It’s All About Location, Location, Location!

We know that other sand mines have been approved in the area, Foley Road and Shady Drive to name a few. But again, look at the number of buildings within 500 feet of the proposed site. 0 for Foley Road, maybe 1 for Shady Drive. You see 11 buildings within 500 feet of this proposed sand mine. ELEVEN. Again, it all comes down to Location, Location, Location. We may not agree on everything when it comes to the proposed sand mine, but I hope we can at least agree on one thing: The Iola Car Show sand mine is not in an ideal location. Not ideal at all.

This slide shows just how close the sand mine is to our 11 homes. Each circle shows the 500-foot setback from each property that they can’t mine. Look at Kenny Mentzler’s place to the far right. The original plan was to use the existing driveway that is less than 10 feet from their property line and less than 300 feet from their house even though it’s within 500 feet of the setback. That driveway is going to be used for all trucks to go into the mine and out of the mine. They can’t mine there but they plan on driving there and putting the weigh station there. Now Faulks Bros. admitted at the Township of Scandinavia meeting that they will likely have to move that driveway down the road slightly and put a berm up between this land and the Mentzler’s property, but it’s still an impossible situation for the Mentzlers.

Also, you can see how close the proposed sand mile is to the Ambrosius home and Kenneth Boyer’s place. The 500-foot setback from both properties makes it impossible for Faulks Bros. to mine the top parking lot and the Iola Car Show keeps talking about making that parking lot level when they are done. At this point, there is nothing they can do with that lot because its part of the 500-foot setback. Are there future plans to mine that area? At this point, nothing can be done there as you can see from this map.

Also, going in and out of Hwy J is not acceptable; accidents are waiting to happen. This is an extremely dangerous highway for 25 trucks to be starting and stopping on per day. It’s just not safe and when asked why Faulks Bros. wouldn’t instead come into the area from Highway 161 they responded that it was a longer route than going down Hwy B and then J. It was an economical decision.

That’s not good enough. Lives are at stake if Hwy J is the only route in and out for those trucks. Sorry, but it’s just not safe.

Now I know that everyone wants to support the Iola Car Show – and we do too -- but think about how you’d feel if you lived out in the country and suddenly a gravel pit was created less than 500 feet from your home. Trust me, it’s not a good feeling.