Takeaways from Tuesday's quarry quarrel
“I think people often feel that they have no voice, that there is no point in trying. We are seeing that people are pushing back on that.” -Allison Engleman of the No Quarry Coalition
Hey Locals,
We were prepared for an intense debate at Tuesday night’s hearing about the quarry in Southwest Allen County. Instead, we got a marathon three-hour public comment session punctuated by a vote that killed the measure within about 30 seconds.
In case you missed it:
- The Memorial Coliseum was packed with roughly 1,000 attendees – and on the same night as a Komets game, no less. (For comparison, this was far more crowded than January’s casino public forum.)
- There was also no debate from the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA), whose four members (one recused himself due to a conflict of interest) unanimously denied the use variance – one step of four steps needed to advance the quarry proposal.
- After BZA’s decision, the quarry developer (Heritage Group/US Aggregates) completely withdrew their petition. This means the quarry proposal didn’t even make it to the next phase of the process, which would have required approvals from the Allen County Plan Commission.
But even though this battle ended before it really started, we still have a few takeaways to share.
In addition to Tuesday’s meeting, we spoke with Allison Engleman of the No Quarry Coalition and John Carroll-McCammon from Protect Allen County, a public interest organization that also opposes data center development. We did not hear back from county officials or Heritage Group Spokeswoman Megan Savage.
A few key takeaways and highlights:
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