Chillicothe is giving up a decade-old fight against a gravel pit just outside the city's western edge.
An appellate court recently ruled in favor of FLM Enterprises operation off Truitt Road, citing a letter sent by a county zoning employee verifying a '70's-era noncompliant use permit for the agricultural land was still valid.
Mayor Don White said it would cost $25,000 to $30,000 to ask the appellate court to reconsider or send it up to the Illinois Supreme Court, and the county was no longer willing to back a cause where it saw little chance for legal success, thanks to what White calls a "damning letter."
"At this point, you have to sort of accept the fact there's going to be a gravel pit out there, and then work toward the best angle in the whole situation," he said.
White said the gravel pit limits Chillicothe's future residential development. The city is essentially landlocked in other directions by the Illinois River to the east, Three Sisters Park to the south, and a railroad viaduct to the north.
For now, he said FLM should establish a visual buffer wall around the gravel pit, and said the company to formulate a remediation plan for the land after the pit closes.
