, and he serves as post commander.

Post 82 had been meeting at 2025 Olladale Drive, off West State Boulevard just south of the Police Athletic League, but when the property was put up for sale, the post had to move, Helen Thiele explained.

That’s when she and her husband “had a brainstorm” to give a rental home she had owned for many years to the post and renovate it as a headquarters, she said.

She said the plan would be more economical than building new or finding a different site.
The couple proposes to renovate the interior of the two-bedroom ranch-style home by building an addition with a commercial kitchen and meeting room off the back of the house, which faces north.

Picture
This home at 4606 Woodridge Drive has been donated by Lawrence and Helen Thiele for the new headquarters of American Legion Post 82.
A carport would be demolished and a bar area in the redone garage would replace a bar in the basement that would be not handicapped-accessible, Helen Thiele said.

In their application, accompanied only by a rough hand-drawn sketch, the ­Thieles show two parking lots, one in front and one to the side of the house, which faces vacant lots to the north and south.

But they also note that an access road and driveway would have to be upgraded to pavement for vehicles, including trash trucks.

That point is also a concern of planning staff, who also noted the applicants do not own the private drive that provides access to the property from West Jefferson Boulevard.

Also, the staff notes it received no sketches of what the remodeled building would look like, no plans for required screening or buffering of the parking lots and no information about the number of potential employees, operating hours and membership.

However, Lawrence Thiele this week said they had provided some additional information to planners and would be looking into hiring an architect for the site plan.

He said Post 82 has about 500 dues-paying members, but about 100 active members, including its affiliated groups – the auxiliary, Sons of the Legion and Legion Riders. Most members are Vietnam and Korean War veterans, he said. 

He had no estimate of the cost of renovations but said the post would likely need to do fundraising to complete them.

An Army veteran who served in Vietnam, Thiele is known in the Fort Wayne area for providing programs on flag etiquette for schools, groups and the public. He said those programs will continue, regardless of the fate of the post proposal.

The  public hearing before the Fort Wayne Board of Zoning Appeals will take place at 6 p.m. Thursday in Room 35 of Citizens Square, 200 E. Berry St. 

Post 82 is now meeting temporarily at the office of the Aboite Township Trustees, 11321 Aboite Center Road, he said.

“The reason I’m pushing for this (new headquarters) is to leave this post better than when I inherited it,” Lawrence Thiele said. “I want veterans and their families to have a safe place, where they can come in and feel comfortable, and serve their community.
​
“It’s a good cause. It really is.”
Comments
    SUBSCRIBE
    For Email Newsletters you can trust.

    Indiana Legion

    Together, we change lives for Veterans, their families and their communities. 

    Archives

    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016

    RSS Feed

    Tell us Your Story

    Contact:
    Communications Director
    communications
    @indianalegion.org
    ​317-630-1300
Join

we change lives for veterans, their families and communities


Hours

Monday - Friday
​8:30 am - 4:30 pm

Telephone

(317) 630-1300
​
​​FAX: (317)-237-9891

Email

web@indianalegion​.org
SUBSCRIBE
For Email Newsletters you can trust.

ADDRESS

5440 Herbert Lord Road
Indianapolis, IN 46216

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
  • Home
  • About
    • About
    • Commander
    • Cmdr. Visitation Request
    • Staff
    • Calendar
  • Join
    • Join
    • 10-Year Membership
  • Legacy Foundation
  • Members
    • Membership Reports
    • Forms
    • Public Relations Tools
    • Benefits
    • FAQ
    • Post Locator
    • Spring Conference
  • Programs
    • Programs
    • Americanism & Government
    • American Legion Riders
    • Baseball
    • Bowling
    • Flag Education & Etiquette
    • Golf
    • Hoosier Boys State
    • Law Cadet Academy
    • Junior Shooting Sports
    • Oratorical
    • Scholarships & Awards
    • Scouting
    • Sons of The American Legion
  • Services
    • Services
    • Legislative
    • Service Office
    • Financial Assistance
    • Honor Guard
    • Insurance
    • Heroes Among Us
    • Vetforce
  • News
    • News
    • Newspaper
    • Media
    • Events
    • Bricks
    • 9/11 Coin
    • Poppy Coin
    • Dogtag
    • Masks