BELMONT — A company has received the zoning permissions it needed to be able to store explosives on a 101-acre property off State Road 46 West.
Quick Supply Co. received positive votes from the Brown County Area Plan Commission (APC) and the Brown County Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) on April 27 and 28, respectively.
To use the land like they’d planned, the company needed the APC to determine “if the use is necessary to the convenience of employees and effective operation of an industrial use.” The company also needed the BZA to approve a setback variance, because the nearest house to the property line was about 220 feet closer than what the ordinance requires.
Both boards approved the requests unanimously.
The BZA’s approval included a condition that the use of the property be for storage of explosives only; no manufacturing could take place there. The APC’s motion allowed for storage and transport. At the APC meeting, company representatives said that no manufacturing would happen at the site in the 6500 block of 46 West.
The types of explosives to be stored there are used in industries such as mining, quarrying and construction, according to the information packet given to the boards.
The land had previously been used for explosives storage for several decades by different companies, but it hasn’t been used that way since at least 2008, according to a report by Planning Director Chris Ritzmann.
A big reason why Quick Supply Co. wants to use it is because the property still contains specialized structures called magazines to store explosives, and it would be difficult or impossible to move them somewhere else, said Michael Carmin, attorney for the company.
APC members asked if the property was fenced, if employees would be there to monitor what was going on all the time, and if people besides employees would be able to go in and get explosives.
Employee Cody Schaefer told the APC that while the site is not monitored 24-7, the property is fenced and the gate is closed when no employees are there, and it would be difficult for anyone with a pickup truck to enter it unless they trespassed over 100 acres of woods. He added that at this time, they anticipate no customers going to the site; generally, explosives would be transported into and out of the site by employees trained to do so.
Regarding the necessity of using this land for the “convenience of employees and effective operation of an industrial use,” Schaefer said he’s worked for the company since November and lives in Indiana, and since then he’s put 25,000 miles on his truck driving to other operations for work. Having this location near Bloomington will significantly cut down on the transport distance of products to the actual work sites.
What this company does is store explosives until a contractor needs them in a specific quantity, then delivers them to the work site, Carmin explained. These sorts of storage locations are scattered to reduce drive time, he said.
When news of this zoning request was reported in February, several Brown County residents expressed concern in online comments about this operation being placed in Belmont along the State Road 46 East corridor. Since then, the hearing date moved until it landed on the April agenda. Only two people actually attended the April 27 APC meeting on Zoom to speak in opposition.
One of those speakers is associated with the cell tower that stands near this site. He asked about the impact Quick Supply Co.’s operations might have on the tower.
Schaefer said that the only explosives that would be outside the magazines are those being loaded or unloaded from a truck or transported to or from the storage area.
Debra Winikates, who owns 50 acres adjoining this property, wanted to know if the company would have to get additional permissions if it ever wanted to manufacture explosives on the land. She said her grandparents originally owned the land and from what she understands, there used to be some manufacturing going on under a different company.
APC attorney David Schilling said that yes, if the business wanted to branch outside storage and transportation, it would have to get approval from the APC.
Regarding the house that is less than the required distance from this new industrial use, Carmin said that it is owned by the same people who own the property.
BZA members approved the setback variance after hearing more information about how the property will be overseen by federal and state agencies. Carmin said that the magazines will be inspected and approved before anything is put in them, and the agencies will look at the amount of material stored relative to the concrete and steel structure containing them.
The maximum tonnage of explosives that could stored there is 95,000 pounds, Carmin told the APC, but that is not what would likely be stored there on a regular basis, he added, just the maximum within regulations.
