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This story was edited for clarity on August 10th.
According to court documents from last year, the charge asked that the court “mandates the Huffs to immediately restore and stabilize the land and vegetation they disturbed or removed, or caused to be disturbed or removed from portions of the Huff property that exceed 12 percent slope.”
The county is currently in the middle of a hearing on the motion for preliminary injunction. Once completed, a ruling will be issued by Judge Holly Harvey who has been on this case.
The defendant side includes land owner, (William) Joe Huff and his wife Nicole Huff. An aerial picture was taken April 22 of 2019, showing the clearing that had already begun on four of Huff’s two hundred and fifty acres. On May 16th, Monroe County filed a complaint against the Huff Trust for multiple violations of county ordinances, seeking an injunction against activities the county considers in violation of said ordinances.
According to court documents, the county said, “The Huffs have not voluntarily taken the steps necessary to achieve compliance with the Zoning Ordinance by obtaining the required approvals, but rather, through their attorney, have decided that the foregoing approval requirements apply to the Excavation Activities and to the Building Activities.”
The county then asked the court to issue an injunction that, “permanently and immediately enjoins the Huffs and anyone in concert with them, from maintaining, using, or occupying the buildings and/or from allowing or suffering the same to be done by others, until all required approvals have been obtained from the Administrator.”
The county is also arguing that the Huff property is located in the Environmental Constraints Overlay Zone, established and regulated by the Monroe County Zoning Ordinance.
According to the plaintiff’s side, Huff must need an Improvement Location Permit and a Land Use Certificate before proceeding with excavation activities on the property. The Huff Trust would also be required to submit a site plan to the county.
County attorneys have stated that with each day that Huff and/or contractors continue work without these approvals they may be subjected to fines.
If charged, fines would be $1,000 for the first day, $2,500 for the second day and $7,500 for the third and each succeeding day after if the violation continues.
In a separate lawsuit, the Huff Trust allegedly ignored a stop work order issued by Larry Wilson, county planning director, at the entries to the Huff property. According to the plaintiffs’ brief in support of motion for preliminary injunction, “On September 26th, 2017, the Huffs’ attorney acknowledged the Huffs’ awareness of the ‘stop work’ order and sought clarification of its purpose and the Planning Director’s authority to post the order.”
Planning Director Larry Wilson provided an explanation of the purpose of the order to the Huffs’ attorney. The explanation said, “in the absence of approved logging permits, we would treat any land disturbance or vegetative removal activity as Land Disturbing Activity.”
Wilson defined land disturbing activity as, “any man-made change of the land surface including clearing, cutting, excavating, filling or grading of land or any other activity that alters land topography or vegetative cover.”
Then, the county alleged that “The Huffs have not complied with the “stop work” order posted by the Planning Director.” The plaintiffs’ brief said the Huffs have “continuously (including during this litigation) engaged in development and land disturbing activities to accomplish the goals of their forestry plan for the Huff property without having been issued any permits or certificates required by the Zoning Ordinance.”
The Huffs denied that they ignored the stop work order issued by Planning Director Larry Wilson.
The county has also argued that the excavation on the property is on slopes steeper than is allowed by county zoning rules.
Throughout the case, Huff has tried a change of judge, change of venue, dismissal and has countersued the county, alleging defamation among other tactics .
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In terms of the potential environmental effects that the Huff Trust may have caused by its activities on the property , it is difficult to get factual answers on the topic, however by the amount of trees cut down that is shown in various pictures, erosion and sedimentation are possible concerns for the County.
The property owned by Huff near South Shady Side Drive is just along the shores of Lake Monroe. With approximately 10,750 acres Lake Monroe is the largest inland body of water in the state of Indiana.
Access to the lake is available through 4 state recreational areas, 2 state wildlife refuges, the Hoosier National forest, and 10 public boat ramps.
According to a Lake Monroe Diagnostic and Feasibility study, approximately one-half of the 190 mile shoreline is owned by the county, leaving the rest owned privately.
Although there are many issues that the lawsuit presented for the county, the issue of logging on property acres is one of the state, not the county. Monroe County has no authority to regulate logging anywhere, mostly focused on road development and other issues.
According to neighbors of the Huff’s and county reports, large areas have been clear cut and bulldozed down to the shoreline, leaving little to nothing to help filter out pollutants from entering the lake. This is where concern for the lake comes in.
One local resident on South Shady Side Drive commented on the issue saying, “The county’s lawsuit against the Huffs will have huge implications as to whether or not protecting our water source is even possible.”
In terms of impacts that the Huff’s actions have had on the surrounding community, the changes that the area has seen have caused disturbance, according to another resident on South Shady Side drive.
The project of logging and clearing land has been ongoing for about 2 years now, according to one source and has had negative effects on the neighborhood. Noise pollution is the number one disturbance, from heavy logging equipment, chainsaws, and bulldozers.
One neighbor stated, “The smoke and ash is so overbearing at times it’s difficult to be outside. The situation has caused consistent frustration because shortly after the fire trucks leave the fires are relit. Quiet days with clean air have been rare.”
Another neighbor explained the issue at hand right now between the county and the Huffs saying, “This case, in essence, boils down to the issue of logging, which the state controls. Huff claims to just be logging, therefore the county has no jurisdiction.”
The hearing on the motion for preliminary injunction originally scheduled for July 31st has been postponed until September 25th at 9 a.m.
