All the news for the Town of Lapel.
There are currently 2 openings on the Town of Lapel Redevelopment Commission please send or drop off letters of interest at Lapel Town Hall!
Town of Lapel
P.O.Box 999 / 825 N Main Street
Lapel, Indiana 46051-0999
Read moreThere is an opening on the Town of Lapel Park Board please send or drop off letters of interest at Lapel Town Hall!
Town of Lapel
P.O.Box 999 / 825 N Main Street
Lapel, Indiana 46051-0999
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Please see the following images concerning a declaration of local emergency.
Read moreThe next BZA meeting is on October 30, 2023
Dear Lapel residents,
During the last BZA public meeting on October 9, 2023, the BZA continued the review of the LKQ's Special Use application to the next meeting on October 30, 2023, at the Lodge (818 Main Street, Lapel, IN) at 6 p.m. The agenda for this upcoming meeting is located here with the files that were submitted for this case so far by the petitioner, staff and the public.
Note: there was a discrepancy during the hearing of whether the Town of Lapel has or doesn’t have a Wellhead Protection Plan for the well at SR 13. There is a Wellhead Protection Plan that covers the well located by SR 13 and the map for it is uploaded as Exhibit E with the agenda linked above.
While the state law prohibits anyone from contacting BZA members directly with the intent to influence their decision on the applications going through the review, the law allows the staff to submit written files to the BZA at least 5 days before the meeting. If you would like to submit any additional information to the Board before the meeting, please email it to Oksana Polhuy at oksana@lapelindiana.org by 5 pm on October 24th. Please state your name and address in your request. Also, if you have any planning questions regarding this item, feel free to email Ms. Polhuy as well.
Kind regards,
Oksana Polhuy
Planning Administrator
Read moreThe next BZA meeting is on October 9, 2023
Dear Lapel residents,
During the last BZA public meeting on September 18, 2023, the BZA continued the review of the LKQ's Special Use application to the next meeting on October 9, 2023, at the Station at 6 p.m. The attendees requested access to the written information that was submitted to the BZA during the public meeting. The agenda for this upcoming meeting is located here. The files submitted to the BZA by the public and an additional exhibit submitted by the staff during the meeting are attached to this agenda. The staff also added a few files to the applicant's submittal that were submitted by the applicant but were not in the previous online Staff Report file (warranty deeds and the sewer letter).
While the state law prohibits anyone from contacting BZA members directly with the intent to influence their decision on the applications going through the review, the law allows the staff to submit written files to the BZA at least 5 days before the meeting. If you would like to submit any additional information to the Board before the meeting, please email it to Oksana Polhuy at oksana@lapelindiana.org by October 2nd at the latest to allow a few days to consolidate and post files online and send them to the Board members. Also, if you have any planning questions regarding this item, feel free to email Ms. Polhuy as well.
Kind regards,
Oksana Polhuy
Planning Administrator
Read moreAs many may already be aware, since last Thursday several social media accounts have gone “viral” with discussions pertaining to the recent rezone and potential LKQ project that was passed during our most recent Council Meeting.
While several residents of our town have expressed excitement toward the project and the new jobs and tax revenue that the will incur as a result of the project, others disagree and disapprove. Both are completely acceptable reactions to have as everyone is entitled to their own opinions.
What people are not entitled to are their own facts.
Unfortunately, during these past few days, lies, mistruths, accusations of criminal impropriety, false information about environmental disaster, and campaigns filled with reckless disregard of the truth against members of our council and their families have been disseminated.
While we have asked our Legal Team to write an open letter to explain how the entire rezoning process was completely above board, we, the entire council, would also like to take this time to express our shock and disappointment.
The vote was 3-2 in favor. Clearly a split decision. However, we were all able to respect each other’s opinions and civilly disagree.
We implore EVERYONE to please think and consider using more kindness and compassion before you begin lobbing attacks on social media against members of our town. We are all neighbors and we all want what’s best for our town.
