With permission from the county in hand, work will begin soon to start up a rock quarry near Humboldt Hill.
Allen County commissioners reversed last week an earlier decision to deny a conditional use permit to begin quarrying rock northwest of Old 169 and Louisiana Road between Iola and Humboldt. The permit was sought by D&D Propane, Inc., and Mid-States Materials LLC, a subsidiary of Bettis Asphalt & Construction, Inc. D&D is owned by David Gant, who also owns the land on which the rock will be extracted.
The permit brings to an end more than a year of legal wrangling between the companies and Allen County, buttressed with comment from neighboring landowners opposed to the project.
The county voted unanimously to reject the permit in February 2019.
The land is zoned as agricultural, and thus needed the conditional use permit in order for it to be used for quarrying.
The decision came after hearing from several residents opposed to the quarry, citing potential damage to homes near the quarry site; traffic safety concerns with large trucks entering Old 169; and potential lost property values.
The companies appealed the County Commission’s vote a month later in Allen County District Court. Judge William Cullins ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in March, effectively ordering the county to grant the quarry permit.
Cullins rejected many of the opponents’ claims, noting precautions would be made to limit blasting, and that none of the blasting would be within 1,000 feet of any structure, and would be done only sporadically.
The judge also rebuffed other arguments, noting property values are not adversely affected by rock quarries, and that the land’s rocky, hilly terrain makes it less valuable as agricultural land than it would as a quarry.
It was the county’s turn to appeal the judge’s decision, which it did, before the county’s attorneys recommended earlier this month the appeal be dropped.
That precipitated the Commission’s Aug. 11 vote to grant the permit.
Gant declined to comment, but said work was slated to begin soon.
