July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Impact of suit mulled (07/03/06)
Jay Count Commissioners
By By MARY ANN LEWIS-
The outcome of a lawsuit filed against a proposed ethanol plant could affect the county’s plan for extending a sewer line to an addition west of Portland.
The suit filed Friday in Jay Circuit Court alleges that Premier Ethanol, the company building the plant southeast of Portland, did not furnish complete preliminary plans to the Portland Planning Commission and did not properly follow the procedures for filing for a re-zoning.
Opponents of a proposed ethanol plant near Portland are seeking an injunction to prevent its development, arguing that rezoning procedures were not followed correctly.
Jay County Commissioners today discussed the suit and how any delays in the construction of the proposed plant could affect their plans to develop a regional sewage district which would construct a sewer line to the Foxfire Addition southwest of Portland.
Plans for the regional sewage district were developed after it was discovered in 2004 that treated sewage was flowing into a creek on the west side of the Foxfire Addition which then flowed into the Salamonia River. The discharge was apparently from an septic system, it was determined.
It was expected with the ethanol plant construction, a sewer line would take a different route to include that operation, and today commissioners Milo Miller Jr., Gary Theurer, and Faron Parr discussed how the injunction might affect the placement of the line.
“We’ve got until Dec. 1 to come up with a plan,” Miller said. “The lawsuit will throw a money wrench in everything.”
Concerning the lawsuit, commissioners discussed at length how it may affect the proposed ethanol plant construction.
“They’ve got their money invested, so they’re going to do it,” Theurer said about the discussion. “Course it’s all speculation.”
“That company is a good company,” commissioners’ attorney Brad Burkett said of The Broin Companies. “They cannot allow future plans at other places let this group of people dictate their business.”
Jay County engineer, Dan Watson, told commissioners that he had been told the firm had hired a general contractor to do the construction, and work was expected to begin Wednesday. That was before the lawsuit was filed.
Additionally today, commissioners appointed David Littler, a rural Portland resident, to fill the unexpired term of Stephanie May on the Jay County Hospital Board.
Littler, a partner in Littler Diecast in Albany, is a Dunkirk native, and will fill the remaining three years on May’s term.
Watson also told commissioners a bid for moving an old iron bridge to the Hudson Family Park in Portland was awarded last week to Baker and Shultz. The bid came in at about $400,000, Watson said, adding that only one other bid was received by the state for the project and that price tag was about $800,000.
Bridge number 129, on West Division Road, in Knox Township, was closed to traffic earlier this year, and will be removed, refurbished, and reconstructed as a walking access across the Salamonie River, connecting the new park with the Weiler-Wilson Park. The project is expected to be completed by the fall.
Commissioners also heard Watson say the county had received approval for connecting the county highway garage’s maintenance barn into a city-owned sewage line.
Highway superintendent, Ken Wellman told commissioners last week that the Indiana Department of Environmental Management had notified him that the way the department currently disposes of motor runoff from the parked trucks will have to be changed by Jan. 1.
Commissioners discussed storing the runoff in a holding tank to be hauled away, or connecting into the existing sewer line at the site.
Watson said the city had approved hooking into the sewer line that extends from the Jay County Retirement Center and runs about 20 feet from the site where maintenance barn.
“It will save us money by hooking into that line,” Miller said.
Currently fluids that drip from the trucks during repair is washed into a trough and filtered before flowing into a field tile near the garage. Watson explained that a grease trap has been used in the past and that a lot of the run off will include anti-freeze from the trucks during the winter months.[[In-content Ad]]
The suit filed Friday in Jay Circuit Court alleges that Premier Ethanol, the company building the plant southeast of Portland, did not furnish complete preliminary plans to the Portland Planning Commission and did not properly follow the procedures for filing for a re-zoning.
Opponents of a proposed ethanol plant near Portland are seeking an injunction to prevent its development, arguing that rezoning procedures were not followed correctly.
Jay County Commissioners today discussed the suit and how any delays in the construction of the proposed plant could affect their plans to develop a regional sewage district which would construct a sewer line to the Foxfire Addition southwest of Portland.
Plans for the regional sewage district were developed after it was discovered in 2004 that treated sewage was flowing into a creek on the west side of the Foxfire Addition which then flowed into the Salamonia River. The discharge was apparently from an septic system, it was determined.
It was expected with the ethanol plant construction, a sewer line would take a different route to include that operation, and today commissioners Milo Miller Jr., Gary Theurer, and Faron Parr discussed how the injunction might affect the placement of the line.
“We’ve got until Dec. 1 to come up with a plan,” Miller said. “The lawsuit will throw a money wrench in everything.”
Concerning the lawsuit, commissioners discussed at length how it may affect the proposed ethanol plant construction.
“They’ve got their money invested, so they’re going to do it,” Theurer said about the discussion. “Course it’s all speculation.”
“That company is a good company,” commissioners’ attorney Brad Burkett said of The Broin Companies. “They cannot allow future plans at other places let this group of people dictate their business.”
Jay County engineer, Dan Watson, told commissioners that he had been told the firm had hired a general contractor to do the construction, and work was expected to begin Wednesday. That was before the lawsuit was filed.
Additionally today, commissioners appointed David Littler, a rural Portland resident, to fill the unexpired term of Stephanie May on the Jay County Hospital Board.
Littler, a partner in Littler Diecast in Albany, is a Dunkirk native, and will fill the remaining three years on May’s term.
Watson also told commissioners a bid for moving an old iron bridge to the Hudson Family Park in Portland was awarded last week to Baker and Shultz. The bid came in at about $400,000, Watson said, adding that only one other bid was received by the state for the project and that price tag was about $800,000.
Bridge number 129, on West Division Road, in Knox Township, was closed to traffic earlier this year, and will be removed, refurbished, and reconstructed as a walking access across the Salamonie River, connecting the new park with the Weiler-Wilson Park. The project is expected to be completed by the fall.
Commissioners also heard Watson say the county had received approval for connecting the county highway garage’s maintenance barn into a city-owned sewage line.
Highway superintendent, Ken Wellman told commissioners last week that the Indiana Department of Environmental Management had notified him that the way the department currently disposes of motor runoff from the parked trucks will have to be changed by Jan. 1.
Commissioners discussed storing the runoff in a holding tank to be hauled away, or connecting into the existing sewer line at the site.
Watson said the city had approved hooking into the sewer line that extends from the Jay County Retirement Center and runs about 20 feet from the site where maintenance barn.
“It will save us money by hooking into that line,” Miller said.
Currently fluids that drip from the trucks during repair is washed into a trough and filtered before flowing into a field tile near the garage. Watson explained that a grease trap has been used in the past and that a lot of the run off will include anti-freeze from the trucks during the winter months.[[In-content Ad]]
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