[0:01] [music] You are watching Access Leaport

[0:04] County Channel 97. Coming up next is the

[0:06] September 15th meeting [music] for the

[0:08] Leaport County Board of Zoning Appeals.

[0:10] You can find more information for

[0:12] [music] this meeting by visiting

[0:14] www.acess

[0:15] leaport county.org. [music]

[0:22] Good evening. I would like to call to

[0:24] order the September 15th meeting of the

[0:27] board of zoning appeals. Mr. car. Would

[0:29] you lead us in the pledge of allegiance?

[0:35] » I pledge algiance to the flag of the

[0:37] United States of America and to the

[0:39] republic for which it stands, one nation

[0:42] under God, indivisible, with liberty and

[0:46] justice for all.

[0:51] » Thank you. Could I get a roll call,

[0:52] please?

[0:56] » Melissa Mishki,

[0:57] >> here. Anthony Os

[0:59] >> present. [snorts]

[1:00] >> Eric Quinton

[1:01] >> here.

[1:01] >> Jeff Balties

[1:02] >> here.

[1:03] >> Eric Schmidt

[1:04] >> here.

[1:04] >> Ernie Schmidt. Where'd I get Eric?

[1:10] » Okay, I will. Um, so the meeting minutes

[1:15] [snorts]

[1:16] uh we don't have hard copies, correct?

[1:19] >> Yep.

[1:20] >> Right. So,

[1:23] >> we did have an email.

[1:24] >> Can we go ahead? I'll approve the

[1:27] minutes as presented.

[1:28] >> Second.

[1:29] >> I have a motion and a second to approve

[1:31] the meeting minutes as presented. All in

[1:33] favor say I.

[1:34] >> I.

[1:35] >> Those opposed. Same sign. Okay.

[1:38] All right. So, this evening I want to

[1:40] remind everybody to turn your cell

[1:42] phones off or put them on vibrate,

[1:44] whichever you're more comfortable with.

[1:46] Um, petitions are the only time when you

[1:50] are able to remmonstrate. You get three

[1:52] minutes. Everybody gets three minutes.

[1:55] So, you're either for a petition or

[1:57] against a petition. Okay.

[2:00] Uh, with that said, petition number

[2:02] three, if you're here for that petition

[2:04] tonight, petition number three, it has

[2:06] been tabled until our October meeting.

[2:09] So, petition number three, if you're

[2:11] here, we'll see you next month. Okay.

[2:15] So, with that, I will entertain a motion

[2:18] to remove petition number one from the

[2:20] table.

[2:21] >> So moved.

[2:23] >> Second. All those in favor say I. I

[2:26] >> I oppose. Same sign. All right. The

[2:30] petition for special exceptions for Blue

[2:32] Stem Solar Farm LLC for approval of a

[2:35] battery and storage facility on the

[2:37] south side of East Shaw Road and north

[2:39] of East 50 North Rolling Prairie,

[2:41] Indiana 46371

[2:44] being located on a portion of the parcel

[2:47] located in Kinki Township zone Aged. We

[2:51] tabled this and I believe we had

[2:53] requested some additional information.

[2:55] So, Attorney Novak, if you'd like to

[2:57] come up.

[3:00] I do know that the board has received

[3:02] some communications that we we did get

[3:05] responses from other county offices.

[3:08] Uh, and as I recall, they were all

[3:10] favorable.

[3:13] >> I think so.

[3:14] >> Yep. I think so, too.

[3:16] >> Good evening.

[3:16] uh, members of the board.

[3:19] My name is Anthony Novak, attorney with

[3:21] Newbie Lewis Kaminsky Jones, 916 Lincoln

[3:24] Court. Um, I will give you as much

[3:27] information as you would like, but I

[3:28] will keep it brief since public comment

[3:30] was closed. Um, we had the presentation

[3:35] last month. Uh, Mr. Oz proposed a couple

[3:39] revisions to the conditions and it was

[3:40] either Mr. Os or maybe Mr. Pointton that

[3:42] then said, "Hey, can we get some input

[3:45] from the local agencies and then come

[3:47] back here September 15th?" So later that

[3:50] week then I talked to Mike just to kind

[3:53] of go through who he thought we should

[3:55] reach out to. Uh he confirmed Leaport

[3:59] City Fire Department since they would be

[4:00] the responding agency, Kanka Key

[4:02] Township Volunteer Fire Department,

[4:04] Pleasant Township Volunteer Fire

[4:07] Department, Leaport uh E911,

[4:11] Leaport Emergency Management of Homeland

[4:13] Security, Leaport Hazmat, Leaport EMS.

[4:17] So

[4:19] on August 24th, I sent out a bunch of

[4:23] emails um that kind of described what we

[4:26] were doing, had a link to our

[4:27] application, emergency plan of

[4:29] everything else, uh copied the members

[4:31] of our team, including Pedro, invited

[4:33] anyone to ask questions, um and and up

[4:36] until yesterday, we slowly got responses

[4:39] from everybody. Um, I put that together

[4:42] in a summary that I sent to Mike just so

[4:45] that you guys could have a table. Um,

[4:48] the comments were either favorable in

[4:50] the sense of of everything looks good to

[4:54] no questions, no comments, no issues.

[4:56] Um, Rob Sabi, for example, has been very

[5:00] busy um with everything going on, but

[5:02] one of his emails indicated that he

[5:04] talked to Jeff uh Hamilton and he

[5:07] doesn't really have any issues. There

[5:09] were some miscellaneous requests like uh

[5:11] Chief Snyder wanted to make sure that we

[5:14] were going to comply with the latest

[5:15] version of the international fire code

[5:18] which is 2024. Uh Pedro confirmed that

[5:21] we are. That was a revision that we made

[5:23] in our conditions. Uh to Jeff's point,

[5:26] he asked, hey, what if there was some

[5:28] requirement for mutual, excuse me, for

[5:30] equipment for some of these volunteer

[5:31] fire departments? It's been not

[5:33] identified what that would be, but we

[5:35] said, "Look, yeah, we're happy to sit

[5:36] down and upon mutual agreement, we'll

[5:37] get you that additional equipment." So,

[5:40] what I did, uh, and then there was a

[5:42] request from one of the volunteer fire

[5:44] departments, I'm not sure which one, to

[5:46] have a, uh, water tank on site, which we

[5:51] did. Uh, we're going to do 25,000

[5:53] gallons, which they said would be

[5:55] satisfactory to them.

[5:56] >> [clears throat]

[5:57] >> So then what I did uh and then just one

[6:00] last recap and then I'll summarize it. I

[6:02] then took notes on what Tone Mr. O

[6:05] excuse me requested when he went through

[6:08] the conditions last meeting

[6:11] specifically

[6:13] there was references to the emergency

[6:15] responder training basically saying that

[6:18] if they request it we will provide it.

[6:19] He wanted it to be we are going to do it

[6:21] unless they defer. We modified the

[6:23] condition to uh provide for that. Uh Mr.

[6:27] Os then said, "Hey, can you remove out

[6:29] the limitation that you're going to

[6:30] remove facilities only up to a 3-foot

[6:33] depth on decommissioning?" We said,

[6:35] "That's fine." So, we took out that

[6:36] limitation, so we'll just take out all

[6:38] facilities.

[6:41] And then, uh, Mr. Balties then talked

[6:43] about if there was a request for the

[6:45] equipment. So, what I then sent Mr. pull

[6:49] in was our redlinined conditions which

[6:52] I'm not going to go through but

[6:54] condition 10 put IFC 2024 condition 14

[6:58] put the provision that we are going to

[7:00] provide annual training including

[7:02] materials unless they defer

[7:05] um item 20 we revised the three-foot

[7:08] limitation on the decommissioning

[7:12] uh there was a duplicate of doing yearly

[7:15] EMS training so we struck that it just

[7:17] repeated itself we and added cuz I think

[7:20] this was request if we can periodically

[7:22] meet with the local fire departments to

[7:25] discuss their needs. We added that and

[7:26] then we specifically added the 25,000

[7:29] 25,000galon tank. Um so basically what

[7:33] we would do tonight is just request um

[7:35] that if you would entertain approving

[7:37] the petition, it would be approved

[7:39] conditioned upon these revised

[7:40] conditions. So um I don't know what you

[7:43] guys would like to do, but I did still

[7:44] bring the team here. Pedro's here.

[7:46] >> I see that. I thought Pedro was going to

[7:47] join us remotely. You must just need to

[7:50] cool off up here.

[7:51] >> He couldn't miss it. He

[7:52] >> in the Midwest.

[7:53] >> He couldn't miss it. So, I'm available

[7:55] for questions, but that's a summary of

[7:56] where we are.

[7:58] >> All right, board. So, public comment um

[8:02] remmonstrance is closed. So, I think if

[8:05] we have any wrap-up questions, then we

[8:08] should move to a vote.

[8:10] >> Just got a question about this water

[8:12] tank. So, in the winter, is it going to

[8:16] be a frozen pond or is this is it a a

[8:18] heated tank and it's all

[8:20] >> We on the team know about the tank.

[8:22] There you go.

[8:24] >> See, we we brought Pedro back for a

[8:26] reason.

[8:26] >> Thank you.

[8:28] >> The trip good evening everyone. Uh it's

[8:30] nice to be back. Uh yes, to answer your

[8:32] question. So when we go through the

[8:33] design process and the application

[8:35] process for the water tank um it'll take

[8:37] into account uh the location and the

[8:39] need for u for any type of liner or

[8:42] heating to ensure that the water stays

[8:44] uh within the the the temperature that

[8:46] is supposed to. There's a water level,

[8:48] there's a temperature level as well. So

[8:50] and all of that will be monitored

[8:51] through that uh uh

[8:54] fire control panel, the main fire

[8:56] control panel, and we'll have visibility

[8:58] into that all the time.

[9:01] So they were just asking for that to be

[9:02] able to pump water if there was an

[9:04] issue.

[9:05] >> So yes, so the uh the water tank will be

[9:07] there for let's say brush fires um uh

[9:10] structural you know if you need to cool

[9:12] off uh certain units things like that

[9:14] and most importantly for their use as

[9:16] they see fit as well. So it's not

[9:18] necessarily just for the site for

[9:19] whatever need is on the site but if they

[9:22] need to uh you know quickly access some

[9:24] water they have the water available to

[9:26] them as well.

[9:27] >> Okay. Thank you. Yes, sir.

[9:30] >> Pedro, you can stay there. Don't mind.

[9:32] >> I brought up about toxic gases last time

[9:35] and you said they will release no toxic

[9:37] gases.

