A grain bin collapsed at Farmers Grain of Maxwell in February.
Daily Reporter file photo
MAXWELL – Hancock County officials decided a grain elevator can replace a grain bin that collapsed earlier this year after an initial determination that the property’s zoning designation prevented it from doing so.
The grain bin, located at Farmers Grain of Maxwell, collapsed in February. No one was injured, but several homes in the area were evacuated and the start of classes at Maxwell Intermediate School was delayed after the collapse broke a gas line.
An emergency official suspected the collapse was caused by soggy, saturated ground due to melting snow and recent heavy precipitation.
Mike Dale, executive director of the Hancock County Area Plan Commission, initially determined replacing the bin isn’t permissible due to the property’s commercial zoning designation, which doesn’t allow crop processing and storage.
The elevator has been allowed to conduct crop processing and storage because its use is presumed to have been lawfully established before its current zoning, resulting in a legal nonconforming status.
Dale noted county rules allow legal nonconforming structures to receive “ordinary repairs” like the replacement of walls and other components, but that the grain elevator’s intentions extended beyond that.
“Replacement of a structure does not qualify as an ordinary repair,” he said.
To erect a new bin, Farmers Grain of Maxwell would need to get the property rezoned to one of two industrial zoning designations the county has, which permit crop processing and storage, Dale said.
The business appealed the determination to the Hancock County Board of Zoning Appeals, which voted unanimously Thursday night in favor of that appeal, allowing the bin replacement to proceed.
Byron Holden, president of the zoning board, views the bin as one component of a larger structure, called a leg, rather than a single structure on its own.
“You’re looking at that one little grain bin as a building, where I might look at the whole leg as one thing,” he said.
Evan Matlock, also a board member, pointed out that the collapsed bin’s footer remains.
“If they’re building it on the existing footer, well, to me that’s just replacing the metal,” he said. “The existing platform that is there to stay is there. It’d be a repair.”
Dennis Shively, part owner and manager of Farmers Grain of Maxwell for 37 years, noted it’s the only grain elevator in the county.
“This grain bin was an important part of our grain-drying capacity,” Shively said. “We need to replace this grain bin in order to continue service to our customers. We also need the capability to replace other grain bins that are similar to reduce the chance of another collapse.”
Farmers Grain was represented by Brianna Schroeder, a lawyer with Indianapolis-based Janzen Schroeder Agricultural Law.
“We’re trying to restore this to its original condition so that it can go back into service and be useful here in the county,” Schroeder said.
The property was zoned with its commercial designation in 2007. Dale said he did not know the reasoning for it, adding it could have been an oversight.
Shively said he’s open to rezoning to an industrial designation that allows crop processing and storage. He and Schroeder fear, however, that it could come with other challenges or an unfavorable outcome. They added it would also require a longer process, something Shively would like to avoid with harvest approaching.
