Make wishtv.com your home page

Group sues Tippecanoe County over quarry

TIPPECANOE CO., Ind. (WLFI) – One day after the developer behind a controversial stone quarry proposal in Tippecanoe County withdrew its request from the Board of Zoning Appeals, it filed a lawsuit against Tippecanoe County. The suit names the county, the county commissioners, the BZA, the Area Plan Commission and the building commissioner as defendants.

Among its charges, the lawsuit alleges that the commissioners didn’t have the power to ban quarries near residential areas as they did last July, as well as the Rogers Group should be grandfathered in before the ordinance took effect because it had already received several permits related to the project.

It also alleges that the Tippecanoe County Unified Zoning Ordinance, which mandates a special exception for a mining operation, violates Indiana code by preventing the Rogers Group from exercising its leased mineral rights for the land near Americus.

The fourth and final count in the lawsuit alleges that through its actions, in effect, the county took the property from them without compensation.

The lawsuit also states that the Rogers Group has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars so far, and that the limestone deposits on the property are valued in the millions.

Rogers Group attorney Andy Gutwein declined to comment to WISH-TV’s sister station, WLFI-TV, about the situation, stating it was a pending legal matter.

Thursday’s move comes just 16 days after the Rogers Group filed a reclamation plan clearing the way for the special exception request to be heard by the BZA on Jan. 28.