HomeMy WebLinkAboutLand Conservation Committee - Minutes - 1/6/2015
Our Mission: To assist the public in protecting, enhancing, and restoring the natural resources of Bayfield County
Bayfield County Land & Water Conservation Department
615 2nd Ave. East; PO Box 126
Washburn, WI 54891
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Phone: (715) 373-6167 FAX: (715) 373-6127 Website: www.bayfieldcounty.org
MINUTES
January 6, 2015 (to be approved)
1. Call to Order of Public Hearing: Chairman Jardine called the public hearing to order at 1:58 pm.
2. Roll Call: Bichanich, Bussey, Jardine, Pocernich, Rondeau, Strand and Pete Tetzner. Greg Tetzner was absent
for roll call; however he arrived 3 minutes later at 2:01 pm.
Others present: Director of Land & Water Conservation, Ben Dufford, Director of Planning and Zoning, Rob
Schierman, Jennifer Croonborg-Murphy, AZA, Travis Tulowitzky, Conservation Technician, Jason Fischbach,
UW-Ext Ag Agent, Anne Leafblad, Clerk of Land & Water Conservation, Mark Abeles-Allison, County
Administrator.
3. Livestock Regulations and Ordinances: Mark Abeles-Allison started the meeting off by giving introductory
information on livestock regulations. He shared that an Iowa livestock company has purchased 560 acres of
land in the Town of Eileen with the intent of starting a hog farm operation. At present, CAFO’s (Concentrated
Animal Feeding Operations) are regulated under state statues, impacting animal operations over 1,000 animal
units. Local ordinances such as manure storage and siting ordinances can be passed for livestock operations
less than 1,000 animal units. Local ordinances can regulate certain aspects of CAFO’s that aren’t regulated by
DNR permit, such as odor and setback controls. Abeles-Allison shared that the Iowa livestock company has
recently submitted a CAFO permit with the DNR to operate in Bayfield County. He then reviewed a series of
public presentations and events that have happened thus far in Bayfield County regarding livestock
ordinances, leading up to today’s public hearing and joint committee meeting between the Bayfield County
Land Conservation Committee and the Planning & Zoning Committee.
4. Public Hearing – Chairman Jardine reviewed the procedure of the public hearing. He explained that each
person will be limited to 3 minutes, and invited anyone who wished to speak to come forward to the podium,
state their name, and speak into the microphone.
The following people came forward to give input to committee members regarding livestock regulations
and ordinances:
(Unsure of spelling on some names because not everyone signed in during the public hearing portion)
Scott Griffiths, Washburn Mayor; environmental concerns, pro-countywide ordinance
Terry Torkko, Town Chair of Town of Eileen; slow down ordinance passage, pro-economic effects of CAFO
Steve Barnes; MRSA concerns, pro-countywide ordinance
Nancy Sellung; MRSA concerns, public health concerns, no position on ordinance
Chad Abel, biologist for Red Cliff tribe; public health and environmental concerns, pro 2 yr moratorium, no
position on ordinance
Tony Janisch, Director of Bad River Watershed Association; environmental concerns, pro-ordinance
Sarah Martinez; public health and safety concerns; for countywide ordinance
Dr. John Stewart; human health concerns, no position on ordinance
Tom Galazen, farmer in the Town of Bayfield; air and water quality concerns, pro-countywide ordinance
Jeff Solberg; environmental concerns, 2 month moratorium, pro-countywide ordinance
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Max Carl; animal concerns, health concerns, environmental concerns
Frank Koehne; concerned about pig farmers integrity, pro-countywide ordinance
Marilyn Wilson; environmental concerns, lack of regulations, pro-countywide ordinance
Richard Kettring; revisit moratorium, environmental concerns, pro-countywide ordinance
Jeremy Oswald , President of City Council in Washburn; climate change, environmental concerns, no
position on ordinance
Beth Raboin, Red Cliff Treaty of Natural Resources Division; environmental concerns, 2 yr moratorium, no
position on ordinance
[Chairman Jardine asked if anyone else wished to speak. No response. He asked again if anyone wished to
speak. Again, no response. Chariman Jardine called for a break at 2:50 pm.
Meeting reconvened at 3:00 PM]
Chairman Jardine asked again if anyone else had comments to make. No response.
Discussion ended.
5. Adjournment of Public Hearing:
Rondeau made a motion to adjourn public hearing, Pocernich seconded. Motion carried.
