By Dave Baumeister
County Correspondent
UPDATE 10/5/23:
Editor’s note: This article regarding the Sept. 19 Minnehaha County Commission meeting contained some confusing wording. The second paragraph in the section at the end of the article on the Garretson Sportsman’s Club was not referring to future expansion but refers to previous expansion after a conditional use permit was awarded to the club a few years ago. An adjoining landowner appealed that decision citing safety reasons. However, commissioners felt those concerns were unfounded and voted unanimously to uphold the CUP.
The confusing wording may have been exacerbated with a headline that emphasized an “expansion.”
We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.
SIOUX FALLS – Two public hearings being held at this week’s Minnehaha County Commission meeting brought in several concerned citizens to speak both in favor and against them.
The first concerned a conditional use permit for a “rubble dump” (or, in this case, a tree grinding operation) sought by Mueller Pallets for the land along 267th St. (W. 41st St.) just east of the Sioux Falls Municipal Landfill, located four miles west of Sioux Falls.
The matter was originally denied by the county planning commission last August but had been brought before the Minnehaha County Commission to appeal that decision.
According to county planner Mason Steffen, one of the main concerns that the planning commissions objected to was the increase in traffic along 267th St. just east of the entrance to the landfill.
Mueller Pallets had tried to get the city of Sioux Falls the let them have access along 464th Ave., which is the road that goes to the city landfill, but they refused.
Paul Tschetter, an attorney for Mueller, asked the commission for another deferment, as they wanted to complete a traffic study for the area, and they were also planning to apply for a conditional use permit for land one half mile west of the current proposed location, thus rending the current CUP moot.
This move to the west would also alleviate any traffic congestion around the landfill entrance.
One neighboring resident asked the commission to flatly deny the application, saying that Mueller Pallets has already dragged the matter out too long.
However, while commissioners understood the opponent’s concerns, they felt that the delays were not entirely the fault of Mueller Pallets, as they were at the mercy of a variety of different government agencies that operate on their own schedules.
Commissioner Joe Kippley said he felt a deferment would be a good idea, and that hopefully, the Mueller site would be able to be located to the west, which seemed to be the new preferred site.
“This could be a ‘win-win’ for everybody,” Kippley said.
In the end, commissioners agreed and unanimously decided to defer the matter to their Nov. 7 meeting.
Garretson gun range
In the second CUP, the permit had already been granted by the planning commission, but a neighbor protested the expansion of the Garretson Sportsmen’s Club at 48605 255th St., approximately one and a half miles south of Garretson.
The owners of the club planned on expanding their shooting range, and adjoining landowner Dean Sands didn’t like that idea.
At the meeting, Sands said he had been tracking the number of “ricochets” he heard and felt that one of them could end up heading to a person on his property.
However, Sands had no proof that any bullets had ever come in his direction.
Further, he complained about shooting after hours and after dark, but it was shown that this shooting came from another neighbor’s farmland and not from the Sportsmen’s Club.
Several area shooters did speak in support of the seventy-year-old club.
Commissioners upheld the planning commission’s approval of the club’s expansion.
The next meeting will be on Tuesday, Sept. 26, when county commissioners will take the final vote on the 2024 budget.
That meeting will be held on the third floor of the Minnehaha County Administration building at 6th and Minnesota in Sioux Falls.
