Allen County commissioners unanimously accepted a recommendation Tuesday from its planning commission to issue a condition use permit for Monarch Cement Company to excavate shale north of Humboldt. KENNY MILLER, Monarch’s vice president for cement production, said the company’s first step would be to design the access road, and give the county opportunity to sign off on it. Once done, construction likely will take most of the fall.
The decision, which came in a flat eight minutes, was preceded in previous weeks by two long, occasionally contentious, hearings, first before the planners and then in front of commissioners. The planners voted 5-0 to recommend the conditional use permit.
Commissioners did attach several conditions to the permit, which was their prerogative
— Haul trucks, under contract with Monarch by Curt Whitaker, may carry shale and any other material only on paved roads. Monarch’s preference is for trucks to use old U.S. 169, now a county road, directly south through Humboldt. A Monarch-built access road will connect borrow pits to the old highway.
— The speed limit will be reduced from 55 mph to 45 mph, starting north of Humboldt Hill, past the access road and on to the north edge of Humboldt, where posted speed is 30 mph.
— Inclement weather — rain, fog, ice or snow — may result in haul trucks being shut down. Commissioner Jerry Daniels pointed out state regulations take inclement weather into consideration for wide loads and some other truck traffic. A decision on whether weather conditions are unsuitable will be up to Mitch Garner, director of Public Works, and Sheriff Bryan Murphy.
— The county will reserve the right to designate a second route if the first route proves problematic. The alternative would be south of K-224, east to U.S. 169, south to Delaware Road (better known as Tank Farm Road) and west to Monarch’s plant. While Ninth Street through Humboldt is a county road and its responsibility, if K-224 were used the city would have responsibility for the portion east to the old Santa Fe Railroad tracks.
— The county will request Monarch to aid in any road repairs that can be shown to be caused by its haul trucks. Weber noted that when Delaware Road was resurfaced several years because of damage attributed to trucks hauling rock to the plant from quarries southeast of Humboldt, Monarch footed more than $100,000 of the cost. He also said Monarch paid about $850,000 in property taxes annually, a large portion of which goes to Public Works.
He expects first excavations to start in late December or early January.
The site that will be opened for shale extraction is on a 320-acre tract owned by Monarch two miles north of Humboldt, on either side of the Southwind Rail Trail. Core drilling found about a shelf of shale 30-feet thick on the property, or enough to meet Monarch’s production expectations for the next 60 years.
Initial work will be on 128 acres west of the trail, with enough shale there to last about 40 years. The second site, east of the trail, contains 53 acres. Eventually, the two parcels will be linked by a tunnel under the trail.
The trail will be protected by trees and vegetation on either side, as well as a buffer zone that will keep borrow pits 100 feet from any Monarch property line. The only houses within a quarter of a mile of the proposed mining are owned by Monarch.
County approves Monarch permit
