Hello, thank you for supporting the efforts to prevent a quarry and heavy industrial plants from being developed in the Little River Valley area.  Read through for some key updates and actions you can take to help stop this development. 

Check out these quick links for the website for all the information, petition to sign and share, the band app for communication, the go fund me that supports purchasing yard signs, banners, mailers, and more.

The website is: noquarryonhomestead.com 

For easy access, the petition is at:  change.org/noquarryhere

The Band App is at:  https://band.us/band/101935024/intro

The Go Fund Me is at: No Quarry Go Fund Me

Here are the key updates and actions you can take to help: 
We have gained great momentum and will continue to fight this development.  Our goal as a community is to spread awareness and factual concerns.  Please help to share information with folks through online, in-print, and in-person actions.  We encourage you to share posts and links on social media, through emails, in texts, in local newspapers, flyers, bulletins, and chat about it with your friends and family.  When you share the facts about what is happening here (the website is a good resource), please also share the petition and the email address listed here.  Folks can write to these 6 email address.  These addresses are for the decision makers on this project:

acfwplancommission@allencounty.in.gov
acfwplancommission@allencounty.us
acfwbzazho@allencounty.in.gov
acfwbzazho@allencounty.us
boardofcommissioners@allencounty.in.gov
boardofcommissioners@allencounty.us

While writing to these decision makers, please reference or use some wording from the Indiana code/statutes here to show exactly why this heavy industrial development does not belong in this location: 

Sec. 918.4. ADVISORY─METRO. A board of zoning appeals shall approve or deny variances of use from the terms of the zoning ordinance. The board may impose reasonable conditions as a part of its approval. A variance may be approved under this section only upon a determination in writing that:
(1) the approval will not be injurious to the public health, safety, morals, and general welfare of the community;
(2) the use and value of the area adjacent to the property included in the variance will not be affected in a substantially adverse manner;
(3) the need for the variance arises from some condition peculiar to the property involved;
(4) the strict application of the terms of the zoning ordinance will constitute an unnecessary hardship if applied to the property for which the variance is sought; and
(5) the approval does not interfere substantially with the comprehensive plan adopted under the 500 series of this chapter.

We have had several organizations speak up against the development.  SACS, IU Health, Little River Wetlands Project, other area quarries, and multiple political candidates.  There was some confusion about the sale of the property.  To our knowledge, the property is under contract to sell to the Heritage Group under contingencies.  We are understanding that they will not purchase the property if it does not have the zoning and special use that they desire.  However, regardless of who owns the land, our goal as a community is to keep industrial zoning out of this location.  It does not belong here and is highly incompatible. 

No matter what county you live in surrounding this area:  Allen, Huntington, Wells, Whitley; the impacts will be felt and realized.  Anyone from anywhere can sign the petition and write to the Allen county decision maker email addresses above.  However, if you live outside of Allen County, one thing you can do that could be a huge help:  please write to your county commissioners, plan commission, city leaders and more.  Make them aware of this development and the facts of destructive impacts it will have.  Encourage them to speak up about this development and have conversations with the Allen County Commissioners, Plan Commission and more about how this development will negatively impact the surrounding counties. 

If you live inside of Allen County, please remember this will impact our entire county.  Many people forget that it’s not just a quarry:  it is a proposed 600 acre quarry, an additional 200 acres for asphalt and concrete plants, and an added train yard. 

We are asking for volunteers to work in smaller groups to help with information gathering and spreading the word.  If you are interested in helping us win this fight, please reply back with the email address you prefer to receive info and your name with a note that you’d like to volunteer in a small group. 

This fight is not over, and we are clearly gaining momentum and will be a force to be reckoned with. 
Bottom line:  sign and share the petition, write to and share the email addresses for the decision makers with your concerns, donate to and share the Go Fund Me website, Share these things in person, online and in print, if you are willing: sign up to be a volunteer in this cause to protect this land in the Little River valley. 

Thank you!  Let’s go do this!!!
Andrea, Betsy, Jenna