[9:39] >> Okay. Um, what I believe I said is the

[9:43] testing that uh it goes through the UL

[9:47] 9540 also referred to a large scale fire

[9:50] testing. Um, it lists the composition of

[9:53] the uh of gasing right. So there is some

[9:57] gases uh carbon monoxide, carbon

[10:00] dioxide, let's see if I recall like

[10:01] right off the top of my head um carbon

[10:03] monoxide dioxide hydrogen and I believe

[10:06] methane and between those four it it's

[10:09] basically about 98%

[10:11] or the other two 3% are you know uh

[10:14] other hydro hydrocarbons. Um now the

[10:18] concern about um those gases hitting a

[10:22] certain area there is none because of

[10:25] the type of gas and also the um the

[10:28] amount if if you will because it is a

[10:31] constant we talked about uh in the wor

[10:33] in a worst case scenario in the

[10:34] likelihood uh unlikely event that

[10:37] something does happen it will be

[10:38] isolated to one unit. So then you don't

[10:41] have that uh big concern about let's say

[10:43] the whole site you know having this

[10:46] tremendous issue and having to deal with

[10:48] plume and gases and all things like

[10:49] that. So it it's isolated it is minimal

[10:52] and there has been no concerns or no

[10:54] reportable uh quantities at let's say

[10:57] 100 ft that would be a concern for you

[11:00] know uh emergency services personnel and

[11:03] obviously we won't have any type of uh

[11:05] homes or structures within that 100 ft

[11:07] anyhow. The only reason I bring it up is

[11:10] I was read through the first book that

[11:12] you gave us that we got from you guys

[11:13] and it says gases released from best

[11:15] during thermal runaway are highly

[11:18] flammable and toxic.

[11:19] >> Okay. You're looking

[11:20] >> highly flammable and toxic.

[11:22] >> Yes. So you're looking at the ESRP,

[11:23] correct?

[11:24] >> Yes.

[11:25] >> Okay. So the ESRP as as I believe I

[11:27] don't remember if I mentioned it last

[11:29] time I I'm pretty sure I mentioned

[11:30] somewhere else. Um the the goal of the

[11:33] ESRP is to name out and call out all

[11:36] possible um issues within a site and it

[11:39] is not necessarily for that specific

[11:42] technology. It's talking about let's say

[11:44] uh lithium as a whole. So like there

[11:47] could be a possibility. However, when we

[11:50] do the more specific testing that UL

[11:53] 9540, that's when we are able to find

[11:55] out exactly what the offging composition

[11:58] is and then from there we take measures

[12:00] either saying this is not a technology

[12:02] that we want to use or we may implement

[12:05] uh some other mitigating measures. But

[12:07] the ESRP again just to highlight it's um

[12:10] it it covers all possible and potential

[12:13] issues as well as how to address them in

[12:16] a worst case scenario. So it's not

[12:17] necessarily this is what you have on

[12:19] site. It's more so u these are the worst

[12:23] case type of scenarios in a general uh

[12:26] um sense.

[12:28] >> Thank you.

[12:29] for reading that document. Um

[12:33] did you did you tell us about a

[12:35] containment

[12:37] uh area around this battery place in

[12:41] case they did use water and in case we

[12:43] did get contaminants?

[12:46] Um

[12:46] >> how big would that be?

[12:48] >> I believe the conversation around that

[12:50] was that the industry standard and um

[12:54] the approach adopted everywhere is to

[12:57] never uh put any water on a container

[13:00] because it does more damage than any

[13:02] type of uh good. So at no point will the

[13:06] emergency services personnel put any any

[13:08] water directly on a container having an

[13:11] event. So therefore eliminating that

[13:13] specific concern within the uh best

[13:16] container itself there is a secondary

[13:18] containment unit for anything inside

[13:20] like you know for cooling or anything

[13:22] like that but that is again it's it's

[13:24] within the uh the best container and it

[13:28] is you know basically self sustained um

[13:31] again no no through the process and the

[13:34] testing there is no indication that

[13:36] there's any type of issues as far as

[13:38] like how do we contain certain things

[13:39] because we don't just

[13:41] >> necessarily uh uh hose them down with you know thousands and thousands of

[13:45] gallons of water.

[13:46] >> I know that there was a conversation

[13:48] about

[13:48] >> maybe a retention point, detention pond,

[13:50] but I don't uh

[13:52] >> I think we talked about no vegetation

[13:54] around the containers and a perimeter

[13:57] around it and that the if there was an

[13:59] ignition or

[14:01] >> um that it would basically burn itself

[14:03] out and that's why the the firemen are

[14:06] there at 100 ft. That that is correct.

[14:08] In a again unlikely scenario, u the

[14:12] approach is to let the unit self-

[14:14] consume. Uh it'll consume itself.

[14:16] Isolated events. Uh defensive posture

[14:19] for the emergency services personnel.

[14:23] » So in a in an event like if water were

[14:26] to get on it during a thermal runaway,

[14:28] >> I'm sorry, say that again.

[14:29] >> If water were to get on it during a

[14:31] thermal runaway, Sure.

[14:34] what are the chances of any kind of

[14:36] pollution?

[14:38] >> Okay, so the the

[14:40] first the likelihood of an event

[14:42] happening is extremely small. Um if you

[14:46] add uh the likelihood of someone going

[14:49] rogue and just starting uh to put water

[14:53] uh on on a unit, that's also again kind

[14:56] of makes it more unlikely.

[14:58] if they do decide to put it uh these

[15:01] units are are are sealed. Um sorry.

[15:05] Yeah. So these units are are are sealed,

[15:07] right? So like the water the reason why

[15:09] we don't put down water like that is

[15:11] because it is it is very hard for water

[15:14] to get into the unit itself because it

[15:16] is uh IP is ingress protection. There is

[15:20] uh it's it's built so you don't have

[15:22] stuff going into the unit. the points of

[15:25] failure, if you will, uh were the uh

[15:27] deflogration panels. I think we

[15:29] mentioned that the this pressure relief

[15:31] panels, those would be the areas where

[15:33] water would get in. Uh again, if you

[15:36] couple that the unlikely hood of of an

[15:39] event, the unlikely scenario of somebody

[15:41] putting water and then the water having

[15:43] to go into that small um area where the

[15:46] panels are at. Again, it it's uh it kind

[15:48] of compounds the the unlikelyhood of

[15:51] something like that getting into it. Um

[15:53] so so yeah so that's why we don't have

[15:55] any type of um concern for that

[15:58] particular risk

[15:59] >> and I wasn't I was not going after

[16:02] somebody putting water on but there is

[16:03] mother nature that it could be in the

[16:05] event of a huge huge storm and you can't

[16:08] control water getting on it then

[16:10] >> that's very true sir I think in that

[16:12] event we we go back into the the areas

[16:14] or the sections of the relief panels

[16:16] which be the area where um the fail

[16:19] points will be and that would be the

[16:20] area would water would be accessible

[16:22] able into the container itself. Um and

[16:26] again having that sort of storm and

[16:28] having an event at the same time it it

[16:30] kind of um makes uh the likelihood a

[16:34] little bit less and and I think uh

[16:36] that's why it is not necessarily a big

[16:39] concern because one uh situation not

[16:42] happening two having uh you know storm

[16:46] in that of that manner uh at the same

[16:48] time and three the areas for uh the

[16:52] areas where water would potentially get

[16:54] into the containers and the battery

[16:57] units themselves they are sealed um as

[16:59] well the battery uh modules.

[17:03] >> Thank you.

[17:04] >> Yes sir.

[17:05] >> Mr. Novak I have a quick question. So

[17:09] we talked about

[17:12] last time about asking the appropriate

[17:14] departments and all those and then you

[17:15] did compile that list and sent those

[17:17] back. So um you said you're making the

[17:20] changes that we'd asked for. Is that

[17:22] part of those changes with an updated

[17:24] staff list and all those things? So if

[17:27] there is a emergency, they know how many

[17:29] people are working that day or is there

[17:31] a security guard check or is anybody on

[17:33] site 24/7 or how does that work?

[17:37] >> Xbox and

[17:38] >> remote monitoring. The concern from the

[17:41] EM EMS department was if they're going

[17:45] there to save someone, they want to know

[17:47] if there's someone there or if there's

[17:49] three people there or

[17:51] >> Yes. Kay,

[17:52] >> somebody on is somebody on staff all

[17:53] time or that's my question. Sorry.

[17:56] >> Yeah, Kayleie Samson 353 North Clark,

[17:58] Chicago, Illinois. Um yes, there will be

[18:01] some there are people on site during um

[18:02] work hours. So, we would have four to

[18:04] six technicians in an on&m building. Um

[18:07] the on andm building would not be cited

[18:08] directly adjacent to the battery but it

[18:10] would be it would be a shared on andm

[18:12] building between the solar and the bus.

[18:14] Um that site and uh also at all gate

[18:17] entrances. I believe this is in the

[18:19] findings of fact for the solar project

[18:20] and would be true here as well. We would

[18:23] list um emergency contacts. Um, we have

[18:26] stated in our emergency response plan, I

[18:28] believe that, um, we would have on-site

[18:30] personnel or personnel on site within

[18:32] um, 30 to 60 minutes of any event

[18:35] occurring. Um, and when I spoke to the

[18:38] 911 department, um, they did emphasize

[18:41] that they would appreciate updated lists

[18:43] of uh, emergency contacts every year.

[18:46] So, um, we will do that as well. But

[18:48] there will be signs um, at the entrances

[18:50] with um, emergency numbers.

[18:52] >> I I get that part. I think they're more

[18:54] asking who's going to be on site at any

[18:56] given moment. So that way if there is a

[18:58] big brush fire, if there is a big this

[19:00] or that, they want to know how many

[19:01] people or any people are on that site if

[19:04] they have to save them or

[19:07] >> um

[19:08] >> they just want an updated list, I guess,

[19:10] from my my

[19:12] interpretation of that. An employ an

[19:14] updated employee list if there's two

[19:15] people on a shift or whatever.

[19:17] >> Yeah. Okay. Go ahead. So um so the

[19:20] operations team uh they have a site

[19:22] operations manager. So he will have

[19:24] control of uh who is in during normal

[19:27] working hours as well as who is uh on

[19:30] call or shift during off working hours.

[19:32] So that point of contact will be

[19:33] available to the emergency services at at at any time one phone call they

[19:38] would know exactly who is supposed to be

[19:40] uh on site at any given time.

[19:42] >> Okay. Thank you.

[19:42] >> Yes sir.

[19:45] I think that was the only real two asked

[19:47] that they asked. Couple different

[19:51] department heads asked that same thing.

[19:52] So

[19:54] I the only question I had was um and I

[19:57] appreciate that you listened and there's

[20:00] several revisions in here that were made

[20:02] based on the comments from the board. Um

[20:04] the sound issue there's a sound study.

[20:07] It does identify potential some some

[20:11] need for some mitigation. I but it also

[20:13] does recognize what the limits are. I

[20:15] assume depending on the final study,

[20:18] whatever mitigations required to meet

[20:19] the standards from the county will be

[20:21] made. I just want to make sure. I mean

[20:24] >> that's correct. Okay.

[20:25] >> Yes. Uh so we have since finalized that

[20:28] sound study. Um I apologize did not

[20:33] provide it but um it's much the same

[20:34] results. Um so there will be their sound

[20:37] wall and or um uh their noise dampeners

[20:41] that you can purchase for the best

[20:42] equipment um which would also bring us

[20:44] under the limit.

[20:45] >> Okay, that was the only question I had.

[20:47] Thanks.

[20:48] >> Thank you.

[20:49] >> All right, so if that's it from the

[20:50] board, I'll entertain a motion.

[20:59] Um, I will make a motion uh

[21:03] that we grant the special exception for

[21:06] a 55 megawatt 220 megawatt hour best

[21:10] facility based on the conditions as

[21:12] outlined in this document. I'm not sure

[21:15] attorney volts how to best enumerate

[21:17] that, but I believe this is version 10.

[21:19] It's noted on the bottom that was

[21:21] submitted to us.

[21:23] um

[21:25] and that the application meets the

[21:28] requirements of a special exception

[21:29] under the JZU.

