CANTON, SD The Lincoln County Fee was pressured to submit its vote on a allow for a proposed milk condensing plant after a swarm of public feedback triggered the assembly to overlap with one other public assembly.
9 residents consumed roughly 54 minutes of their time on the Lincoln County Commissions assembly on Tuesday, April 25, talking in opposition to approving the present conditional use allow type for a milk condensing plant in southwest County Lincoln.
The general public remark interval lasted so lengthy that the committee was pressured to adjourn with no vote on the matter at 10:07 am seven minutes after the beginning of a daily assembly of the Equalization Board.
The argument got here earlier than the county fee following a March 20 unanimous attraction by planning and zoning commissions to approve a conditional use allow for Mikota Holdings’ proposed development of a milk condensing plant in block 29000 of 468th Avenue in rural Centerville.
In line with Tim den Dulk, head of Mikota Holdings, the condensing plant would course of uncooked milk from close by Dakota Plains and Mount Hope dairies and separate water, cream and skim earlier than passing it by way of a sequence of filters. The ultimate product leads to about 30% much less product quantity and the separated water could be reused within the dairies, additionally owned by den Dulk and his son Tim Jr.
Toby Brown, county planning director, stated the newest plans for the ability name for a 47,000-square-foot, 31-foot-tall construction with a number of silos reaching 88 ft excessive.
Throughout Tuesday’s public listening to, appellant Bethany Erck, who lives a couple of half-mile south of the proposed plant, addressed the fee with 95 signatures from close by residents who objected to the choice, in addition to settlements she stated she might win again the favor of some residents.
Screenshot / Lincoln County through YouTube
The letter reads:
I do not need a milk condensing plant in our space. I object to guard myself, my household and my neighbors from risks to well being, security and the enjoyment of rightfully owned property. I’m involved concerning the mild, odor, water and air air pollution this facility will create now, in addition to the cumulative influence sooner or later. I’m involved concerning the improve in visitors and street degradation in our county and municipality, the degradation of property values, the prices of environmental remediation, and the general discount within the high quality of lifetime of residents. Please deny this permission and, if this can’t occur, set up cheap circumstances to guard residents from the adverse impacts described above.
In all probability probably the most impassioned speech got here from Brooklyn Township officers Steve Holmberg and Duane Carlson, who stated Mikota Holdings and their contractors had severely broken township streets on a number of events and even violated South Dakota legislation with their conduct. .
We Oppose Conditional Use Allow The explanation the Metropolis of Brooklyn opposes this allow is due to points we have had with den Dulk amenities prior to now, Holmberg stated. We’re speaking roads once more right here, they have been slicing silage in preparation for the dairy to reach. On the day in query, it rained an inch and a half within the morning, and within the afternoon they have been out slicing silage and digging deep trenches in our roads.
Screenshot / Lincoln County through YouTube
Holmberg stated the trenches on this case have been about 10 inches deep and that massive chunks of mud from the sector had additionally been swept onto the roadway.
They took it upon themselves to return and shove that mud into the ditches of our township after which put some poor high quality sandy gravel within the tracks. I used to be referred to as by an area resident telling me he had virtually had an accident, he recalled. I went to have a look at the street and noticed that they have been going to attempt to repair it. I then referred to as Tim den Dulk Jr. and instructed him this isn’t acceptable.
If anybody have been to be injured in an accident, Holmberg stated, the municipality could be accountable. Subsequently, Holmberg stated the municipality ought to be answerable for repairing the roads.
Along with that instance, Carlson shared a sequence of photographs with the fee depicting bent cease indicators, stamped right-of-way, entrenched streets, broken culverts, and utilizing a scraper on a metropolis road with no allow. She stated that within the fall of 2019, as many as 60 a great deal of manure have been pushed onto a street in in the future with out warning, inflicting the identical influence as tens of 1000’s of vehicles.
When requested about this and once they talked about it, they referred us to their contractors they usually did not take accountability for themselves, Carlson stated, but when they do contract transportation, manure dealing with and assortment, they need to be held accountable for all of this.
One other vital downside, Carlson stated, was a semi-truck and trailer that was caught by a citizen carrying a tower of some type over a county bridge, which Carlson stated was a violation of load limits.
Screenshot / Lincoln County through YouTube
Holmberg added that in October 2021 he was requested by den Dulks if a contractor might set up a culvert on a metropolis road. After informing den Dulks that the work would require a allow and different approvals, Holmberg traveled to the positioning of the proposed culvert to seek out that the contractor had already put in it.
Holmberg stated the work was believed to have been accomplished in violation of South Dakota legislation, which outlines a number of the processes by which culvert installations might be accomplished.
I’m very involved that there might be a tragic accident solely lord is aware of as there hasn’t been a number of up till this level. A number of folks have instructed me about close to misses and accidents, Holmberg stated. If you happen to’re questioning why Brooklyn Township is a little bit skeptical of a number of the issues these persons are doing, here is why. I do not assume the den Dulks and their operations have been truthful to the borough of Brooklyn or the residents and group.
Screenshot / Lincoln County through YouTube
Through the March 20 assembly of the Planning and Zoning Committee, Holmberg spoke to specific his need for extra cooperation and communication between Mikota Holdings and Brooklyn Township earlier than the conditional use allow is authorized. When requested if the township has met with the den Dulks since then, Holmberg stated a gathering had not but been organized.
Issues about Brooklyn Townships streets took up the overwhelming majority of Tuesday’s fee assembly, with many different residents echoing the issues of Holmberg and Carlson.
Paul Kostboth, who spoke on behalf of the den Dulk household, stated the den Dulks had pledged to sit down down with council to debate street offers and that the household could be blissful to take care of that dedication to resolve challenges with circumstances street.
He added that the condensing plant would truly scale back truck visitors on township roads from about 14 vans a day to 5 and a half, although den Dulk acknowledged in March that these figures might rise, because the plant would function at about half capability at its launch.
Contributed / County of Lincoln
Den Dulk, who attended by phone, didn’t communicate on his personal behalf at Tuesday’s assembly because the Commissioners abruptly ended the remark interval simply earlier than 10:00
With the urgency to clear the county assembly room for the opposite beforehand scheduled assembly, the committee voted unanimously to renew listening to feedback at its subsequent assembly on Might 9.
