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DAKOTA COUNTY PLANNING & ZONING: April 15, 2008
The regular meeting of the Dakota County Planning and Zoning Commission was called to order at 7:00 P.M. by President Joe O’Neill and the Pledge of Allegiance was said by all. Present were: Jim Crosgrove, Dick McCabe, Jim Jepsen, Neil Miller, Joe O’Neill, and Martin Rohde. Also present: Planning and Zoning Administrator Dennis Reinert, Dakota County Commissioner Jackie Hartnett.
Moved by Jim Jepsen , second by Martin Rohde to approve the minutes of the March 2008 meeting. Motion carried.
Christy Quinn was present from SIMPCO to discuss doing a map study for Dakota County. In the State of Nebraska, in order for Dakota County to change any kind of zoning, it needs to be included in our Comprehensive Plan. The Comprehensive Plan for Dakota County is 11 years old. The portion dealing with land use and maps is only about 1 paragraph. So if Dakota County is looking into doing any rezoning with our maps, that part of the Comprehensive Plan would have to be changed to be utilized in the State of Nebraska. With the Comprehensive Plan being 11 years old, it should all be updated. It should be looked at every year to be revised and to see what goals and objectives have been accomplished. The entire Comprehensive Plan should be updated every 5 years. The Comprehensive Plan should show existing land use, future land use and maps showing both. In the State of Nebraska, you can’t do any mapping and change your zoning unless it is included in your Comprehensive Plan. A Comprehensive Plan is also necessary for quite a bit of State and Federal funding. With an old Comprehensive Plan, we can still plan and put together maps, but to adopt them and put them in force, we need to have them in our Comprehensive Plan. A new Comprehensive Plan costs a lot of money, but there is a grant available to help pay for some of it. It generally takes a year to 14 months to complete a Plan and approximately $14,000. There is grant money available that will pay 47% of the Economic Development part of it and once it is done, a yearly update would be about $200 to $300. The board members stated that they had started on a Comprehensive Plan Draft a few years ago and that it might be easier to look into that and update and adopt that version.
Next on the agenda was discussion of swine mortality composting facilities. Adam would prefer to use composting instead of burying the animals. Right now, Adam has a 30 foot trench, 15 foot deep that he is putting the dead animals in. If Adam used a rendering service, the rendering truck would not be allowed within a half mile of his swine feeding operation per his contract with his Producers. Adam would have to haul the dead animals to the highway and wait for them to be picked up. After much discussion and input from Adam Beerman, the board is letting Adam Beerman experiment with different composting plans. The Planning Commission would like to have feedback and documentation on his progress. Dennis will consult the County Attorney on this issue. Jackie stated that it would be nice to have a composting plan in place based on what is working for Adam to help ensure that people will be doing it correctly.
Next on the agenda is Bill Haafke selling his mother’s acreage at the Junction of Hwy 35 and 110. He is selling off 2.16 acres. The Planning board stated that they did not have a problem with that. Bill stated that he will be getting an easement from the new owners to get into the field there and a shed that the owners have given him permission to use.
Jackie left the meeting at 8:00 P.M.
The next item on the agenda was the election of the officers. The Board wants to look into having the Road Department secretary take the minutes at the meeting. If she can’t make it to a meeting, have the meeting recorded and take minutes from that with additional help from some of the board members if needed. Dennis will look into asking her about filling in when possible to take minutes. Neil Miller made a motion, second by Jim Crosgrove to table the election of officers until next meeting since 3 members were missing.
Jim Jepsen brought up the issue of buying wind rights. Nebraska is the 6th state in line for having the most wind. The community needs to be aware of potential buyers in the state of Nebraska and warned against selling their wind rights. You can sell them, but the seller must be cautious in the process.
Moved by Neil Miller , second by Gene Cantrell to adjourn. Motion carried. Meeting was duly adjourned at 8:16 P.M. Respectfully submitted,
Jolene Gubbels
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