[21:34] Okay, I have a motion. Do I have a

[21:35] second?

[21:42] I can step down and second the motion.

[21:47] I second.

[21:50] Okay. Motion and a second to approve.

[21:52] All those in favor say I.

[21:54] >> I.

[21:56] >> Those opposed, same sign.

[21:58] >> I.

[21:59] >> Okay. And motion passes three to two.

[22:02] >> Good luck.

[22:05] >> Okay. Petition number two this evening

[22:07] is a petition for variance of

[22:09] developmental standards and petition for

[22:11] variance of use for Cindy McCain for

[22:13] converting four grain bins into a guest

[22:15] home and a sewing retreat. All grain

[22:18] bins will be connected by a breezeway,

[22:20] radiant floor heat, kitchenet, and

[22:22] bathroom. And there will be a roof to

[22:23] tie them in. Property is located at 0626

[22:28] North, 250 East Leaport, Cany Township,

[22:31] Zoned R1B on 5 acres. And I will need a

[22:35] motion to remove this one from the

[22:36] table.

[22:39] >> Make a motion to remove it from the

[22:40] table.

[22:41] >> Second.

[22:42] >> All those in favor? I

[22:45] >> Okay.

[22:47] We'll see if your legal work is okay.

[22:59] » Madame President, in that this matter

[23:00] was tabled from August 15th, 2026.

[23:03] Notice was adequate as of that date. So

[23:05] therefore, notice is adequate for

[23:06] today's petition to be heard.

[23:08] >> Okay. Thank you. If you would state your

[23:10] name and address for the record. Cindy

[23:12] McCain, 626 North 250 East Leaport,

[23:16] Indiana.

[23:17] >> Okay. Cindy, what talk to us a little

[23:20] bit more in detail about what your your

[23:23] plans are with this the three grain bins

[23:25] >> there. There are four there.

[23:27] >> Okay.

[23:27] >> And I they are sitting on my property as

[23:31] we speak because I had to move them. my

[23:35] aunt. Um I got them from my aunt and she

[23:38] has since passed and her estate is now

[23:42] I'm getting that settled. But um

[23:46] I wanted to put some of her belongings

[23:48] in that uh in the grain bins and make it

[23:52] just a place for my family to hang out

[23:56] and

[23:57] do crafts. So whatever

[24:01] it it's a playhouse. So, you won't be

[24:04] renting space at all?

[24:05] >> Oh, no. No.

[24:06] >> For family use only?

[24:08] >> Yeah.

[24:08] >> And no living space?

[24:10] >> No. I mean, I guess you could probably

[24:12] live there if you wanted, but I don't

[24:13] want No, I don't want people living

[24:16] there.

[24:17] >> Okay. It We can put a restriction on it

[24:19] if we decide to approve it. That is

[24:22] something that we could restrict. That's

[24:23] fine. As long as you're good with that,

[24:25] >> that's fine. My grandkids are going to

[24:27] want to spend the night in it.

[24:30] >> Let's see if we have any remmonstrators

[24:32] tonight. Anybody for or against your

[24:33] petition? Anybody against petition

[24:36] number two or for petition number two?

[24:42] Anybody or against petition number two?

[24:48] Okay. Hearing and seeing none, what

[24:50] questions do we have as a board?

[24:56] [clears throat]

[24:56] >> Go ahead, Tony. I are these on these are

[24:59] the only things on that land

[25:01] >> that I I just bought I built a home

[25:04] there two years ago.

[25:06] >> All right. I was looking

[25:07] >> there's actually um there's actually 13

[25:10] acres there that I own.

[25:13] >> Um

[25:16] it was the I had the first five acres

[25:19] and then in the last what year and a

[25:22] half, two years I bought seven more.

[25:27] And you kind of have it up in that

[25:29] northeast.

[25:30] >> Yes. Yeah. The house is backed by the

[25:32] >> section on the Yeah.

[25:33] >> Yeah. It's a It's a barnaminium is what

[25:37] I built back then.

[25:41] » Tony, it's like in this corner.

[25:43] >> Mhm.

[25:49] » What's What's the condition of these

[25:50] bins? I'm actually familiar with these

[25:52] bins. How are they like to make a home

[25:55] out of them? Are they structurally sound

[25:56] enough to do that?

[25:58] >> We picked them up with the crane and

[25:59] moved them over together.

[26:01] >> Um, I think so.

[26:04] >> Okay.

[26:04] >> Yeah,

[26:06] they're they're older.

[26:08] >> Well, I know the bottoms were all rotted

[26:10] out and all that, which a lot of grain

[26:11] bins do. Yeah, I I um for my business,

[26:15] we do non-destructive testing and I I

[26:18] did ultrasonics around

[26:22] the part that to get rid of the bad

[26:26] parts. I

[26:27] >> I tested the where we needed to fussy

[26:31] cut them to cut them.

[26:32] >> Gotcha.

[26:33] >> Yeah.

[26:36] Interesting.

[26:38] What about you guys?

[26:40] >> Mhm.

[26:41] I mean, and again, I we're kind of the

[26:44] first step of this process, right?

[26:46] You're going to need to work with the

[26:48] building department if we approve this.

[26:50] Um, their building standards are going

[26:52] to have to be met.

[26:54] >> Absolutely. I I I want them to help me.

[26:57] >> Yeah, absolutely.

[26:58] >> Yeah.

[26:59] >> Absolutely.

[27:02] >> But your plan is to have from the

[27:03] diagrams we have, your plan is to have

[27:05] plumbing out here. Is that correct? I

[27:07] want plumbing and a and u Yeah, I want a

[27:10] bathroom in there. Yes, absolutely.

[27:13] >> And water. I

[27:24] It's honestly an art project for me what

[27:27] it is.

[27:31] » What would you do with these green bins

[27:33] if we did not approve this permit?

[27:37] I would cry a lot. They belong to my

[27:38] aunt and uncle and they're both gone. I

[27:41] don't know. I don't know.

[27:47] I had I I was in a situation with her

[27:50] illness and

[27:53] the weather and my son said, "Mom, I'll

[27:56] move them for you." And he did.

[28:02] Okay.

[28:05] So, we kind of have the two the variance

[28:09] of use and the variance of developmental

[28:11] standards when you're making a motion to

[28:14] make sure that we address both of those.

[28:57] Let's do both.

[29:18] I'm I'm I'm a bit challenged and and and

[29:22] not because I don't understand what

[29:24] you're trying to do, but um part of what

[29:26] we have to understand is if there's

[29:28] something unique going on about the

[29:30] property or what you're trying to do

[29:32] that's

[29:35] for us to grant a developmental variance

[29:37] that and that's just part of the

[29:39] standards we have to go by um a use

[29:41] variance.

[29:43] Um

[29:47] you know, we have to demonstrate some

[29:49] sort of hardship for a use variance. Um

[29:52] that's where I'm struggling and that's

[29:54] just that's not my opinion. That's kind

[29:55] of the way that I the rules we have to

[29:57] follow. Um is there anything

[30:02] unique about that property or about

[30:04] these bins other than obviously the the

[30:06] personal connection to what you're what

[30:08] you're trying to do? It's I mean this is

[30:11] essentially an accessory structure but

[30:12] then the the developmental

[30:14] >> right

[30:17] >> where's the I'm trying to remember what

[30:18] the use

[30:21] Mike what's what's driving the use

[30:22] variance just so I'm clear

[30:25] remember what section we're talking

[30:26] about here that drives the use variance

[30:28] per se

[30:29] >> yeah I

[30:30] >> I if I recall correctly upon speaking

[30:34] with the petitioner it was going to be a

[30:38] sewing or something retreat.

[30:40] >> Yeah. And I think we've cleared that

[30:41] part up, right? So there's no I think

[30:42] the retreat thing I think threw us all

[30:44] for a loop. I I understood it the same

[30:46] way as you that So I don't know that

[30:48] because there's no rental and it's not

[30:50] being used. It's a personal use item.

[30:53] >> Correct.

[30:53] >> Then maybe that use variance isn't we're

[30:55] looking more at just developmental

[30:56] standards variance. Okay.

[30:57] >> Agreed.

[30:58] >> And that would definitely help.

[30:59] >> Yes. Yeah,

[31:00] >> it would definitely help. And so there's

[31:03] >> I have several people in my family that

[31:05] like to sew and it's just it would be a

[31:09] great place for us to bring our sewing

[31:11] machines and sit and

[31:15] >> so for you know

[31:17] >> No, I complet I appreciate I appreciate

[31:19] what you're trying to do. I get it.

[31:21] >> [clears throat]

[31:29] » But I have a I have a business right now

[31:32] and I don't want another one. So, no,

[31:34] I'm not doing that.

[31:46] Madame President, as a point of order,

[31:48] the petition before you is for all

[31:50] intents and purposes two petitions. It's

[31:52] for two different variances. One is for

[31:54] a variance of developmental standards

[31:56] and one is for a variance of use. If you

[31:58] determine, if the board were to

[32:00] determine that one of those variances is

[32:03] inapplicable, there does not need to be

[32:05] a vote on both in right

[32:07] >> in in in a manner in which both are

[32:09] either approved or denied. It would

[32:12] simply be that you would make a motion

[32:14] to approve or a motion to deny

[32:17] >> either one. It it they don't have to go

[32:21] conjunctively or concurrently.

[32:24] Um, and I think Mr. Grass's point is

[32:26] well taken that

[32:29] >> it it there is a bit of an overlap but

[32:32] then the petitioner has indicated that

[32:36] >> as far as for a use variance that

[32:38] technically is not there based upon the

[32:41] manner in which the property is zoned.

[32:46] » Thank you. If that clears anything up

[32:56] now,

[33:00] » yes, just the developmental standards.

[33:10] We have this awkward silence right now

[33:12] because everyone's trying to figure out

[33:13] how to word what they're they're going

[33:16] to uh pose.

[33:19] They want to do it very carefully.

[33:30] » Um

[33:34] » are you prepared to entertain a motion?

[33:36] >> I am absolutely prepared to entertain a

[33:38] motion. Um,

[33:43] I'm not going to enumerate the section

[33:44] because I don't remember which ones it

[33:45] was going to be, but I um

[33:48] I will make a motion to grant uh the

[33:51] developmental standards variance that

[33:52] would apply to uh the accessory

[33:54] structure and to the use the addition of

[33:57] plumbing only as outlined on this sketch

[34:01] um that was provided.

[34:03] um

[34:06] based on um meeting the criteria for a

[34:09] developmental standards variance

[34:10] specifically. Um that um

[34:19] by granting this uh we're granting the u

[34:21] appropriate the necessary preservation

[34:24] of of enjoyment of your property similar

[34:26] to those uh properties around you. Um

[34:31] >> uh would you like to include any

[34:34] constraints as to

[34:35] >> uh yes I think that based based on the

[34:37] fact that we're not granting the use

[34:39] variance there's no rental allowed of

[34:41] the you can't rent it to anyone. It's

[34:42] not going to be used as a residence and

[34:44] a permanent residence or rental at this

[34:46] time.

[34:46] >> No.

[34:48] Okay.

[34:50] Good job.

[34:52] >> Thank you.

[34:52] >> Okay.

[34:54] >> Do we have second?

[34:55] >> Okay. I have a motion and a second.

[34:58] All those in favor say I.

