At the May 23 meeting of the Planning Commission, K. Rodney Beer presented his plans for a concrete recycling center to be located in Section 21, York Township.
Zoning Administrator Cristal Adkins explained the conditional use permit will be issued under regulations for a quarry. Beer plans to crush concrete on the site, but will not be doing any blasting. Duane Bakke suggested a condition be put on the CUP for this site, which would only allow concrete recycling. If in the future, someone would want to do additional activities, someone will need to come back to the commission to have that permitted.
Beer described drainage plans to create a basin to allow any sediment to settle out. Uses for the crushed material include base material for driveways and subgrade material. He plans to stockpile concrete, bringing a crusher in every couple of weeks.
There were no comments from township supervisors or the public during the meeting.
The commission unanimously approved the CUP with two conditions: the quarry area will need a surveyed boundary and no blasting is allowed. After the survey is completed, the CUP application will go to the county board for their consideration.
Adkins spoke about a loophole in the ordinance regulating septic systems. As the ordinance currently reads, if property is transferred with no exchange of money the septic system is not required to be inspected because the property isn’t being sold. The ordinance language will need to be amended so inspection is required when the property is sold and also if just transferred.
Board of Adjustment
Tristen Girolamo, Section 23, Harmony Township, had applied for a variance to allow the construction of a dwelling on land with a crop equivalency rating over 65. The state has a 150-foot right of way off Highway 44 in this location. Adkins suggested it would be better to have the variance for cropland than trying to get a variance from the state. Andy Bisek said he would rather see the dwelling built in the wooded area with a variance from the state.
Gary Ruskell noted the location is near the Harmony city limits and the driveway is already there in the cropland location. There was no comment from township supervisors or the public. The variance was approved with a four to one vote (Bisek voted no).
Ray Gingerich, Section 27, Bristol Township, requested a variance to construct a temporary dwelling on land with a crop equivalency rating greater than 65. His son Joe wants to build a shop house with a future plan to build a permanent home on nearby property that will not need the variance. The “shouse” is intended to eventually be a shop without living quarters.
Adkins said the area where they intend to build the permanent house does not have enough room for more than one structure (land is steep beyond this area). There was no comment from township supervisors or the public during the meeting. The variance was approved unanimously.