Superior Court stops zoning variance for Beaver gravel pit

No gravel pit will be coming to the Cherry Tree Meadows neighborhood in Noblesville, thanks to a court decision in favor of a local group that took the Noblesville Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) and others to court.

On Oct. 2, 2023, in a 3-2 split vote, the Noblesville BZA approved a controversial variance request to conduct sand and gravel extraction near the Cherry Tree Meadows neighborhood by Beaver Materials.

Some residents formed the Hamilton County Neighborhood Preservation Group in order to fight that decision. They hired an attorney and filed suit against that approval in Hamilton County Superior Court.

According to court documents, on Nov. 1, 2023, after exhausting all administrative remedies available with the BZA, the Homeowners filed their Petition for Judicial Review under Indiana Code § 36-7-4-1605.

On Oct. 9, 2024, the Hamilton County Superior Court set aside the 2023 BZA decision.

According to court documents, the BZA approved application BZNA-0070-2023 based upon the following findings of fact:

• The approval will not be injurious to the public health, safety, morals, and general welfare of the community;
• The use and value of the area adjacent to the property included in the variance will not be affected in a substantially adverse manner;
• The need for the proposed variance arises from some condition peculiar to the property involved;
• The strict application of the terms of the zoning ordinance will constitute an unnecessary hardship if applied to the property for which the variance is sought;
• The approval of this variance does not interfere substantially with the provisions of the Comprehensive Master Plan for the City of Noblesville.

The Hamilton County Superior Court ruled against the BZA’s decision on all five requirements, any one of which would have been sufficient to reverse the BZA decision.

You can read the entire BZA Findings of Fact document at tinyurl.com/CherryTreeGravel-FactFindings.

You can read the entire court ruling at tinyurl.com/CherryTreeGravel-CourtRuling.