[35:01] >> I I.

[35:02] >> Those opposed, same sign.

[35:05] Good luck. I'm interested to see how

[35:07] they turn out.

[35:08] >> Come out and see.

[35:08] >> Make sure you work with the building

[35:10] department.

[35:10] >> I I will. [clears throat]

[35:11] >> Thank you.

[35:12] All right. Petition number

[35:15] three this evening, as I stated, has

[35:16] been tabled until the October meeting.

[35:19] Petition number four is a petition for

[35:22] variance of developmental standards for

[35:24] Anthony and Heather Schingler for three

[35:26] accessory structures. Two in the rear of

[35:29] the house and the third structure to the

[35:30] side 10 x 20, 10 x 12, 12x 24. The

[35:36] property is located at 7725 West Art

[35:39] Court Leaport, Cool Spring Township,

[35:42] zoned R1A.

[35:44] Let's make sure your legal work is okay.

[35:49] >> [clears throat]

[35:58] » Madame President, notice is adequate.

[36:00] >> Great. Thank you. If you would please

[36:01] state your name and address for the

[36:03] record.

[36:03] >> Anthony Shingler, 7725 West Art Court,

[36:07] Port Indiana.

[36:09] >> Anthony, this is a lot of accessory

[36:11] structures all at once. What do What do

[36:14] we need? all the

[36:15] >> We had just moved here in December.

[36:17] >> Okay.

[36:18] >> Porter County.

[36:19] >> So, we got in this new house. There's

[36:20] not enough storage in it

[36:22] >> ever

[36:22] >> compared to our other house. So, we had

[36:25] nowhere to put the lawnmowers.

[36:26] Everything's crampacked in our garage.

[36:28] So, we bought the one shed. These are

[36:30] all pre pre-manufactured sheds. We

[36:33] bought one shed and we put the

[36:34] lawnmowers in it. I have two of them.

[36:37] One's a big 65 in and a 48 in. So, that

[36:40] took care of the little shed. And then

[36:43] we bought the 10 by 20 to put in for

[36:46] storage.

[36:47] >> So, are they already on your site?

[36:49] >> Yes. Yes, they are. I was unaware that

[36:51] we had to have a permit for uh

[36:52] pre-manufactured building

[36:54] >> for the variance. Yeah.

[36:56] >> And then I was also unaware that you can

[36:57] only have one accessory building and we

[36:59] actually have two.

[37:02] >> Well, you're going to have three.

[37:04] >> Well, we have a shed, an accessory, and

[37:06] then one more accessory.

[37:08] >> So, I think you're allowed one accessory

[37:10] shed.

[37:11] >> You are. Okay. So then we actually have

[37:13] an extra just one extra.

[37:15] >> So do we have some unhappy neighbors? Is

[37:17] that what

[37:18] >> everybody is fine with it?

[37:19] >> Are there any remmonstrators tonight for

[37:21] this petition? Anybody in favor or

[37:23] against it?

[37:29] Anybody in favor or against petition

[37:31] number four?

[37:36] [clears throat] Okay. Seeing no

[37:38] remmonstrators. Have you talked to your

[37:40] neighbors?

[37:41] >> I've talked to all of them. Yeah.

[37:42] >> They're all Are they all in the same

[37:44] situation? There's too much stuff,

[37:46] >> right? And then they're waiting to see

[37:48] what happens with me because they want

[37:49] put some sheds in, too. Like [laughter]

[37:52] this is how you do it.

[37:53] >> Perfect.

[37:54] >> I like I like I don't know. One big one

[37:57] feels better to me. But let's see what

[37:59] the board question what kind of

[38:00] questions we have. Um

[38:04] Ernie, do you have a question?

[38:07] Why don't you put up one large structure

[38:09] instead of three small?

[38:11] >> Well, because we already have them for

[38:12] one. And then for two, uh, we keep the

[38:15] lawnmowers and the other storage stuff

[38:17] in the very back. And then the front

[38:18] one, I want to put electric in it. No

[38:20] plumbing, just electric for like a

[38:22] workshop.

[38:30] » Eric, what about you?

[38:31] >> Nothing from the pictures. A big a big

[38:34] one. Oh, that's a little hard, too.

[38:44] » Okay. So, we're going to go quiet again.

[38:46] And I assure you, it's just we're trying

[38:48] to word our statements correctly.

[38:51] >> Okay.

[39:02] for

[39:05] the front one.

[39:08] >> Yeah.

[39:12] >> We got these two

[39:14] >> and this one.

[39:15] >> So, he wants this one so we can have a

[39:17] look.

[39:18] >> Yeah.

[39:21] » Well, I can already see crazy. You need

[39:24] bigger buildings.

[39:25] >> Excuse me.

[39:26] >> You're going to go storage. You got to

[39:27] go big.

[39:30] It's It's the cost of these buildings,

[39:32] you know.

[39:32] >> I'm looking at these that would never do

[39:34] at my house. I don't have any either,

[39:37] though.

[39:38] >> Well, they did allow us to paint the

[39:39] front one. So, now it's it's all been

[39:41] taken care of, but

[39:42] >> very good. I think

[39:43] >> while we were waiting,

[39:44] >> I think it does

[39:46] look nice.

[39:55] I I already told me he's going to do it,

[39:56] but I will make a motion to approve this

[40:00] um off the fact that you have

[40:04] I feel you have proven the use and need

[40:07] for these structures on your property

[40:11] and I appreciate the fact that they are

[40:13] painted and matched and look very

[40:15] presentable.

[40:16] >> I can clear that. Yeah.

[40:18] >> Okay,

[40:18] >> I'll second that.

[40:19] >> I have a motion and a second to approve.

[40:21] All those in favor say I.

[40:23] >> I.

[40:24] Those opposed, same sign.

[40:26] >> I.

[40:27] >> Okay. It's going to pass three to two.

[40:29] And tell your neighbors you'd rather,

[40:31] you know, one larger structure,

[40:34] >> not in front of the house

[40:36] >> to come see the building commissioner.

[40:39] >> Thank you.

[40:39] >> All right. Thank you.

[40:42] Petition number five this evening is a

[40:44] petition of ver pardon me of

[40:46] developmental standards for the

[40:49] McDermads for a 15 ft front setback

[40:52] instead of the minimum required 25 ft.

[40:55] The property is at 137 Judson Road

[40:58] Leaport Center Township zone R1B

[41:02] petition number five. Are you here?

[41:08] Okay,

[41:10] I'm going to move them down to the

[41:11] bottom. If everybody's okay with that,

[41:13] we'll hear petition number six and then

[41:15] we'll um see if they're back. So,

[41:20] petition number six is a petition for

[41:22] special exception for Kingsbury

[41:24] Investments and Envirro Recycling for

[41:26] the operation of recycling facility and

[41:29] biochar operation plastics to diesel.

[41:32] The property is located at 6417 South

[41:35] Third Line Road in Kingsbury Ordinance

[41:38] Plant, Washington Township on two

[41:42] parcels, 21.392

[41:46] acres.

[41:58] you.

[42:01] >> Yeah, Jeff.

[42:07] » Thank you.

[42:15] » Madam President. Notice is adequate.

[42:17] >> Great. Thank you.

[42:24] » He thought he was safe, huh?

[42:30] » [laughter]

[42:47] » Yeah,

[42:51] different.

[43:40] Give us a moment to review the

[43:41] information you guys have provided.

[43:44] >> If you would state your name and address

[43:47] for the record.

[43:49] >> Sure.

[43:51] [clears throat] I represent enviral

[43:54] recycling and my name is Jim Ventura

[44:00] like

[44:02] okay

[44:04] Jim I I'm going to need you to explain

[44:06] this to me like

[44:09] in detail because I when I started to go

[44:13] through this packet before I'm confused

[44:15] by this this one that identifies some

[44:19] sites

[44:20] But I can't really get my head around

[44:23] where they're going to go.

[44:24] >> Okay.

[44:25] >> What's going where? And

[44:26] >> the the packet that you just received is

[44:29] the same one that you had two weeks ago,

[44:31] >> right?

[44:32] >> Nothing different. We just got some

[44:34] support letters on the back of the

[44:36] package. And the reason that we handed

[44:38] it out is this time, you know, we

[44:40] numbered every page so you could follow

[44:44] my presentation.

[44:45] >> Thank you.

[44:46] >> That was for clarity.

[44:49] So uh again we are enviral recycling and

[44:52] we are requesting a special exception

[44:56] use variants to develop an enviral

[44:59] recycling campus a state-of-the-art

[45:02] integrated waste processing and green

[45:04] energy campus to be located at 6419

[45:09] D line road at the Kingsbury Industrial

[45:13] Parks M2 heavy industrial district. The

[45:18] project represents a multi-million

[45:20] dollar private infrastructure investment

[45:23] in Leaport County that aligns perfectly

[45:26] with industrial parks heavy

[45:29] manufacturing district while introducing

[45:32] clean green technology. A paradigm shift

[45:36] in waste management moving away from the

[45:39] traditional landfilling toward a

[45:41] circular economy. Extracting maximum

[45:44] value from municipal, industrial and

[45:47] agricultural waist streams. The campus

[45:50] will position Leaport County as the

[45:52] leader in the regional sustability while

[45:56] generating significant local tax revenue

[45:59] and creating over 100 construction and

[46:03] 155 permanent highquality jobs for our

[46:06] local residents.

[46:13] Slide three. Who is Enviral Recycling?

[46:17] We are company that brings a team with

[46:20] over 20 years of experience in design,

[46:22] engineering, construction, management,

[46:24] and operation of municipal facilities

[46:27] and includes local owners.

[46:33] Page four is the one that you want a

[46:36] clarity. The reason I put this in there

[46:38] is because I wanted to show the board

[46:41] where Hup Roads was at

[46:44] and where Central was at. We are on

[46:47] third line road. You can see the yellow.

[46:50] It's marked 3A, 3B, and two. Now, we

[46:55] used to be on number six on Fifth Line

[46:58] Road. We previously have an active

[47:02] actually variance approval for a

[47:05] material recovery facility. The reason

[47:07] we move from fifth to third was because

[47:12] third is actually well paved. We have

[47:14] better access and it's better to create

[47:17] a campus atmosphere for what we want to

[47:19] do. So there were all the amenities and

[47:22] plus the utilities are in the three

[47:26] parcels that we're looking at. You have

[47:28] utilities there. Before we had to bring

[47:30] utilities 1,000 ft, 2,000 ft.

[47:31] >> And that's really the only reason you

[47:32] guys are here is because you're moving

[47:34] from Fifth Line Road to

[47:36] >> Fifth Lane to Third, but we're adding

[47:39] two more

[47:40] >> Yeah.

[47:40] >> two more businesses. Okay.

[47:41] >> And that's really it could be I don't

[47:43] know if you want to call it an amendment

[47:45] or

[47:45] >> Sure.

[47:45] >> I don't know. I'm not illegal.

[47:53] » Sorry.

[47:56] So what is the enviral recycling campus?

[47:59] It'll include a material recovery

[48:02] facility, a biochar facility, and a

[48:06] plastics to diesel. The facility will

[48:09] feature highly uh integrated material

[48:12] recovery that specializes processing

[48:15] lines designed to divert valuable

[48:17] materials from landfill.

[48:20] We will process municipal solid waste.

