Village Of Iola Can't Issue Sand Mine Permit

BREAKING NEWS: This is a press release that the Village of Iola posted on their villageofiola.com website on Tuesday, January 17th:

PRESS RELEASE

“This statement is from the Village of Iola Board.

“The Village of Iola has no authority to issue a permit for Non-Metallic mining to the property owner because the property is not zoned for that use.”

UPDATE: So what does this mean for the Village of Iola residents who are opposed to the sand mine? Two things:

1) It means that the area of land that was proposed by the Iola Car Show and Faulks Bros. is not zoned for mining and so legally a permit can not be issued. The Car Show would have to ask for rezoning and the Village of Iola would have to hold public meetings and go forward with the rezoning process for this land to be eligible for mining. Since this project in the Village of Iola was always years down the road, all of that is still possible, but it would be a long process.

2) Since the first permit application included both properties in the Township of Scandinavia and in the Village of Iola, a revised permit application is now being requested by the Township of Scandinavia. The process could start all over again in Scandinavia with a “clean” application for that land. If the Car Show and Faulks Bros. were to ever request a permit application for the Village of Iola that would likely have to come separately as a new “clean” application. Again, that process could start all over again.

We expect the Car Show and Faulks Bros. to submit a revised permit application to the Township of Scandinavia shortly and for the process to start all over again with an Informational Meeting likely in March or April. There is nothing on the February 8th Township agenda involving the sand mine, so once the revised application is entered we can discuss again.

This is all likely very good news for Village of Iola residents who oppose the sand mine and good news for Scandinavia residents because the process is delayed and starts all over again. The best case scenario is that Faulks Bros. and the Iola Car Show wouldn’t offer a revised permit, but that’s highly unlikely. Their focus now is squarely on the Township of Scandinavia land for a 21-acre sand mine. Stay tuned.