Council tables Tanners Creek cut‑fill permit after environmental concerns; applicant to return in 30 days

Mayor Kelly Millan and members of the Lawrenceburg City Council on Sept. 15 declined to approve a cut‑fill permit for work at the former Tanners Creek ash site and voted to table the request for 30 days so the city and the project team can answer outstanding technical and public‑safety questions. Developers seeking to close a fly‑ash pond told the council they want to use on‑site borrow material and install a geosynthetic cap, but council members and local environmental representatives said the proposal raised unresolved risks to the local aquifer and to businesses and residents downstream.

The request was introduced by James Kalenda, who identified himself as representing the owner and development team. "We're in front of you tonight, in hopes that the Tanner Creek project can move forward with the cut fill permit," Kalenda said. He and consultant Eric Lang asked the council for clarity so they could proceed with covering exposed geosynthetic liner and completing the landfill closure. Kalenda said the project team has submitted a letter from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) approving use of on‑site borrow and that IDEM comments submitted two months earlier had been addressed.

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