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Northern Indiana Residents Will Appeal DNR Dam Repair Order

A group of northern Indiana residents plans to appeal a Department of Natural Resources order that requires them to begin repairs on six dams in their neighborhood by the end of the month.

The residents of Hidden Hills in Miami County have consulted engineers who say repairing the dams would cost a quarter of a million dollars per dam.

That cost would be shared among 20 residents and the Miami County government.

The ongoing battle has lasted more than nine months.

Larry West, a Hidden Hills resident and Miami County commissioner, argues the dams are the DNR's responsibility.

He says the law the DNR is citing was created several years after the dams were built.

"They just need to apply some common sense and take a good hard look at it and saying this is what we want done," West says.

Following the appeal, an administrative law judge will hear the case and decide whether the residents' arguments are valid.

DNR officials declined to comment because the case is now a legal matter.