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Last updated on Friday, June 9, 2017
(BLOOMINGTON) - A logging permit for 237 acres on Lake Monroe is under review by the Monroe County Planning Department.
The permit application, filed May 4th along with a logging plan, seeks county approval for logging to occur on 237 acres just west of South Shady Side Drive by property owner William J. Huff and Ohio River Veneer LLC, a local logging company. Huff's property is on Lake Monroe.
Ernest Rollins with the Herald Times (http://www.heraldtimesonline.com) reports, at an executive committee meeting of the Monroe County Plan Commission on Tuesday, news of the permit's filing had reached some of the commission members' ears from conversations at farmers' markets and even correspondence with the mayor.
Huff says he is not clear-cutting all the trees, but the logging is to better maintain the woods, not make money from harvesting timber.
Larry Wilson, county planning director, says any activity this close to the lake draws a lot of attention and there is some disagreement on whether existing easements in the area, which Huff wants to use as an access point to haul logs off the property, allow commercial logging as a permitted use. Wilson says this is an issue that has to be settled between Huff and nearby landowners before the permit will be approved.
Monroe County is one of the few Indiana counties that require logging permits. The county planning department issues between 35 and 50 logging permits a year.
A request for a permit requires a current deed for the property, a completed driveway permit application, a letter of consent (if the property owner is not the petitioner), a detailed logging site/harvest plan, a list of best management practices and a filing fee of $400 if the property is within a watershed or $200 if it is not.
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