By Dave Baumeister
County Correspondent
SIOUX FALLS – This week, the Minnehaha County Commission once again revisited the issue of a conditional use permit for a tree grinding operation with Mueller Pallets of rural Sioux Falls.
And after over an hour of public testimony, again, the matter was delayed, although not due to governmental issues, but to the absence of Commission Chair Jean Bender.
While the commission still had a quorum for the meeting, the even number of commissioners deadlocked approving or denying the CUP.
In past months, variations of this issue have been heard several times by both the planning commission and the county commission.
In August, Mueller put their plans on hold for the tree grinding operation located just east of the Sioux Falls Municipal Landfill at the intersection of 267th St. (W. 41st St.) and 464th Ave.
At that location, the entrance to the landfill and the Mueller operation would have been right next to each other, although Mueller looked at a different location after the city of Sioux Falls refused to let them put in a driveway entrance on 464th Ave., which is the road that leads to the landfill.
At that time, a big concern of the neighboring landowners was the traffic of large trucks that would be turning into both the landfill and the Mueller locations, even though it had been unanimously approved by the planning commission.
But this public hearing for the CUP was for a location one mile west at the intersection of 267th St. and 463rd Ave.
While a room full of people against the new grinding site gathered, Paul Tschetter, attorney for Mueller Pallets, pointed out that this new site was much farther away from the nearest neighbor, and a mile west of what had been cited as a problematic traffic area at the entrance to the landfill.
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