[48:22] There's no change in the material

[48:25] recovery facility. Everything is exact.

[48:27] We're going to still process the

[48:28] municipal solid waste, the 600 tons like

[48:30] we got approved for. We're going to be

[48:33] using the uh magnets, screens, and so

[48:36] forth. And we're also going to be doing

[48:38] the CND 200 tons. Everything from the

[48:42] same 75,000t building and so forth.

[48:46] We are going to be adding uh again a

[48:48] biochar facility and a plastics to

[48:50] diesel

[48:55] page six. As you can see a closeup of

[48:58] the enviral recycling campus site on

[49:01] 6419 third line road. You can see that

[49:04] on the previous I showed you you see 3A

[49:08] uh that's where the plastics recycling

[49:10] that's about 5.3 acres. Uh you will see

[49:13] 3B parcel that'll be the vouchard

[49:15] facility and then parcel two is the

[49:17] material recovery facility and you can

[49:20] see third line road where it goes on the exhibit and also uh you'll see

[49:28] where there's a road that goes through

[49:30] Helina

[49:31] company that'll be used road access to

[49:34] go into the plastics recycling.

[49:42] 87. Uh again, the um I'm going just

[49:45] focus on on the material recovery first.

[49:48] Uh we're going to be having a 75,000t

[49:50] building, 600 tons of residential, 200

[49:53] tons of CND. Uh the recycling equipment

[49:57] is provided by General Kinetics. They're

[49:58] out of Illinois, all USA company. The

[50:02] equipment will separate cardboard,

[50:04] glass, metals, paper, wood, and plastic.

[50:07] And and we're going to also receive

[50:08] tires, and we're going to recycle them

[50:10] into useful end products. The building

[50:12] is fully enclosed, 247 security. Outside

[50:16] will be paved, swept daily. Facility

[50:19] will be completely landscaped for a

[50:21] green campus look. There's going to be

[50:24] an educational component also that

[50:26] schools will be able to come and see how

[50:28] recycling which is a very important part

[50:31] of the environment is done. We're also

[50:33] going to be giving out scholarships and

[50:35] so forth.

[50:39] I have a diagram of the enviral

[50:42] recycling material recovery facility. As

[50:44] you can see, uh we have a line for the

[50:46] MSW and we also have a line for the CND.

[50:50] I'm not going to get real real detail,

[50:52] but I'll touch on it. Uh the material uh

[50:55] will come in on the tipping floor as you

[50:57] see where it says receiving tipping.

[50:58] Then it'll go on an incline uh conveyor.

[51:02] It'll go through a bag opener for the

[51:04] plastic bags. And as it moves down the

[51:06] conveyor line, uh there'll be uh what we

[51:09] call a uh finger screen or shaker screen

[51:12] that will shake the material. All the

[51:14] small particles fall down. The big stuff

[51:16] stay on top. It makes it easier for

[51:18] separation. Um then we'll have actually

[51:21] a manual sorting line where they will

[51:23] take out the paper, plastic and

[51:25] cardboards. That's going to be the

[51:27] focus. And at the end we're going to

[51:29] have either a shredder or we have a bor

[51:31] we will bail the the paper, plastic and

[51:34] cardboard. We'll bail the plastics also

[51:37] and then the wood that we separate uh we

[51:40] will put it to the side where we will

[51:41] grind it off the CND line. All those

[51:44] products will be going to an end user in

[51:47] Chicago and it's kept out of the

[51:49] landfill. Everything that's left is

[51:50] called RDF. Those are the paper that

[51:54] cannot go to a paper mill. We will bail

[51:56] it and use it a cement killing in

[51:59] Chicago. We'll use it as fuel to fire up

[52:03] their their facility. So 95% will be de

[52:07] uh diverted from the landfill which is

[52:10] the state of Indiana wants to do 50%.

[52:14] We're doing about 95%.

[52:16] >> Jim, does that include plastic bags?

[52:18] >> Yes,

[52:18] >> because I know that's one thing that we

[52:20] don't uh recycle here locally is yes,

[52:23] >> plastic bags can plastic bags also. And

[52:26] >> you'll see how this is going to tie in

[52:29] to the plastic. That's

[52:30] >> perfect. I'm sorry I got excited. No,

[52:32] >> no, no, no problem.

[52:34] I was actually going to stop and say any

[52:36] questions, but that's the improper form.

[52:39] Okay. Again, I'm going to show you the

[52:42] picture of the material recovery

[52:43] facility that's on parcel two, how it

[52:46] fits into that parcel. And you see the

[52:49] landscaping. So, we want to make this

[52:52] look really classy and really look like

[52:54] it's not just a recycling. What people

[52:57] think of transfer stations dirty and

[53:00] this. No, everything is inside.

[53:02] Everything's clean. Uh no odor. Um

[53:05] again, state-of-the-art, very well

[53:07] landscaped. Uh it's going to be it's

[53:09] going to be unbelievable. It is. Uh

[53:12] here's a picture of the kind of a 3D

[53:14] picture of the material recovery

[53:16] facility. As you can see, um the

[53:19] landscape again, it looks more like a

[53:21] campus. Actually, looks more like a like

[53:23] a small college. If you look at it, you can't even tell what that is.

[53:29] Moving on, uh we are going to have

[53:32] signage, typical signage will it will

[53:34] have uh on the property on the material

[53:36] recovery facility with to tell you that

[53:38] we don't accept hazardous material on so

[53:41] forth. We're also going to have a spot

[53:44] safe spot where the residents could come

[53:46] in and drop their trash off on Saturday

[53:48] at a at a at a reduced rate.

[53:54] Now moving over to the next uh facility

[53:57] which which is called actually a bow

[53:59] facility and I think that's on parcel

[54:01] 3B.

[54:04] The voucher facility uh we are

[54:06] partnering with a company called Pyro

[54:08] Nexus out of Fort Worth, Texas. Pyro

[54:11] Nexus has been involved with Arty uh

[54:14] probably 15 years. They have done

[54:16] paralysis units for biochar and they

[54:19] have probably 15 of these units all over

[54:23] the place. Um we are going to be doing

[54:27] uh three units on the site. There are

[54:30] closed loop. I have a picture of the

[54:33] unit on the next page which is page 13.

[54:37] As you can see uh the unit itself I'm

[54:41] going try to explain it the best as I

[54:42] could. Uh the the wood chips will come

[54:46] from the material recovery facility.

[54:48] Remember I was telling you guys it was

[54:50] coming from the wood that we separate

[54:51] clean wood. We will chip it to three

[54:53] inches and we would take it over to the

[54:55] biochar facility. There will be 90 tons

[54:57] a day. Three three units and the chips

[55:00] will come in and this unit will chip it

[55:04] to another one in. It'll go through the

[55:06] system where it'll be at a 450°ree

[55:10] uh temperature. It'll turn the wood into

[55:13] what they call char into biochar. Um,

[55:16] there's a cooling screw in there that

[55:19] cools it down and then it's bagged

[55:21] [clears throat] in super sacks. As you

[55:22] can see in the picture, those sacks are

[55:25] actually fireproof. They're 300 lb bags

[55:28] and uh once they are sacked, we will

[55:31] take them into the uh storage unit and

[55:34] which shows on the next uh uh slide 14.

[55:39] It shows actually the the biochar

[55:41] facility itself. You can see third line

[55:43] road there to the left to the top. We

[55:46] have a 10,000 square foot building which

[55:48] will have the offices and it'll have the

[55:51] storage. The trucks will come in through

[55:54] the third line road and they'll have two

[55:56] different entrances. As you can see, uh

[55:58] the trucks back up. They dump the wood

[56:01] chip pile. We're going to have a carport

[56:03] type roof over it so in the winter the

[56:06] snow won't wet it, keep it dry. And

[56:08] immediately you see the three units they

[56:10] once they they produce the biochar and

[56:13] they'll put in sacks it will be taken in

[56:16] the skid steer right to the storage. Uh

[56:19] once a week the buyer will pick up the

[56:22] biochar. It'll be a truckload. And uh

[56:25] this biochar is very very valuable. I

[56:28] don't know how much you know. I think

[56:29] you have a farmer on your board right? I

[56:32] don't know which one it is. One of them

[56:34] is a farmer

[56:35] >> potentially.

[56:36] >> Yeah. Oh, okay. Which one is the farmer?

[56:38] >> Both of you.

[56:39] >> Oh, both. Oh, you both are. So, this is

[56:41] something I think very interesting to

[56:42] you guys. Um, vouchar is actually 100%

[56:45] organic. Talked to a lot of farmers that

[56:47] they use the chemicals or nitrogen. Very

[56:50] expensive. This will be way reasonable,

[56:53] maybe like uh one farmer told me it was

[56:56] 7,000 a ton. I think this would be

[56:58] something like 250.

[57:00] And uh it's a soil amendment. It

[57:02] actually uh helps nutrients. It helps uh stop water from running off. Uh it

[57:08] locks in your liquid fertilizers,

[57:10] nitrogen, phosphorus. Uh prevents

[57:13] leeching into local waterheds, minimizes

[57:16] fertilizer runoff, and allows a farmer

[57:18] to get higher crop yields for less

[57:20] chemical. There's also a uh program

[57:23] called 336 farm bill. I It's a federal

[57:26] program. Uh and I've talked to the state

[57:28] uh Senator Young, which it's approved

[57:31] and active. So we're going to meet and

[57:34] uh try to work with that program for the

[57:36] farmers and it actually pays you guys to

[57:38] buy our product.

[57:39] >> Is there is it high in carbon? What?

[57:42] >> Yes.

[57:43] >> 75 to 80% carbon content.

[57:44] >> Okay.

[57:46] >> And again that program that program I'm

[57:48] talking about at 336 now it's on the

[57:49] state level also instead of a federal

[57:51] that would that would pay the farmers a

[57:54] good good amount of money to take the

[57:57] fertilizer. and we're going to target,

[57:59] you know, the Indiana farmers obviously

[58:01] maybe lower Michigan. So, this is a

[58:04] unbelievable project with the product it

[58:06] creates.

[58:09] Now, I'm going to go to the last one uh

[58:11] facility which is a plastics to fuel. Uh

[58:14] we are partnering with a company called

[58:16] Region Fuels out of Jacksonville,

[58:19] Florida. Uh they have uh probably in

[58:24] about 10 different countries uh this

[58:27] technology and they have one in Puerto

[58:29] Rico which is EPA region 2 and they got

[58:32] permitted in 2023. They actually got an

[58:36] exemption. They didn't even have to get

[58:38] a permit. That's how little the

[58:40] emissions are. they were given a a uh an

[58:42] exemption and is operating very

[58:45] profitable, very good in Puerto Rico for

[58:48] the last three years. And uh the

[58:50] technology itself comes in modules as

[58:52] modular. As you can see the picture, we

[58:54] have four powerers. Those are the the big kind of you see kind of the

[58:59] tubular type. Uh they each do 10 tons of

[59:03] plastic. Uh we're going to be doing 40

[59:06] tons per day of the plastics. And those

[59:08] plastics come from the material recovery

[59:11] facility that we separate and we bail

[59:15] and we take it over to the plastics to

[59:16] fuel. So you see how the campus itself

[59:19] is circulating the products. It's

[59:21] limiting truck traffic is limiting

[59:24] outside traffic from coming in and it's

[59:26] creating a bunch a lot of jobs. Uh the

[59:29] building is actually a 10,000t building.