Adjourned at 3:00 pm.
6. Call to Order of Business Meeting: Chairman Jardine called the meeting to order at 3:00 pm.
7. Roll Call: Bichanich, Bussey, Jardine, Pocernich, Rondeau, Strand and Pete Tetzner, Greg Tetzner—all
present.
Others present: Director of Land & Water Conservation, Ben Dufford, Director of Planning and Zoning,
Rob Schierman, Jennifer Croonborg-Murphy, AZA, Travis Tulowitzky, Conservation Technician, Anne
Leafblad, Clerk of Land & Water Conservation, Jason Fischbach, UW-Extension Ag Agent, Mark Abeles-
Allison, County Administrator.
8. Discussion and Possible Action of State of Wisconsin Model Livestock Siting Ordinance/Bayfield County
Specific Considerations
Chairman Jardine explained that he wanted to start off the business meeting by discussing possible
proposals Bayfield County could consider adopting. He asked Rob Schierman from the Planning & Zoning
Department to share his knowledge of this topic. Schierman explained that the County has zoning
districts, and there is a specific agriculture zoning district. The scope is very limited in what setbacks the
Zoning Department has control over. Their area of expertise isn’t agriculture or nutrient management,
but has to look at it in what zoning can address based on what ATCP 51 allows. Whether any language is
adopted today by an ordinance, it will have to be amended by the Bayfield County Planning & Zoning
committee based on state regulations. He encouraged the Towns to contact the Zoning office, but
suggested people talk to the LWCD regarding the agricultural nature of this issue. Bill Bussey asked for
clarification on the livestock siting law and re-zoning of agriculture districts based on size, and Schierman
explained that he cannot impose zoning districts without the consent of individual landowners to re-zone
their property.
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Ben Dufford from LWCD expressed that this has all happened very fast. He referenced that the state has
a model livestock siting ordinance, and that Bayfield County could possibly adopt a similar ordinance
which addresses setbacks for non-CAFO’s and CAFO’s. He explained that siting primarily deals with
setbacks and odor management, and that the state has data sheets for current producers to receive an
‘odor score’ that the must meet of 500, which most can and do meet.
Abeles-Allison wanted to talk about some discretionary items in the model livestock siting ordinance.
Chairman Jardine asked for Jason Fischbach to come sit with committee members so he could share his
expertise. Fischbach stated this model does not apply in municipalities unless it is adopted as an
ordinance, and said it could be modified if it is made less stringent, but cannot be made more stringent.
Abeles-Allison asked for clarification on the 500 animal-unit numbers, which is also a discretionary topic,
and Fischbach stated you could have a higher limit than the model ordinance, but not a lower limit with
respect to the siting ordinance. Bussey suggested that we are confronted with an unprecedented
situation, and that there are no farms in Bayfield County that are beyond the 500 animal unit limit, and
that the proposed CAFO is 12 times larger than what we’ve dealt with. Bussey explained that since this
CAFO is coming from Iowa, they must be used to complying with such regulations. He suggested that the
regulations we’re talking about here in Bayfield County surely should be modest compared to those
compliance regulations in Iowa, and we need to have something on the books here. He doesn’t think it’s
unreasonable to ask them to have a nutrient management plan. He expressed that there should be
something in place to regulate this, as others may follow. He stated the committee needs to look out for
those in Bayfield County, especially because this is largely a tourism destination, and we need to do
justice for our constituents. Jardine asked for clarification on the animal unit threshold Bussey is
suggesting compliance for, and Bussey stated that he wants the ordinance to specifically address farming
operations over 500 animal units, so that it would address CAFO’s which are over 1,000 animal units,
even though the County would primarily be regulating setbacks and odor provisions.
Chairman Jardine asked for recommendation from the committee on how to proceed. Bussey
suggested that he wanted to continue the discussion and come back to this, but move on to the
other discussion items next on the agenda. Chairman Jardine agreed to this.
