The Hamlet Town Board took action last night to draft a letter to the Starke County Plan Commission and the Starke County Board of Commissioners expressing its support of a county zoning ordinance, adopted last fall, providing the City of Knox and the Towns of North Judson and Hamlet with a two-mile buffer zone concerning such agricultural projects as the proposed 8,000-head hog raising project south of Hamlet.
One interpretation of the current ordinance is that the Town of Hamlet had not taken action to support the two-mile buffer zone adopted by the county on Sept. 21, 2015, and thus were not included in the ordinance’s enforcement provision.
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management has not yet taken action on the agricultural project.
It is not expected to do so until early April.
The Town Board meeting room was packed to standing room only. Most present were residents of the Town of Hamlet or the Hamlet area opposing the hog project. Josh Lawrence, representing the firm planning the farm animal operation, reported methods of odor control and air quality that are expected to be used once the project is operational.
In other action the Board set the weekend of April 28-30 for its annual town-wide yard sale.
