Public offers comments for, against proposed Dundy County feedlot

Residents of the area have kept the roads hot as they’ve traveled to Benkelman and Imperial for public hearings concerning the proposed 100,000-head Blackshirt Feeders feedlot in Dundy County.
The Dundy County Planning Commission held its public hearing Feb. 1 and the Upper Republican Natural Resource District heard public comments at a Feb. 8 meeting.
The feedlot would sit on the south side of the Dundy and Chase County line at Ave 334 and Road 726.
It would be in the Chase County Schools and fire districts.
The Dundy County Planning Commission approved Blackshirt Feeders’ conditional use permit with stipulations on Feb. 1.
The URNRD denied a variance from Blackshirt Feeders in December. At-large member Brock Stromberger asked that the variance be put back on the Feb. 8 agenda. The variance was sent back to the URNRD variance committee and will be heard again with stipulations at a March 1 URNRD meeting.
The URNRD also heard a presentation about the facility and discussed its water needs. No action was taken on the matter.
The Dundy County Commissioners discussed the project at their Feb. 7 meeting and set March 16 at 1:30 p.m. for their public hearing.
One of the stipulations suggested by the Dundy County’s Planning and Zoning Consultant Keith Marvin and added by the planning commission was a road contract between Blackshirt Feeders and each county.
According to the Benkelman Post, that stipulation garnered the most discussion at the Dundy County Commissioners meeting.
An all-weather surface road on the three miles from Highway 61 together with Chase County was discussed, but Marvin cautioned the commissioners about being too specific when all they need to approve is a road contract.
The Post reported the Dundy County Commissioners asked if “they could remove mention of Chase County from the stipulations, since they have no jurisdiction over their neighbor’s county businesses. Marvin said they could, but warned them that could lead to lawsuits.”
Commissioner Scott Olsen questioned the stipulation concerning no land application of manure for fertilizer on frozen ground. Olsen said dried manure is best applied to frozen ground, noting wet manure would not spread well when frozen.
The stipulation about needing the Natural Resources District’s approval was also questioned.
Further discussion will take place at the Dundy County Commissioners’ meeting Feb. 21.
Public comments
Seventeen members of the public supported the feedlot at the Dundy County hearing.
Jason Frederick, Dundy County Stratton Schools Board president and president of the Chamber of Commerce, said chamber members feel the feedlot will help downtown and county-wide businesses.
Frederick pointed out the county’s population decline and the drop in enrollment from 405 to 282 students at DCS. He said he believes the feedlot will be the shot in the arm the county, schools and communities need.
Ben Blecha said he moved his business to McCook because it was easier to hire a staff.
If 85 employees brought 85 spouses with them, Blecha said it could be the employee base needed to bring his business back to his hometown.
Blecha said enough time and effort has gone into the project that “it’s going in around here somewhere” and Dundy County should see the benefits.
Brad Wiese said Lincoln and Omaha are running the state, but this is “up to us.”
Wiese encouraged the board to do what is right for Dundy, Chase and Perkins counties, saying something needs to be done or the area will lose out on everything.
People voicing their support from outside the area included Steve Martin, executive director for the Alliance for the Future of Agriculture in Nebraska; Kris Bousquet, executive director of the Nebraska State Dairy Association; and Jacy Hauge, Director of Government Affairs for Nebraska Cattlemen.
Those comments were followed by 14 from neutral parties.
Dick Parman reminded the planning committee that Blackshirt Feeders has the burden to meet the guidelines of the committee, the NRD and NDEE. If they meet those requirements, the committee should tell the commissioners to approve and, if they don’t they should not approve the application.
Wanda Parman asked how the feedlot would affect land taxes.
Ann Post, a lawyer for Blackshirt Feeders, said it should increase real estate values around its location. Although there’s been discussions with the county assessor, they don’t know for sure what will happen.
Jim Haarberg said its already hard to find enough employees and finding family units is tough.
Temporary agricultural workers on H-2A visas were brought up. When later questioned outside of the meeting, Behlke said he didn’t know if Blackshirt Feeders would bring in workers on visas or not.
Jim Lutz brought up the quality and maintenance of the roads in the county, a concern echoed by many of the people against the feedlot.
Lori Ripley spoke against the feedlot. Ripley and her husband live 30 feet outside the setbacks.
Ripley said the roads are already “horrific”  and worried about what would happen with the predicted traffic.
Shona Heim expressed concerns about Chase County roads  and recommended a road contract with the county. Heim said the facilities’ concrete lots may keep the dust down, but the trucks coming and going from the facility will kick up a lot of it.
With his residence in Chase County sitting a quarter of a mile from the feedlot, Jayden Maris addressed the crowd and the committee with his concerns for the welfare of his family, from his family’s water quality to their safety on the roads with that much truck traffic.
Concerns for the area’s groundwater were expressed at the Dundy County meeting and carried over to the NRD meeting.
Wayne Haarberg, who farms land adjacent to the proposed site with his brother, asked questions of both boards.
In Benkelman, Haarberg had concerns about Avenue 334, a road they use to access their fields and would run down the middle of the facility, being closed.
Haarberg pointed out that, due to its proximity, Imperial is more likely to see an increase in population.
Haarberg’s questions ranged from the demographics of employees to who would monitor the feedlot’s capacity to what would happen if runoff polluted his land below the feedlot.
In speaking to the URNRD board, Haarberg said there’s no safe place in the district anymore.
The URNRD board needs to act on both a variance to transfer water from north of Benkelman 17 miles to rangeland south of the proposed site and also on a water allotment for the facility.
Haarberg, who said he opposed another transfer in the area, expressed concern about faster draw downs, pumping costs and future development.
Haarberg asked why should they save their own water when transfers keep going through and they could develop their own half circle.
Ron Berry said his windmill 300 yards from the proposed site is already cased to 193 feet with no water producing material after 200 feet. Berry said he was concerned for the water rights of his kids.
In Maris’ comments to the URNRD board, he said there was four feet of water when a new well was drilled at his residence in March 2021 compared to 20 feet when a well was put in on that site in 1978.
Maris said it’s not fair to take away the hard work of people who have tried to conserve water.
Other local residents commented that their wells are already suffering without the addition of new wells for the feedlot and expressed their displeasure over the transfer and the revisiting of a variance that had already been voted down.