A company is seeking zoning permissions this week to use 101 acres of land near State Road 46 West for the “manufacturing, storage and transport” of explosives.
Quick Supply Co. is requesting a special exception for industrial use for the property at 6526 State Road 46 West. It’s in the Belmont area about a quarter-mile west of the highway’s intersection with Summers Place Trail.
The company’s customers include businesses in the mining, quarrying and construction markets.
The land has been used for explosives storage since the 1960s, but not continuously, according to a staff report by Planning Director Chris Ritzmann. A document that Quick Supply Co. provided to the zoning board says that the last time it housed explosive manufacturing and storage operations was 2008 under Midland Powder; four other companies also operated there before it.
Specialized buildings, called “magazines,” already exist on the property that are designed for the storage of explosives, the staff report says.
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The county’s zoning ordinance allows the manufacture, storage and use of explosives in FR zoning, which is what this land has. But it needs a special exception for industrial use.
It also needs a variance from the minimum setback requirement because the lot to the south is zoned residential and has a house on it. The ordinance says that the setback has to be at least 300 feet from the nearest residential district if the industrial use involves significant fire hazards. The closest structures that currently exist on the 101 acres are 80 feet from the nearest residential district, the staff report says. However, that neighboring house is owned by the same people as this parcel.
Though the property has a State Road 46 West address, it actually sits “well north” of the highway and the uses on it will be “far interior,” says a statement written by Quick Supply Co.’s attorney, Michael Carmin.
Because it deals with explosives, Quick Supply Co. is “heavily regulated” by state and federal agencies, he added.
Carmin projected that the family-owed company would be able to create new jobs if allowed to locate operations here — three initially, but other companies under its parent agency have created up to 25, he wrote.
Ritzmann’s report to the Brown County Board of Zoning Appeals says that “because this type of industrial use has been conducted in the past at the same location without incident, and because at least one federal agency will oversee the use continually, staff finds that granting the exception (for industrial use) will likely not subvert the general purposes served by the (zoning) ordinance.”
The zoning board will conduct a public hearing on these petitions on Wednesday, Feb. 24 at 6 p.m. via Zoom. See the government calendar for login information.