[59:32] It takes less than an acre. is very

[59:35] compact and um uh um I could explain

[59:41] very briefly how it works. We take the

[59:43] plastics 10 tons one unit. It's a big

[59:47] door. If you see the picture on page 17

[59:50] uh right here is the paralyzer. It has a

[59:53] door. You dump in the plastics and

[59:57] immediately uh uh the paralysis unit.

[1:00:00] It's uh no oxygen. It heats up the melts

[1:00:03] plastic and it turns it into a liquid.

[1:00:06] Once it turns into a liquid, then the

[1:00:09] plastic the liquid obviously is turned

[1:00:11] into a gas. And once it's in a gaseous

[1:00:14] state, then now it goes through

[1:00:16] different stages through through

[1:00:17] catalytic converters and so forth where

[1:00:19] it cleans the gas from impurities and so

[1:00:23] forth. And it takes out the wax and and other things and makes it clean. And

[1:00:28] it's comparable to a a low sulfur

[1:00:31] diesel, ultra low uh uh diesel fuel. And

[1:00:35] that that fuel itself is from the gas is

[1:00:39] turned back to liquid. It goes into a

[1:00:41] holding tank. Uh the wax is separated

[1:00:43] obviously. Uh it could be used for other

[1:00:45] things. And um uh it does uh we do about

[1:00:50] 2,000 gallons a day of the paralysis of

[1:00:53] oil called diesel. And we'll do 8,000

[1:00:56] this facility will do 8,000 gallons per

[1:00:59] day of that diesel.

[1:01:02] >> So then does it get stored on site?

[1:01:04] >> Yes. Uh there's two storage tanks that

[1:01:08] are get stored and and you'll get a

[1:01:10] tanker truck uh daily that'll fill up

[1:01:14] the fuel fuel trucks fill up and go out.

[1:01:16] So we only have one truck that goes out

[1:01:18] every day. So it's not like a bunch of

[1:01:21] traffic and coming in and out. And I

[1:01:23] know that's probably one of the concerns

[1:01:24] and questions too.

[1:01:30] Now, this is the parcel

[1:01:33] for the plastics to diesel. Uh is again

[1:01:36] like I was explaining earlier, we're

[1:01:38] going to come in right through where

[1:01:39] Helina is at of Hope Road through the

[1:01:42] back road there and into the facility.

[1:01:44] As you can see, uh it's very compact. Uh

[1:01:48] it's very safe. Uh the system itself has

[1:01:51] automatic shut off valves in case

[1:01:54] something happens. There hasn't been one

[1:01:56] fire or explosion at all. uh and uh it's

[1:02:00] very safe and it created a lot of jobs

[1:02:03] and um I could say that uh uh again uh

[1:02:07] creating as you've been reading probably

[1:02:09] with that Iran war and and I think um

[1:02:12] this is maybe getting off the subject

[1:02:13] but I think they bombed a Russian uh oil

[1:02:17] field and diesel has gone up to at least

[1:02:19] six months.

[1:02:20] >> Yeah. And this is crucial because we're

[1:02:22] producing our own diesel for the port

[1:02:24] which we can keep the prices very

[1:02:26] reasonable compared to what the market

[1:02:28] says and it's going up. So you know gas

[1:02:30] is high and diesel. So I think this is

[1:02:32] crucial for what we're doing.

[1:02:37] Uh [clears throat] the next page 19

[1:02:40] shows you a little bit how the environal

[1:02:42] recycling campus looks. As you can see,

[1:02:46] we're going to have signs, beautiful

[1:02:47] signs coming out from Third Line Road.

[1:02:49] We're going to have everything fenced

[1:02:51] in. Everything is going to be

[1:02:53] landscaped. Uh, and it's going to it's

[1:02:56] just going to be it's going to have a

[1:02:58] big positive impact on the Kingsbury

[1:03:00] Industrial Park. Honestly, I think it'll

[1:03:02] have a bigger impact than a data center.

[1:03:04] I might be speaking, but it might just

[1:03:07] have. And I think uh we were involved. I

[1:03:10] was involved personally in the Nexus

[1:03:12] uh project. I was there on 5th. I

[1:03:14] started that project from scratch and

[1:03:17] that's also a very good project. I think

[1:03:18] this project is better.

[1:03:20] >> Okay.

[1:03:20] >> I hope next is not here. No.

[1:03:22] >> Okay. [laughter] Okay. Don't tell. Okay.

[1:03:26] >> We'll keep it a secret.

[1:03:27] >> This is the uh environmental impact. Uh

[1:03:30] reduces greenhouse gases equivalent to

[1:03:32] bulldozing 100 square miles and planting

[1:03:35] trees. Removes waste from the waist

[1:03:36] stream. Reduces dependence on landfills.

[1:03:39] embraces practice and policies that

[1:03:41] dramatically reduce the footprint. Uh

[1:03:44] what is the local impact uh local impact

[1:03:47] and job creation? I think we're going to

[1:03:49] be an immediate economic driver in Leort

[1:03:51] County. Uh the job metrics is going to

[1:03:53] provide a lot of permanent full green

[1:03:55] color position spanning from heavy

[1:03:57] equipment operation, advanced system

[1:03:59] technicians, laboratory, control,

[1:04:02] analytics, logical coordinators, site

[1:04:04] management. They have a a bunch of

[1:04:06] ancillary jobs, truck, heavy freight,

[1:04:09] local vendors and so forth.

[1:04:12] And the final page will be what is the

[1:04:16] campus economic direct and indirect

[1:04:19] impact. The material recovery facility

[1:04:22] alone will do about 60 full-time jobs.

[1:04:25] The campus itself will produce over 120

[1:04:28] construction jobs and also 155 full-time

[1:04:33] jobs which will have full benefits 15 to

[1:04:36] $40 an hour. Now there's more like the

[1:04:40] commercial. There's more. But wait,

[1:04:42] there's more. Okay, we're going to do

[1:04:45] unbelievable affordable housing program.

[1:04:50] So, we are going to work with the

[1:04:53] commissioners, the council, the planner,

[1:04:56] everybody in the port to try to take

[1:04:58] some of these houses that need to be

[1:05:00] demolished or rehab. And we going

[1:05:02] through our company, we're not charge

[1:05:04] anybody anything. We're going to work

[1:05:06] with you guys. Uh we're going to rehab

[1:05:09] them and make them beautiful. And with

[1:05:11] that, in partnership with two banks, I'm

[1:05:13] not going to say their names now, but

[1:05:15] we're right now talking to two local

[1:05:17] banks. They're very excited about it.

[1:05:19] And if you work at our facility and come

[1:05:21] with a good attitude, that's all we

[1:05:23] want. Come with a good attitude, we will

[1:05:26] work with you and provide you an

[1:05:28] affordable house.

[1:05:30] >> Interesting.

[1:05:31] >> For your family so that the American

[1:05:33] dream, you could reach it and become

[1:05:34] stable. Also

[1:05:37] something else I think which is very

[1:05:38] important. Second chance program. I've

[1:05:40] heard all the time we're young, we do

[1:05:42] stupid stuff, we do crazy stuff. One

[1:05:44] young guy, I remember when we were uh in

[1:05:47] another city, he sat up there. He said,

[1:05:49] "Man, you know, when I was 18 years old,

[1:05:51] I had a gun in my car. It wasn't

[1:05:53] registered, but the police stopped me. I

[1:05:55] wasn't doing anything with it, and I got

[1:05:56] a felony charge, and I haven't been able

[1:05:58] to work, so I'm selling drugs

[1:06:01] to support my four kids." I said, "Well,

[1:06:03] you know what?" I said, "Listen, when we

[1:06:06] once we hopefully get approved, I said,

[1:06:09] uh, we're going to build this

[1:06:11] unbelievable campus where if a person

[1:06:13] like you needs a job and you really

[1:06:16] don't know anything that crazy, we've

[1:06:18] done crazy, silly, stupid stuff. You

[1:06:20] could come and work for us and we will

[1:06:23] guarantee you a job. Just come with a

[1:06:25] good attitude and come on time." Uh,

[1:06:28] also think about this. By creating 155

[1:06:32] jobs, it's going to have a big impact.

[1:06:34] That means people will have spendable

[1:06:35] income in Leaport County. People will

[1:06:38] buy houses, cars, purchase, spending,

[1:06:40] restaurants, eat. All the businesses

[1:06:44] will benefit. You'll keep

[1:06:46] [clears throat] things out of the

[1:06:46] landfill

[1:06:49] and create useful products to help our

[1:06:51] environment.

[1:06:53] I could go on for hours talking about

[1:06:55] this. And at this is the end of the

[1:06:58] presentation. We do have a couple

[1:07:01] letters, support letters that were in

[1:07:03] your packet. One was from actually the

[1:07:06] fire department that we met with, Chief

[1:07:08] Jeff, and he loved it. And he said,

[1:07:10] "Man, this is good. We got an entrance

[1:07:13] for the fire department. We got the

[1:07:14] turning lanes for them. My brother was a

[1:07:16] fireman for 42 years and a chief, so I

[1:07:19] know all about fires." Um, and we did

[1:07:22] everything. And he said, "Jim, this is

[1:07:23] good for us what you're doing." And he

[1:07:25] says, "Man, I love it." So, I'd like to

[1:07:27] thank the zoning board members for

[1:07:29] allowing me uh the time to present this

[1:07:32] very very important project to the port

[1:07:33] county and respectfully for taking your

[1:07:36] time. Thank you so much.

[1:07:37] >> Thank you. Let's see if we have any

[1:07:38] remmonstrators for this petition.

[1:07:40] There's anybody in favor or against?

[1:07:43] I see I see some people standing up.

[1:07:47] So, if you want to have a seat, Jim.

[1:07:49] >> Yes.

[1:07:51] >> We'll get you next.

[1:07:54] >> Good evening. County Commissioner Steve

[1:07:55] Hollowfield, 555 Michigan Avenue. Uh,

[1:07:58] Mr. Ventura met with us earlier this

[1:08:00] week. It's an outstanding program. I

[1:08:03] also serve on the solid waste board and

[1:08:05] we've looked at this also. We looked at

[1:08:07] purchasing a biochar outfit ourselves.

[1:08:09] Well, it's a better idea to let him have

[1:08:11] the biochar outfit, spend the money,

[1:08:13] take our yard waste. He's doing a great

[1:08:15] things out there at the other place

[1:08:17] already, taking in food waste. It's

[1:08:19] supposed to open up the end of this

[1:08:20] month, I believe. He's talking to people

[1:08:22] around the county. They'll take tires

[1:08:25] because tires are are a problem no

[1:08:27] matter what because nobody wants to take

[1:08:29] them but they'll take them for a fee.

[1:08:31] He's going to create jobs. No better

[1:08:33] thing to do inside the industrial park

[1:08:34] out there is to put an industry out

[1:08:35] there. Period. It's a perfect place.

[1:08:37] It's much better than destroying

[1:08:38] farmland like they're doing outside the

[1:08:40] county now. So this is an industrial

[1:08:42] park. It's need to be developed. I've

[1:08:44] been involved in that park for 52 years

[1:08:46] of my life. It needs to be developed.

[1:08:49] Period. He's met all the rules and

[1:08:51] regulations that we've asked him

[1:08:53] questions as far as keeping it safe,

[1:08:55] clean, and what he's going to do for

[1:08:57] affordable housing and to help felony

[1:08:59] felonies. That's an even better idea.

