Lincoln County Commissioners approve evening meetings

The Lincoln County Commissioners met Tuesday, April 22 in the Lincoln County Boardroom. With all members present, the commission heard agenda items including a public hearing on pipelines, property abatement, and Commissioner meeting time changes.

The first order of business was a second reading and public hearing for an Ordinance of Lincoln County, SD, amending Chapter 154: Zoning, Section 154.021, Definitions; Section 154.058, Conditional Uses (A-1 Agricultural District); Section 154.178, Conditional Uses (RC Recreation/Conservation District); Section 154.254, Additional Use Regulations; and Section 154.379(A), Notification, for the regulation of carbon oxide pipelines, carbon oxide pump stations, carbon oxide mainline valves, carbon oxide capture facilities, and carbon oxide launcher and receiver facilities. The Planning Commission recommends approval. 

Planning Director, Toby Brown was present to answer questions from the commission and public. 

“What this ordinance proposes to do is to utilize the existing neighborhood facility definition to modify that to exclude carbon oxide pipelines and above ground carbon oxide structures,” he said. 

The ordinance would list the setback requirements for pipeline structures, which can be waved by affected property owners. Brown reported that the Planning Commission proposed a fee to be associated with the carbon oxide pipelines of $5 per lineal foot of pipeline within the county. 

“This is proposing to make carbon dioxide pipelines and above ground structures conditional uses. As you are aware, conditional use permits in Lincoln County are heard and decided by the Planning Commission after a public hearing. If at such time within five days, if there is an appeal that would be filed, then that would come before the Board of Commissioners,” Brown said. 

Chairwoman Tiffani Landeen opened the floor for proponents of the ordinance. 

Tony Ventura was the first to voice his opinion. 

“I would like to thank Commissioners Otten and Putnam in Planning and Zoning, they have done an exceptional job in putting together an ordinance that protects our county and our landowner rights. They used common sense and made necessary adjustments to keep the ball rolling to develop this ordinance,” said Ventura. 

“You will be asking at this point, who showed up at the last planning and zoning hearing to this ordinance to oppose it? The answer is nobody. No other County Commissioners, no representatives from the pipeline company, no lawyers, no one. Another issue I have is there’s been false statements floating around that if we can’t build in these areas because of these maps that are being produced, they’re showing fake numbers and fake science, but everyone knows here that waivers are in place and anything can be built with waivers. But landowners are not always willing to sign waivers when companies are not transparent, fair, and truthful,” Ventura added. 

Two other proponents and two letters echoed Ventura’s statements in asking for the commissioners to sign the ordinance as written. 

With no other proponents, Chairwoman Landeen opened the floor to opponents of the ordinance. With no opponents on the ordinance, Chairwoman Landeen closed testimony and asked commissioners for their thoughts.

“This has been two and a half years in the making. A lot of public testimony and a huge thank you goes out to the people of Lincoln County because this commission, Planning and Zoning, and the public were all involved in this. This was a grassroots driven ordinance from day one. We did listen to what people wanted in Lincoln County and not only did we listen, but we acted by putting this ordinance together,” Betty Otten said.

 A motion to approve the ordinance made by Jim Schmidt, seconded by Otten. Motion carried 3-2 with Landeen and Joel Arends giving the nay votes.

Assistant Commission Administrative Officer, Paul Anderson was present to discuss a notice of Good Earth Farm Bingo per SDCL 22-25-25. 

“This is for Good Earth Farm to host Bingo on Wednesdays in June, July, and August,” Anderson said. 

Chairwoman Landeen asked if there were any questions for staff or the applicant. With no objections, and no action needed, the commission thanked Anderson for collecting the information.

Lincoln County Director of Equalization, Karla Goossen requested board action on application for abatement of property taxes for 2024 taxes payable in 2025 on a parcel in the City of Canton, parcel 200.62.00.001, claim of loss from June 2024 flood. 

“This morning you have a request for a compromise abatement under South Dakota codified law 10-18-2, the county commission may obey or refund taxes under specific circumstances. Subsection 4 addresses situations where loss has occurred due to flood, fire, storm, or other unavoidable casualties. This request pertains to parcel number 200.62.00.001 owned by Creekside Associates LLC, which is seeking an abatement due to damages sustained during the June 2024 flooding event,” she said. 

Goossen asked for direction from the commission on how to proceed. Motion to deny abatement made by Otten, seconded by Schmidt. Motion carried.

Highway Superintendent Terry Fluit requested board action to approve the highway department to purchase off a Brookings County bid for culvert lining. 

“We have three structures that we’re going to be lining this year, hopefully, and the bid will be with Subsurface,” Fluit said. Motion to approve by Arends, seconded by Otten, motion carried.

Chairwoman Landeen requested board discussion and possible action to schedule a Board of Commissioners Regular Meeting in the evening. 

“We have had some requests from the public to do this off and on through the years, so I thought it was a good idea to look at it,” Chairwoman Landeen said. 

Landeen made the suggestion to have an evening meeting at one of the three meetings the commission has each month. 

Commissioner Schmidt believes that an evening meeting would work best if there was a specific topic on the agenda. 

“Maybe instead of a full-blown thing and have people come at night and listening to Terry wanting to buy a culvert, maybe we have a subject that is of great concern to overall Lincoln County. I think the public would have really benefited if they would have listened to the department heads coming in and learning all of the intricacies, which would give the public a chance to really understand how hardworking the staff is,” Schmidt said. 

A motion to move the last meeting of the month to a 6:30 p.m. time was made by Schmidt, seconded by Arends, motion carried.