An auto and truck wholesale business is bidding to purchase the Auburn Auction Park in northeastern Indiana, historic site of collector car auctions since 1989, according to a local newspaper report.
The Star, the daily newspaper in nearby Kendallville, Indiana, reports that Fort Wayne Auto Truck Auction seeks to purchase the 150-acre auction venue and to make it the home for its weekly vehicle sales of used vehicles to car dealers.
The newspaper reports that even if the sale goes through on the Auburn Auction Park, RM Auctions would continue to use the site for its twice-a-year collector car sales, and for an annual Fourth of July fireworks display. RM is staging its annual Labor Day weekend sale at the site this weekend.
“The (Fort Wayne) company needs a special zoning exception to sell semi trucks and trailers at the park,” KPCmedia.com reported. “Everything else in its business plan already is permitted by zoning for the property. The Auburn Board of Zoning Appeals heard two hours of testimony for and against the exception Tuesday night (August 27), then tabled any decision until Sept. 4 at 6:30 p.m. in City Hall.
“Without permission to sell semi trucks and trailers, the company likely would not buy the site, said Carl Miskotten, one of three partners in the business,” the newspaper added.
The park was established in 1989 by Dean Kruse and was sold in 2010 to RM Auctions.
“After hearing from the company and worried neighbors, the zoning board decided to wait until next week before making a decision,” the newspaper reported.
“I think this is so important that we should table it,” zoning board member Mary Hohler told the newspaper.“There’s a lot to digest.”
The Star said the Fort Wayne auction company has outgrown its current location. The business would add 50 full-time jobs and 150 part-time positions to the Auburn-area economy.
It stages auctions on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, selling around 250 trucks every other week and 600 cars every week.
Why is it that, if a large and largely negative change is about to be shoved down the local’s throats, the go-to excuse/hype is: jobs! OMG!
Same sort of disingenuous crap was used to justify a refinery adjacent to the Theodore Roosevelt park system here in Western ND. Jobs! No mention of: Truck traffic!
Flaring and fumes! Deteriorated roads! More traffic! Flare light visible all through the wilderness! But jobs! Is there nothing not for sale in modern Amërika?
150 jobs mean a lot to this community right now