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In a 3-1 vote, and with multiple remonstrators in attendance, the Kosciusko County Board of Zoning Appeals approved a North Webster business extracting minerals in an agricultural district.
During a board meeting Tuesday, Sterling Contracting, North Webster, presented a petition for an exception for the purpose of mineral extraction in an agricultural district. The property is on the north side of CR 500N, west of CR 850E, North Webster.
Plan Commission Director Matt Sandy said in the 1990s, the property's previous owner, Bob Likens, was allowed to dig on the property after petitioning to the county BZA at that time. Likens was using mineral extraction at the site for his seawall business. After his passing in April, the property was purchased by Sterling Contracting, with intent to continue mineral extraction.
Local attorney Steve Snyder, representing Sterling Contracting, said the business plans to excavate down to a grade by removing a hill on the property, then restoring it to the grade of an adjacent property and return it to agricultural use after excavation is complete.
"It won't be an awful lot of traffic in and out," said Snyder. "The only time Sterling is going to use this for their own operation is when they're performing a job that makes it more convenient to remove minerals from this site than some other site closer to the job. There could be a month or more when you don't see any activity there at all, because there's no job site close enough to justify utilizing this operation. Then again, it may be in operation for two weeks when there's one close that Sterling says, 'We can utilize our own property and materials for that, rather than buying them from an offsite location.'"
Snyder said Sterling Contracting wasn't planning on expanding the extraction site at the property and would just remove the present materials.
Seven remonstrators attended the meeting. Bob and Cheryl Merchant, who live east of the extraction site, expressed concerns with potential negative effects on the environment and safety issues, noting CR 850E is a county-designated ride and walk road, and that a lot of people from Jellystone Park use 850E via golf carts.
"We're concerned that there will be increased noise pollution and dust, so we would like to have some environmental studies done showing how much that impacts those folks," said Bob. "Their other operation, we can hear that at our house, and all these other folks can, too."
"They were moving dirt behind their property," said Cheryl, stating the business's office is east of her residence. "And we heard 'beep, beep, beep' all summer long. And there are lots of bikers and walkers on (CR 850E)."
Renea and Jonathan Skaggs, who live near the entrance to the excavation site, noted similar concerns. Renea said CR 850E was not a designated bike path in the 1990s when Likens did mineral excavation there.
"I would like to just see it stay as it is," said Renea. "This has been my home for over 30 years; I'd like to not see it change. It impacts not just the people who live on those roads, but we have a large lake community as well. Think of what our lakers would think of with big dump trucks in their backyards during their cookouts."
Ron Baker, who resides on CR 850E, asked if there would be anything in writing to guarantee Sterling Contracting would not expand the mineral extraction. Sandy said the business would have to appear before the BZA again for any expansion requests.
Charlie Bird, who resides on CR 500N, said he's worked in commercial construction and excavation for 10 years and told the board he couldn't understand how the property was in compliance with regulations in the zoning ordinance for the county.
"I saw there were some piles listed on there, different types of gravel, which means they're going to be processing it, which means this is probably going to be a Mine Safety and Health Administration-regulated pit," said Bird. "If that's the case, there's requirements for backup alarms that range from 87 to 112 decibels, which you're going to hear from a mile away."
Jeremy Makinson, Sterling Contracting's owner, told the board his business is not looking to implement an excavating operation large enough for MSHA regulations to come into play. Makinson said he looked at the operation from the scope of a 10-year plan.
"If we were to take that (excavation) over 10 years, it comes out to about 15 truckloads a week," said Makinson. "There's going to be weeks where there's no activity. Overall, we feel like the piece of the property we're looking at is in a good location due to the topography. It's also the farthest away from all the neighbors."
BZA member Kevin McSherry said the excavation site would eventually be graded to the field to the west and made a motion to approve the exception as presented.
The decision was approved with a 3-1 vote, with Chairman Lee Harmon voting in opposition due to the number of remonstrators. Vice Chair Ron Robinson was not at the meeting.