9. Discussion and Possible Action regarding examination of other counties Manure Storage Ordinances.
Dufford shared that 62/72 counties in WI have taken actions to address manure storage ordinances,
some with little compliance requirements and some with stringent regulations. He referenced the Rusk
County Ordinance which Bayfield County could look at possibly adopting. The Rusk County ordinance
addresses the construction of new or expanding manure storage pits based on NRCS or state technical
standards, and also the closing of pits not in production. Rob Schierman wanted to clarify the amounts of
animal waste the proposed CAFO could produce, and referenced that the animal waste statistics brought
up earlier in the public hearing were inaccurate. Jason Fischbach stated that based on the size of the
proposed CAFO and number of animal units, it would produce approx. 6.2 million gallons of manure per
year. Schierman clarified that Bayfield County pumps out 12 million gallons of waste per year—excluding
sanitary districts (not 3 counties worth as was suggested in the public hearing). Jardine expressed that
local farmers are already voluntarily installing manure pits and manure storage systems on their farms.
Bussey expressed concerns that if we impose regulations on manure management, we should consider
how it affects our smaller, local farming community. Dufford stated that he wants to be very careful with
how quickly the County proceeds with these regulations, as they have had nothing but good things
happening with the local farmers and voluntary nutrient management. Dennis Pocernich raised the
question of who would regulate the manure storage administration of the ordinance—Dufford stated
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that typically the Land Conservation Department of a county does, along with administering an
application and permit fee.
[The committee returned to discussing item #8 on the agenda.]
Bussey motioned that the committee recommend to the County Board at their next meeting in
January to adopt the State of Wisconsin Model Livestock Siting Ordinance with the maximum setbacks of
500+ animal units, seconded by Pocernich. Discussion followed regarding a manure storage ordinance and
if that would cover what is not addressed in the livestock siting ordinance. Roll Call Vote: Planning & Zoning
Committee: Rondeau-yes; Jardine-yes; Bussey-yes; Pocernich-yes; Strand-yes. Land Conservation
Committee: Jardine-yes; Bichanich-yes; Pocernich-yes; Bussey-yes; P.Tetzner-yes; G.Tetzner-yes.
Motion carried. Unanimous.
10. Discussion and Possible Action on developing a combination ordinance with language pertinent to both
Livestock Siting and Manure Storage; Burnett County Animal Waste and Livestock Facility Management
Ordinance.
[The committee returned to item #9 on the agenda.]
Discussion continued about manure storage ordinances. Pocernich explained that he wanted to refer to
the expertise of Ben Dufford, Director of the Land & Water Conservation Department to address this
topic. Pocernich recommended that the topic of a manure storage ordinance be sent back to the Land
Conservation Committee for further discussion. Stand also agreed that he wants to see the LWCD discuss
a manure ordinance to bring back to the committee, and eventually the County Board.
Strand motioned to send the topic of a manure storage ordinance back to the Land Conservation
Committee. Bichanich seconded. No further discussion. Roll Call Vote: Planning & Zoning Committee:
Rondeau-yes; Jardine-yes; Bussey-yes; Pocernich-yes; Strand-yes. Land Conservation Committee: Jardine-
yes; Bichanich-yes; Pocernich-yes; Bussey-yes; P.Tetzner-yes; G.Tetzner-yes. Motion carried. Unanimous.
11. Discussion and Possible Action on Aerial spraying/application of liquid manure
Pocernich wanted clarification on definition of aerial spraying. Discussion was had on the definition and
function of center pivot or traveling guns. Bussey stated that this is not a widespread practice in WI,
however his concern is that right now by state law we are constricted with how this can be addressed.
The severity of odor from these operations is a legitimate concern.
Bussey motioned to recommend to the County Board to adopt a similar ordinance based on the
Town of Sevastopol, which restricts aerial spraying, and to include specific definitions of aerial spraying
and its use for animal waste. Pocernich seconded. Discussion followed about getting the Town of
Sevastopol ordinance document and other example ordinances distributed to the entire County Board
prior to their January 2015 meeting. Roll Call Vote: Planning & Zoning Committee: Rondeau-yes; Jardine-
yes; Bussey-yes; Pocernich-yes; Strand-yes. Land Conservation Committee: Jardine-yes; Bichanich-yes;
Pocernich-yes; Bussey-yes; P.Tetzner-yes; G.Tetzner-yes. Motion carried. Unanimous.
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12. Discussion and Possible Action on Committee Members discussion(s) regarding matters of Land & Water
Conservation and/or Planning and Zoning (e.g. timeline, organizational responsibility).
Dufford stated that this agenda item was already discussed earlier in the meeting, and mentioned that
agenda item #9 regarding the manure storage ordinances will be sent back to the Land Conservation
Committee for further discussion.
No action taken.
13. Adjournment
Chairman Jardine called adjournment at 3:53 pm.
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