The Monroe County Planning Department is reviewing a permit for logging a tract of more than 230 acres of private property along the Lake Monroe shoreline.
Planning Department Director Larry Wilson says a state regulation prohibits local officials from stopping logging on private property unless it's in a residential area.
The Plan Commission notified the property owner William J. Huff and the logging company Ohio River Veneer LLC that they cannot grant a logging permit until the use of the necessary easements are allowed or a court order declares the proposed logging activities are permitted. The area Huff wants to log is near South Shad Side Drive.
In order to begin logging on the land, the owner would need to use easements as entry and exit points for the logging operation. Some neighbors have contacted the Plan Commission saying they think the language in the Grant of Easements does not allow for logging activies.
The Army Corps of Engineers owns the lake and the land up to a certain point. As long as the property owner doesn't remove trees past that line, the federal government has no jurisdiction to prohibit the logging operation.
Wilson says the logging company is required to follow the best management practices set out by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
Once the permit is granted, it will be valid for the next two years.
Tyler Lake contributed to this story.