[1:09:01] So, I'd like to see you grant this

[1:09:02] petition. Thank you,

[1:09:05] >> sir. If you'd like to come up. Oh, hold

[1:09:08] on, Jim. We're going to hear from this.

[1:09:09] We're going to hear from

[1:09:13] » Hi, my name is Earl Miller. I work at

[1:09:15] Tyler Industries in uh both Leaport and

[1:09:18] Kingsbury. Uh Kingsbury Castings is on

[1:09:20] Third Road uh just immediately at uh to

[1:09:23] the south of the uh proposed campus. So

[1:09:26] um generally we would be in favor of uh having uh this type of industrial

[1:09:34] component. We did talk to Jim. Uh he did

[1:09:36] make contact with us. um you know, as

[1:09:39] long as he follows all the P's and Q's

[1:09:41] uh of everything that he's supposed to

[1:09:42] do with, you know, IDM and uh you know,

[1:09:44] that is in a 5-year recharge zone of the

[1:09:48] wellbe out there. So, he's just got to

[1:09:50] make sure that all I mean everything

[1:09:51] you've said is all your liquids will be

[1:09:53] inside and so on. You know, we don't

[1:09:54] want to

[1:09:55] >> do anything with that. Um

[1:09:57] so, he wants it seems like Jim wants to

[1:10:00] be a good neighbor to us and everything

[1:10:01] that he we've talked about. I mean, if

[1:10:03] he comes through with that, that's

[1:10:04] great. We're going to be we're going to

[1:10:05] be great neighbors for years. Um, one

[1:10:08] thing I have to bring up, um, and it's

[1:10:10] funny that Jim even mentioned this, uh,

[1:10:12] as the reason that he moved from his,

[1:10:15] uh, fifth line road to third line road

[1:10:17] is voila, third line road is paved and

[1:10:21] is well paved. True. And we

[1:10:23] >> And no one's shooting at him.

[1:10:24] >> Huge. What's that? [laughter]

[1:10:26] >> And no one's shooting at him.

[1:10:27] >> Oh, I didn't know any shooting.

[1:10:29] >> The shooting range. So there's no

[1:10:32] shooting range in the area. Yeah. Okay.

[1:10:34] Sorry I said that but yeah.

[1:10:37] >> Yes. Um so you know Kingsbury Castings

[1:10:40] and Highers have um been a huge

[1:10:42] contributor to Third Road and we had

[1:10:44] this consortium of neighbors that we

[1:10:47] were all working together. Steve can uh

[1:10:49] vouch for that cuz he knows some of the

[1:10:51] details and then the county came in and

[1:10:54] um tried to eminent domain it and take

[1:10:56] it away and it just we tried to work

[1:10:59] with the redevelopment commission and it

[1:11:00] just fell apart. And now everybody out

[1:11:02] there thinks, well, the county is

[1:11:04] eventually going to take over the roads

[1:11:05] and so we don't need to put anything

[1:11:07] back in. And so meanwhile, you know

[1:11:08] what's going to happen? So I know Jim H

[1:11:12] has in his packet it says $50 million is

[1:11:15] going to be put into here. Just a small

[1:11:17] sliver of that could pave, you know,

[1:11:19] from HUP to your location would go a

[1:11:22] long way towards

[1:11:26] » All right. All right. All right, I'll

[1:11:28] let you come back up and you can get

[1:11:30] that on record here in a minute.

[1:11:31] >> Um, the only other thing, and this this

[1:11:33] may be weird, you've chosen a weird

[1:11:35] address number beginning with a six.

[1:11:37] Ours begins with three and we're further

[1:11:39] south. So, I don't know how that uh came

[1:11:41] about and it maybe it doesn't make sense

[1:11:43] or maybe it does make sense. Maybe it

[1:11:44] does in the grand scheme of things, but

[1:11:46] um ours has been in the 3232

[1:11:51] and kind of they go they grow as they go

[1:11:53] south. At least that's what we've tried

[1:11:55] to do. So, I think that's something that

[1:11:56] the building commissioner's office can

[1:11:58] look at.

[1:11:59] >> Make sure everybody knows an address and

[1:12:02] how to get there and, you know, I always

[1:12:04] encourage um fire and EMS and things

[1:12:09] like that to make sure they're made

[1:12:11] aware of the address as well and what

[1:12:13] kind of activities go on there.

[1:12:14] >> It's it's super confusing. Yeah, it's

[1:12:17] super confusing.

[1:12:17] >> Yeah. Um,

[1:12:19] one one last one last thing with the number of trucks in his Gary

[1:12:23] proposal was about 250 trucks in that

[1:12:28] proposal. So, I just wanted to emphasize

[1:12:30] there's going to be a lot of trucks

[1:12:31] every couple minutes. There's going to

[1:12:32] be a big semi-truck going down the road.

[1:12:34] Thank you.

[1:12:35] >> Thank you.

[1:12:37] >> All right. Hold on. Let's see if there

[1:12:38] are any other remmonstrators. Anybody

[1:12:40] else? For or against?

[1:12:44] All right, Jim. Oh, are do you have

[1:12:47] Okay, come on up. Yeah, don't jump up

[1:12:50] there.

[1:12:50] >> My My name is Rodney Peters and uh uh

[1:12:53] 15615 South Wal. Um I own some property

[1:12:57] near this location and I just got the

[1:13:01] letter yesterday and uh I didn't know

[1:13:03] anything about didn't see it in the

[1:13:05] region and all that. So this is all

[1:13:07] brand new information to me. So I really

[1:13:09] not for it or against it. I just like

[1:13:12] >> some additional information

[1:13:13] >> just so I know. Um I'm familiar with

[1:13:15] Steve. So, I can probably work with

[1:13:16] Steve a little bit on

[1:13:17] >> I can if it's all right with Jim, I can

[1:13:20] give you my packet.

[1:13:24] » Perfect.

[1:13:26] >> Sure.

[1:13:28] >> That that'd be fine if you with me.

[1:13:30] >> Wonderful.

[1:13:31] >> Thank you.

[1:13:35] >> All right. Any other Vmonstrators? This

[1:13:37] your last chance. Come on up.

[1:13:42] My name is Jim Whitfield. I own property

[1:13:45] there on Third Road, too.

[1:13:47] >> What's your address, Jim?

[1:13:48] >> The address there is 6417

[1:13:52] Third Row.

[1:13:52] >> Okay.

[1:13:53] >> My home address is 4163 North 600 West

[1:13:56] here in Leort. We bought the building a

[1:13:58] couple years ago to do some uh

[1:14:00] industrial recycling with soap from the

[1:14:03] soap guy whenever he was out there.

[1:14:05] >> Okay. Uh so far we've not done a whole

[1:14:08] lot in that building, but I do own the

[1:14:10] building. So uh but I do think just like

[1:14:14] everybody else, this type of the system

[1:14:17] is needed here in this general area. Uh

[1:14:22] there is a lot of I do industrial

[1:14:24] recycling elsewhere, but there is a lot

[1:14:27] of need

[1:14:29] for to keep the stuff out of our

[1:14:31] landfill.

[1:14:32] You know, we keep hearing these people

[1:14:34] say that, you know, they're recycling

[1:14:37] when the Delon truck goes right to the

[1:14:39] garbage place. I've watched them. I've

[1:14:42] seen it firsthand. So, I think this

[1:14:45] would be a good system for the the

[1:14:48] county.

[1:14:49] >> Very good.

[1:14:49] >> All right.

[1:14:50] >> Thank you.

[1:14:50] >> Yep.

[1:14:53] >> Jimmy.

[1:14:58] » All right. Mr. Ventura, come on up.

[1:15:03] So, we're going to talk about those road

[1:15:05] agreement. Oh,

[1:15:06] >> the road.

[1:15:06] >> Sure.

[1:15:07] >> That's not a problem.

[1:15:09] >> Meetings with Mike and we've had all

[1:15:11] kind of meeting problem taking it over.

[1:15:13] I think it's kind of complicated

[1:15:14] probably, but I will say on record today

[1:15:18] >> that we will definitely pitch in to keep

[1:15:21] that road nice. It's nice right now.

[1:15:24] Fifth is horrible.

[1:15:26] >> It's true.

[1:15:26] >> Okay. And central actually half is

[1:15:29] horrible. So third is beautiful. Hope

[1:15:31] road obviously is the main road. We want

[1:15:33] to keep it nice. We definitely want to

[1:15:35] keep it safe. We will put signs out

[1:15:37] there. And not only that, we're going to

[1:15:39] have cameras that is going to protect

[1:15:41] their properties 24 hours. We're going

[1:15:43] to have security and make sure because

[1:15:45] there's people that dump illegally out

[1:15:46] there.

[1:15:47] >> Oh yeah.

[1:15:47] >> We're going to stop that, too.

[1:15:50] >> So,

[1:15:50] >> okay. What kind of questions do we have

[1:15:52] as a board?

[1:15:54] >> Obviously, the whole time I've traffic,

[1:15:57] truck traffic, truck traffic. the truck.

[1:16:00] >> Are you going to utilize the rail to

[1:16:01] bring anything in? How what's the

[1:16:04] perimeter of the products you're

[1:16:06] bringing in? Where is the stuff coming

[1:16:07] from?

[1:16:08] >> Okay. Um the wood and plastics is coming

[1:16:12] right from the material recovery

[1:16:14] facility. Uh the people that are

[1:16:16] bringing in not far is Leort County and

[1:16:19] also uh just on a tip of New Buffalo, so

[1:16:23] it's close by. It might be a perimeter

[1:16:25] of about 15 miles maybe at the most 20

[1:16:30] something like that maybe 15 diameter

[1:16:34] that's where the that's where the waste

[1:16:36] will come from

[1:16:37] >> and then the projected trucks you think

[1:16:39] for the for the entire project with all

[1:16:41] the business

[1:16:42] >> total uh what he mentioned and I know

[1:16:45] what but that was a different project

[1:16:46] that was a huge project the time we were

[1:16:48] doing we were going to do like 2500 tons

[1:16:50] to 3,000 tons this is 600 tons of MSW

[1:16:54] 200 CND total for the whole campus is 32

[1:16:58] trucks the whole day. That's about two

[1:17:02] trucks an hour.

[1:17:05] It's about two trucks an hour

[1:17:07] >> in and out. Uh probably

[1:17:12] two trucks going out.

[1:17:14] That's it. That's it. Because the

[1:17:16] biochar does 22 tons, which is one

[1:17:19] truck, and we only deliver that once a

[1:17:22] week.

[1:17:24] The plastics is a tanker that we take

[1:17:27] daily. So that's one truck. The material

[1:17:29] recovery facility will do 26 trucks the

[1:17:34] whole thing. And again, that's over a 16

[1:17:38] hour period. So it's about two to three

[1:17:41] trucks an hour. It's not a a high uh

[1:17:45] truck traffic.

[1:17:46] >> That's I I like the perimeter. That was

[1:17:47] my big thing. I didn't want like a 100

[1:17:49] mile perimeter

[1:17:51] crash. It would never work. It would

[1:17:53] never work financially either.

[1:17:56] >> Yeah, I get I get that.

[1:17:58] >> No. Yeah. So, we're going to make our

[1:17:59] own diesel.

