Cherry County Commissioners Review Judges Ruling

The Cherry County Commissioners held a special meeting Tuesday morning with the main topic to be the recent judge’s ruling concerning the TK Angus hog confinement conditional use permit. District Judge Mark Kozicek ruled the county errored in not granting the permit and must issue the permit.

At today’s meeting, over 50 people attended with many making comments the public comment portion of the meeting. Many concerns were expressed about a possible decrease in property values in the area, possible odor problems, potential tourism affects, and the fact that many felt there was no real representation in the court case expressing their concerns.

After about 30 minutes of public comment, County Attorney Eric Scott advised the board that they had three options. 1) Appeal the judge’s decision, 2) Issue the permit with additional conditions and 3) issue the permit with no additional conditions.

Chairman Mike McConaughey stated that he had contacted three outside attorneys, and all told him it would be unfavorable to appeal.  He went on to say “the letter of the law, is the letter of the law”. Planning and zoning member Shari Bacon reported that the county has already spent over $220,000 in defending lawsuits and the planning and zoning board voted to recommend approval citing that it had met all regulations after reviewing scientific data. Another zoning board member, Marla Shelbourn, speaking on her own behalf, stated that the land use could become compatible with proper conditions.

Commissioner Nina Nelson presented a resolution for consideration that listed 8 additional conditions for the facility. Those would require the structure to be an aerobic covered deep pit, engineering that certified the facility was completed as designed prior to operations, soil tests to set a benchmark completed on each field prior to manure application which would be repeated every 2 years, all manure shall be applied in spring of year within 30 days of growing a crop, estimated nitrogen and phosphorus calculations for planned manure application showing crop rotation and yields, liquid manure shall not be applied in excess of University of Nebraska recommended rates, mortality burial shall have an impervious layer of soil and include a detailed comprehensive animal mortality plan, finally, all manure shall be applied through injection into the ground. TK Angus legal counsel requested additional time to review the document with his clients.

No action was taken today. The commissioners will take up the issue once again at their regular meeting on July 29th at 2pm.