Thursday morning following the county department head meeting, 9 residents joined the party requesting rezoning of the North 8 acres in the Southeast of Southeast section 7, township 71, range 6.
The Henry County Supervisors previously denied the request for conditional rezoning after concern was raised at the July 25th Henry County Supervisor meeting. Ebeling’s attorney requested the opportunity to bring the rezoning request to a second hearing due to procedural questions as well as the lack of a written objection before the meeting on July 25th. Henry County Assistant Attorney Steven Giebelhausen acted as advising council for the county to the supervisors where he agreed Ebeling’s request was valid. The supervisors voted to resend the denial and set a second public hearing for Tuesday, August 15th at 9:30.
Chad Ebeling purchased the 24-acre property January 20th, 2023 with the hopes to build a concrete plant in the very northeast corner of the property. The proposed site plan given to the Henry County Supervisors show the batch plant 400 feet from Hickory Avenue, and 270 feet from the edge of Gregory Knight’s property. This would place the batch plant a little over 400 feet from Knight’s home.
A work session followed the vote to resend the original denial where the supervisors, Ebeling, Ebeling’s attorney, as well as the Henry County Assistant Attorney Steven Giebelhausen went over the proposed Land Use Agreement. A land use agreement is a legal document that governs the terms and conditions of a property owner leasing out their property for use by a tenant or development by a company. The county has decided to move forward with a Land Use Agreement in this instance to attempt to find even ground for all parties involved.
Supervisor Lindeen requested interior dust control for all travel ways on the property be added to the Land Use Agreement, which was accepted by Ebeling. Ebeling also provided more information about his site plan and the process he underwent to choose the property for his project. When asked why the plant could not be located further from the road Ebeling answered the cost to run utilities to the batch plant would double. Ebeling also explained the function of the bag house that will be located on the property to ensure as little dust as possible is created. There will also be about 400 feet of trees planted between the concrete plant and the neighboring property which will help with noise and dust control as well. The other 18 acres to the south and west of the concrete company also owned by Ebeling will be rented to farmers to continue crop rotations. The point was also raised that the land directly across the street from the property Ebeling purchased is already zoned industrial, but the owner was unable to sell the land at the time Ebeling was looking for property.
Both parties affected by the rezoning will have the chance to voice their concerns at the public hearing set for Tuesday, August 15th at 9:30 a.m. in the Henry County Supervisors’ meeting room on the 1st floor of the Henry County Courthouse.