[1:18:00] >> Sorry for the phone. I thought I'd turn

[1:18:02] that off.

[1:18:05] » Um, so you said that you were going to

[1:18:08] haul the diesel out, but then you said

[1:18:10] it could stay here to help us with our

[1:18:12] fuel cost.

[1:18:12] >> No, the diesel would be for sale. We

[1:18:14] have buyers, but we're going to work

[1:18:16] with the port county first. The jobs

[1:18:18] would be first in Port County. The

[1:18:20] diesel will be first on the port county.

[1:18:23] Everything is going to be first.

[1:18:25] >> So would I have to buy it as a semi load

[1:18:27] of diesel fuel?

[1:18:28] >> Uh, no. I mean, we could something that

[1:18:29] we could sit down and talk about. I know

[1:18:31] you guys are farm

[1:18:33] >> business. No, we want to work with you.

[1:18:35] >> I was just cur I'm just it's not a

[1:18:37] condition at all. I'm not it not that doesn't affect my doesn't affect my

[1:18:41] decision whatsoever. I'm just I'm just

[1:18:43] curious as to the business model.

[1:18:45] >> Yeah, we're going to go ahead and strike

[1:18:47] that whole line of questioning.

[1:18:49] Let me detail.

[1:18:52] [laughter]

[1:18:54] [clears throat]

[1:18:55] >> It's a green.

[1:18:56] >> Sure, man.

[1:18:57] >> I'm not sure. Now, now just

[1:18:58] >> that's all right. I know. I know where

[1:19:00] you can get a job.

[1:19:01] >> Cuz he said that it's going to be

[1:19:02] cheaper fuel in Leaport County for six

[1:19:04] years.

[1:19:05] >> I did. I worked

[1:19:06] >> I don't think anybody there.

[1:19:08] >> Tony, do you have any questions?

[1:19:10] >> Um, I guess they're more probably for

[1:19:12] Mike. Uh,

[1:19:14] since we went down a rabbit hole, we

[1:19:16] made we've made uh the attorney very

[1:19:18] uncomfortable. [laughter]

[1:19:20] which is a good thing.

[1:19:20] >> You got his head down.

[1:19:22] >> Um

[1:19:24] >> there is the thing called the fifth

[1:19:26] amendment that would be very applicable

[1:19:29] here.

[1:19:32] » Part part of this uh sir would be uh

[1:19:35] there's a pro a section in the JO

[1:19:37] section 14.17

[1:19:39] that discusses requirements around waste

[1:19:41] processing and disposal facilities. I

[1:19:43] assume you're going to meet all the

[1:19:44] requirements of that section.

[1:19:46] >> Exactly. We have to deal with it very

[1:19:47] strict.

[1:19:48] >> Yeah. And that's this is outside of

[1:19:49] that. I think they're I think they're

[1:19:50] pretty reasonable provisions in there,

[1:19:51] but I wanted to make sure you were going

[1:19:52] to meet those.

[1:19:53] >> I'm very familiar with item. Item is

[1:19:55] very familiar with me.

[1:19:56] >> Um

[1:19:57] >> hope in a good way.

[1:19:58] >> No, it is. [laughter] It is

[1:20:00] >> miss um

[1:20:00] >> it is the nexus the nexus project is

[1:20:03] very difficult to do.

[1:20:04] >> It's complicated.

[1:20:05] >> This would be really for um attorney

[1:20:07] volts and Mr. Poland. The way I see this

[1:20:10] what what the request is is for a

[1:20:12] special exception. We have three

[1:20:13] separate uses from what I see here all

[1:20:16] on one parcel.

[1:20:18] I don't know. There's there are some

[1:20:20] specific outlines of what's permitted

[1:20:22] and what's not under article 9 and heavy

[1:20:25] industrial.

[1:20:26] Um I just want to make sure that we all

[1:20:28] understand what's being requested.

[1:20:31] Processing, storage, transfer stations,

[1:20:33] disposal or incineration of solid waste,

[1:20:35] hazardous waste, medical waste. That's

[1:20:36] all special.

[1:20:37] >> Okay. Oh, I wanted to correct you.

[1:20:39] >> No, no. I'm just saying that's that's

[1:20:40] part of the JCO. I know you're not doing

[1:20:42] some of those things, but that's just

[1:20:43] something in the J. I know you're not

[1:20:44] handling medical waste. I get it.

[1:20:45] >> Or incineration. or you're not

[1:20:47] incinerating. Okay. So, there's and

[1:20:48] there's recycling facility

[1:20:49] non-hazardous.

[1:20:52] I'm guess I'm asking where does where

[1:20:54] are we falling here? Or does part of

[1:20:57] this fall part of this must fall under a

[1:20:59] special exception

[1:21:01] is what we're what what I'm asking. What part specifically under your

[1:21:05] determination as the building official

[1:21:07] falls under a special exception?

[1:21:15] I think when this was filed for

[1:21:18] previously, it was a special exception

[1:21:21] and so was Nexus and these are pretty

[1:21:25] much same or similar operations. Um, so

[1:21:28] they refiled under the same unders.

[1:21:31] Okay.

[1:21:33] >> So

[1:21:33] >> I think the change in location is

[1:21:36] probably what prompted

[1:21:37] >> Sure. And attorney volts, we could

[1:21:40] blanket that under a single anything we

[1:21:43] do could be blanketed. If if the the the

[1:21:45] pleasure of the board is to to go

[1:21:46] forward with a motion, it would be a

[1:21:48] single provision to approve as

[1:21:50] presented. More or less.

[1:21:51] >> Correct. And and Madame President is

[1:21:54] accurate there in that the previously

[1:21:57] applied for and granted special

[1:21:59] exception was running with that section,

[1:22:04] that area, that property, that parcel.

[1:22:07] He the petitioner is indicating that the

[1:22:11] same or similar use will be present with

[1:22:13] this petition but it is subject on a

[1:22:17] different parcel. Thus the need for a

[1:22:20] petitioner to come back and again for

[1:22:22] all intents and purposes resubmit his

[1:22:26] petition for a special exception even

[1:22:28] though it's again the same or

[1:22:30] substantially similar to the previously

[1:22:32] granted special exception for a

[1:22:34] different property. Does that make

[1:22:36] sense? Yes, Mr. Ventur, do you plan to

[1:22:38] continue operating at the other site or

[1:22:40] you're moving your operation?

[1:22:41] >> No, no, we're moving the third every

[1:22:42] >> Okay.

[1:22:48] » Would you have an issue with the special

[1:22:50] exception being rescended at that site?

[1:22:53] >> Uh, not I mean, if you're moving rather

[1:22:57] than have it stay open,

[1:22:58] >> we're not doing anything at all. We

[1:23:00] close that deal and I completely would

[1:23:02] break

[1:23:02] >> I feel like that's not included in this.

[1:23:05] It's going to be a separate issue to if

[1:23:07] we're going to resend that doesn't

[1:23:09] pertain to this petition's approval.

[1:23:12] >> It's a moot point because the

[1:23:15] >> a new

[1:23:16] >> does it expire

[1:23:17] >> a new person would have to come in and

[1:23:18] petition

[1:23:19] >> vacancy of 12 or more months,

[1:23:20] >> right?

[1:23:20] >> Okay.

[1:23:21] >> Use continued use. It's it's the

[1:23:24] inactivity period that that is that is

[1:23:26] triggered and then because there has

[1:23:28] been no activity under that previously

[1:23:30] granted special [clears throat]

[1:23:31] exception it will die on the vine for

[1:23:34] lack of a better phrase um and then

[1:23:37] become as Mr. Poland indicated moot.

[1:23:40] >> Okay

[1:23:42] question

[1:23:42] >> I still am a little hung up on the

[1:23:44] multiple parcels. How many buildings are

[1:23:46] there going to be and how many parcels

[1:23:47] are you going to be operating on?

[1:23:49] >> Uh let me go back to that. Um,

[1:23:55] » what page is that?

[1:23:56] >> Yeah, like you could just

[1:23:58] >> It was one where it had all three on

[1:24:00] there.

[1:24:01] >> It's It's technically all one parcel.

[1:24:02] It's a very odd But like as with normal

[1:24:05] with what's going on in KIPP, sometimes

[1:24:06] it's a very odd parcel, but it's one tax

[1:24:09] ID number from what it looks like where

[1:24:10] he's operating off.

[1:24:11] >> Okay.

[1:24:11] >> One tax ID number for county purposes

[1:24:14] and their plan. It's it's called

[1:24:16] multiple parcels, but for the county tax

[1:24:19] purposes, it's one parcel ID with a very

[1:24:22] odd shape.

[1:24:22] >> They are non-ontiguous,

[1:24:24] >> right?

[1:24:26] >> We're going to do um

[1:24:28] trying to find

[1:24:29] >> used to map parcels out there. It's very

[1:24:31] fun.

[1:24:34] It's

[1:24:34] >> not.

[1:24:34] >> Okay. So, if we don't this one,

[1:24:37] >> Mr. Point, did that answer your

[1:24:38] question?

[1:24:38] >> Yeah, I'm good. You guys are good.

[1:24:41] >> M Mr. Ventura, your the question was

[1:24:43] answered.

[1:24:44] >> Thank you. I I

[1:24:45] >> Yeah, we're good.

[1:24:47] >> Okay. So, if there are no further

[1:24:49] questions,

[1:24:51] >> I think uh I'll entertain a motion.

[1:25:00] » You guys have been awful tonight. We're

[1:25:02] good.

[1:25:06] » Just make

[1:25:08] >> I'd like to make a motion to

[1:25:12] accept this this petition for the

[1:25:15] enviral recycling.

[1:25:20] Now I have to re I think it would be a

[1:25:23] very good asset for Leort County.

[1:25:27] They meet the requirement.

[1:25:36] Did you include in your motion that you

[1:25:38] believe he has met the requirements of

[1:25:40] the special exception?

[1:25:44] >> I believe he's met all the requirements

[1:25:46] of the special exception.

[1:25:48] >> Second.

[1:25:49] >> Very good presentation.

[1:25:51] >> Okay, I have a motion in a second. All

[1:25:53] those in favor say I. I.

[1:25:55] >> I. Those opposed, same sign.

[1:25:59] All right. Good luck.

[1:26:00] >> Thank you, Jesus.

[1:26:02] >> Good luck at at IDM and everybody else

[1:26:04] after us.

[1:26:09] » Thank you.

[1:26:10] >> All right. Thank you so much.

[1:26:12] >> So, we still have petition number five.

[1:26:14] >> Petition number five. Are you here? The

[1:26:16] >> McDermotts.

[1:26:19] >> Okay. I don't see them. So, we're going

[1:26:21] to um put them on next month.

[1:26:25] Um is there any other further

[1:26:28] business in front of the board this

[1:26:30] evening.

[1:26:32] >> No, Madam President.

[1:26:35] >> Make a motion to

[1:26:38] >> Yeah,

[1:26:39] >> that's your pen.

[1:26:39] >> I have a motion to adjurnn.

[1:26:41] >> Second. Second.

[1:26:42] >> All those in favor say I.

[1:26:43] >> I.

[1:26:44] >> Those opposed.

[1:26:46] All right. Have a good night everybody.

[1:26:48] Thank you.

[1:26:55] » [music]

LaPorte County Board of Zoning Appeals September 15, 2026

Transcript