Again, we are not saying that we all have to agree on everything, but we believe that we should all be civil towards each other. In 2023, it might be a rarity elsewhere . . . but it’s always been the standard here in Lapel and we certainly don’t wish for a small group of our residents to completely change our culture because they’re unhappy with a legally sound and binding vote.
Please read the attached letter. If you have questions, please feel free to contact any of the five of us.
Respectfully,
The Lapel Town Council
The Town of Lapel website at https://lapelindiana.org has had a makeover, with a lot of enhancements and improvements.
Thanks for stopping by and please Contact Us if you need further assistance.
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Town of Lapel
Natural Gas Price Update
Winter 2022-2023
There are several factors impacting natural gas prices. First and foremost, natural gas prices have been impacted by the Russia/Ukraine conflict. Russia has limited deliveries of natural gas to Europe via the Nordstream pipeline. As of August 31st, Russia is delivering no gas via Nordstream with no date to resume service which should send European price skyrocketing if the outage continues. This has driven natural gas prices for Winter for Europe past $40/Mcf after trading over $100/Mcf…more than ten times the US price! The US is making up some of the shortfall via LNG exports to Europe and other countries. The US can export more than 12 Bcf/day when operating at capacity. Every cubic foot of natural gas that can leave this country will due to the high price overseas market. Natural gas storage is 7.4% (223 Bcf) below last year due to the US using significant natural gas consumption for power generation to meet cooling demands. Natural gas production which most had anticipated to reach 97 Bcf/day, or higher this year has not reached that point. Natural gas production is currently at its highest for the year at/near 96.5 Bcf/day and it just reached these levels after lingering below 94 Bcf/day for most of the year. These factors have allowed natural gas prices to reach 14-year highs.
It's not all bad news for US buyers. The Freeport LNG plant which produces 2.2 Bcf/day remains offline and is currently projected to be back in service no sooner than mid-November and will likely be off longer. That pushes 2.2 Bcf/day into storage until its restart, gas that otherwise would have left the country. The next several weeks we should see strong injections into storage. NOAA just posted their updated forecast on 9/15 forecasting well above normal temperatures for November into December for most of the highly populated (high gas consumption) regions. This would push additional gas into the ground as well and could push prices lower.
The natural gas market remains volatile and we anticipate natural gas costs will be higher than last winter. Prices have somewhat decoupled from the European price and are currently trading well off the recent high prices with only January 2023 delivery trading over $8.00/Mcf on 9/16. It was only a few days ago all of winter was trading over $9.00/Mcf. The long-term outlook depends mostly on the weather trend. We will need a winter of above normal temps as a whole to bring prices down significantly. We will keep you posted on natural gas price expectations as winter nears.
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Please plan to attend a public open house for the Parks and Recreation Master Plan for the Lapel Parks Department and the Thoroughfare Master Plan for the Town of Lapel.
Save the Date
September 1st at the Eagles on 9th St.
6:30PM
For more information visit lapelplanning.wpengine.com
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The annual drinking water quality report for 2021 has now been made available online.
The Town of Lapel is conducting two surveys to inform planning efforts: one for the Lapel Parks and Recreation Master Plan and the other for the Lapel Thoroughfare Plan. You may participate in both surveys or simply complete the one of most interest to you. There is an incentive for you to take both surveys.
For those who complete both surveys, you will be entered into a drawing to receive one of two $50 gift cards to Smoky’s Concession Stand in Downtown Lapel. Please note that town employees, commission members and council members are not eligible for the gift cards. We sincerely look forward to your input and feedback as we work to improve our Town.
The surveys will be live for two weeks. We hope to hear from you soon.
Here’s the link to the Parks and Recreation Master Plan Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/L6CMNSC
Here’s the link to the Thoroughfare Plan survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/KT5PPCN
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Open Letter to Residents Regarding LKQ Rezone
