Since Elkhart County Gravel failed to meet requirements previously placed on their mineral extraction business, the Kosciusko County Board of Zoning Appeals unanimously denied the gravel company's new petition Tuesday.

Their petition was for an exception to allow the expansion of an existing gravel pit in an agricultural district. The property is on the west side of CR 200W and 1,270 feet south of CR 400N in Prairie Township.

Attorney Steve Snyder, representing the petitioner, said Elkhart County Gravel has maintained the business since 1990 and now wants to move the business northward. The proposed 40-acre expansion would not front on any roadway.

The business has to file a reclamation plan with the state if the expansion is approved. The reclamation plan is under the state's jurisdiction, he said.

The area of the expansion is in a growing industrial corridor, Snyder said. The current mineral extraction site is 106 acres.

Representing remonstrators, attorney Steve Hearn presented the BZA with a petition signed by 30 landowners objecting to the expansion.

Hearn said the forest there has been obliterated and the petition is contrary to the county's zoning ordinances.

He said CR 300 was supposed to have been paved by Elkhart County Gravel but is still just gravel. The mound from the pit is eroding back into CR 200 and area ditches. The surrounding properties near the pit are dust- covered.

Elkhart County Gravel, Hearn said, was supposed to have put a fence entirely around the property but they "never constructed a fence." They also have not, he said, addressed the dust problem.

Remonstrator Thames Goon said his south property line is close to the business' north property line. His concern is the dust from the business and the noise. He said he was also concerned about water run-off onto his property.

Snyder, in his rebuttal, said the mounding was required by previous BZA decisions and there is always going to be some erosion because of surface water run-off. As for the paving of CR 300, he said, the gravel company has approached the county highway department regarding the paving but the county highway department has not "moved forward with it because they're not excited about it." He said the county highway department would have to maintain the paved road.

Since the property is in an agricultural district, county ordinances allow for mineral extraction in such districts.

And, he said, the cause for the dust is more likely from the road than it is from the mineral extraction.

"The fence," he said "is in position. The mounding is in position."

Remonstrators are against the expansion, Snyder said, because they simply don't like a gravel pit there. "The best place to expand one is where one already exists."

BZA member Ron Sharp said, "I don't like the idea that we've been ignored on this." He said the paving of CR 300 is the responsibility of the petitioner and they did not do it. "There's no excuse."

Water run-off and a setback that doesn't meet the county ordinances was BZA member Vic Virgil's concern. He said he didn't like the idea of letting the business expand when they haven't done what they were told to do in 1987.

"They need to correct these problems, which is going to take time," Charlie Haffner, board member, said. [[In-content Ad]]