What The Heritage Group Is Claiming
[The Heritage Group / US Aggreg]
[Allen County Council / Allen C]
Permanent jobs
108
One permanent job for every 6.6 acres of rezoned industrial land.
total annual tax revenue
[The Heritage Group / US Aggreg]
$1.1M
$758K (69%) goes to Indiana. Only $330K — 31% — stays in Allen County. Residents bear 100% of the impacts.
annual “economic benefit”
[The Heritage Group / US Aggreg]
$16.4M
Undefined in the filing — likely cost savings that they pass on a small percent to contracts.
What Those Numbers Are Actually Worth
[Allen County Council / Allen C]
[U.S. Bureau of Economic Analys]
Industrial acres per permanent job
[The Heritage Group / US Aggreg]
6.6 ac
710 rezoned acres ÷ 108 jobs. This floodplain land is unsuitable for dense development — its natural value as wetlands, greenspace, and wildlife habitat would serve the community far longer than an 80–100 year extraction operation.
Allen County tax benefit
0.4%
$330k/yr is four tenths of one percent of Allen County’s $79.5M annual levy — and 0.1% of the total county budget.
$16.4M “economic benefit” — share of Allen County GDP
[U.S. Bureau of Economic Analys]
0.07%
Less than a tenth of one percent of Allen County’s $22.7B GDP. The county generates more economic activity than this every 9 days.
What Allen County Stands to Lose
[American Economic Review]
[Journal of Applied Econometric]
Community cost per job
[American Economic Review]
[Journal of Applied Econometric]
$2.14M
$231M in residential losses ÷ 108 permanent jobs. Every job created strips $2.14M in equity from neighboring homeowners.
Residential property value loss
[American Economic Review]
[Journal of Applied Econometric]
$231M
Projected across 5228 single-family homes immediately — based on six peer-reviewed hedonic studies.
Years to cover that loss
700
At the developer’s claimed local tax rate, 700 years of tax revenue just to offset the immediate property loss — a permanent reduction those homeowners will never recoup.
What the Filing Doesn’t Address
Air quality
[U.S. Environmental Protection ]
[U.S. Occupational Safety and H]
[IU Health (via WFFT Fox 55)]
3
Limestone dust (crystalline silica — a known carcinogen), VOC and fine particulate emissions from two asphalt plants, and diesel exhaust from hundreds of daily equipment cycles. IU Health cited these exact conflicts in its public statement opposing the project.
Groundwater dewatering
[Indiana DNR — Division of Wate]
24/7
An open-pit limestone quarry must continuously pump groundwater to keep the pit dry — around the clock for the full operating life. Indiana Code 14-25-4 protects private wells from high-capacity pumpage, but only after affected owners prove the connection following damage.
Permanent land loss
[Journal of Environmental Law &]
[U.S. Environmental Protection ]
Forever
An excavated limestone quarry cannot be restored. The 80–100 year operating life is a floor, not a ceiling. What remains after extraction ends is a permanent void in a floodplain watershed — land that will never return to wetland, greenspace, or habitat.
Four Integrated Operations — All on Homestead Road
524-acre open-pit quarry
Limestone extraction for 80–100+ years. Initial 60-acre pit expanding to 330 acres under this application alone.
186-acre heavy industrial zone
2 asphalt batch plants + 1 concrete batch plant. I3 Intensive Industrial rezoning.
4 × 100ft cement silos
Concrete batch plant at the permitted maximum height. Plus 3 more 100ft loadout silos at the rail facility — 7 in total.
20 × 50–85ft asphalt structures
Per plant: 4 heated bitumen tanks (50ft) + 6 hot-mix silos (85ft). Continuous VOC & odor from both plants combined.
Norfolk Southern rail spur — 3 tracks, ~1.2 mi
Staging track + loadout track (3 × 100ft quick-load silos) + run-around track. Est. up to 2 unit trains/day (140 rail cars) based on infrastructure scale and developer’s regional supply hub statements.
Who’s Opposed
Government
- Fort Wayne City Council — all 9 members
- Mayor Sharon Tucker
- Rep. Phil GiaQuinta & Rep. Kyle Miller
Institutions
- SW Allen County Schools — board resolution
- Lutheran Health Network — CEO/CAO position statement
- IU Health — public statement [IU Health (via WFFT Fox 55)]
- Stillwater Hospice — board resolution
- Aging & In-Home Services of NE Indiana — board resolution
- UAW Local 2209 — 7,000+ members, opposition letter
- Little River Wetlands Project — public statement
- Southwest Conservation Club — board resolution
Business
- D.R. Horton — division president letter
- Waterfield Enterprises — research letter
- Rhinestones & Roses · A Wellness Day Spa
- Oley’s Pizza · Charge Health & Chiropractic
- Indian Creek Veterinary Hospital · The Hive Coffee House
- Fort Wayne Massage Collective
Neighborhood HOAs — Board Resolutions in Opposition
Hamlet East HOA94 homes
Hamlet West HOA92 homes
Prairie Meadows HOA82 homes
The Glens of Liberty Mills HOA224 homes
Forest Ridge Estates HOA118 homes
Brierwood Hills HOA119 homes
Windmore Estates HOA
Gray Fox HOA
Azbury Park HOA
Azbury Woods HOA
Sycamore Hills HOA
Eagle Creek HOA
The Dells of Bittersweet
Saratoga Park Community Association
Southwest Area Partnership
Community Victory
BZA 4–0 Denial · May 26, 2026
The Board of Zoning Appeals voted 4–0 to deny the special use variance (one member absent). Stay engaged — the developer may appeal or reapply. Sign the petition. Read the full impact analysis at noquarryonhomestead.com.
Developer figures are unverified developer projections. [The Heritage Group / US Aggreg] Property value estimates are model projections based on peer-reviewed hedonic studies; no site-specific appraisal conducted. [American Economic Review] [Journal of Applied Econometric] GDP: BEA/FRED, real GDP chained 2017 dollars, Allen County IN 2024. [U.S. Bureau of Economic Analys] County budget: Allen County 2024 Budget Adoption. [Allen County Council / Allen C] Land is “targeted for acquisition.” Four operations: limestone quarry, asphalt plant, concrete batch plant, rail spur.