A Humboldt business is asking a judge to reverse Allen Countys decision that blocked a request to start up a rock quarry.
D&D Propane, Inc., owned by David Gant of Humboldt, and his business partners at Mid-State Materials, LLC, filed a petition this week in Allen County District Court.
In it, the businesses claimed Allen County commissioners Jerry Daniels, Bill King and Bruce Symes acted unreasonably and arbitrarily when they voted to deny a conditional use permit to quarry rock from land Gant owns between Iola and Humboldt.
The land in question lies northwest of the intersection of Old 169 and Louisiana Road, or to the west of the south slope of whats commonly referred to as Humboldt Hill.
The property is zoned for agriculture, and Allen County requires a conditional use permit for all quarries, regardless of how they are zoned.
The matter was heard by the Allen County Planning Commission Jan. 24, which voted, 6-1, to recommend the county deny the permit.
When making the motion to deny the application, the planning member who made the motion to deny stated his reason was that he liked virgin land and intended to keep it that way, the petition alleged, thus denying the owner the use of the land as the owner would see fit.
The petition laid out several arguments why the conditional use permit should be granted, including:
Examples of existing house and residences being within 500 feet of working quarries in Allen County. (Mid-States has promised that no blasting would occur within 1,000 feet of any nearby residences.)
The applicants provided testimony on health and safety, blasting, geology, property valuation, nuisances and other abatements, which they claim was disregarded.
While several neighboring landowners spoke out at the Planning Board meeting against the quarry, they provided no expert testimony and that nobody provided evidence refuting factors that should have been considered when contemplating a zoning change.
Local quarry owners and their employees spoke about quarries already in the area, that further competition was not needed and that a Topeka company (Mid-States) would not be welcomed.
County commissioners voted, 3-0, to deny the permit, on Feb. 26 without discussing factors in favor of allowing the quarry.
Allen County District Judge Daniel Creitz set a scheduling and conference hearing to discuss the petition at 9:30 a.m. June 4.
