Zoning Board of Adjustment - Regular Meeting

Which one? I've been through two of them already. Okay. Welcome to the Mills County Zoning Board of Adjustment. Can I get a roll call, please?

Collins. Volka.

Here.

Light.

Here. Gentlemen. Here. Evans. Here. Thank you. Can I get a current meeting agenda? Can I get an approval of the current meeting agenda? I'll make a motion to approve. second motion second thank you can i get a review and action and approval of the previous meeting minutes the past meeting i'll take a motion to approve i'll second thank you all right i'm going to skip the public hearing chairman statement aloud and tonight's first item of business is the discussion formal action Discussion and formal action of conditional use permit 2607 for the proposed light industrial use nylon rod construction located at TBD 215th Street Pacific Junction in Lyons Township in the A district, the agricultural district. If the applicant's ready, they can come up and give their presentation. Yep.

So basically what I want to try to do is, as you can see the instructions there on the basically on the footer, And what I'm going to do is this is the material that's going to be running through that extruder that will kind of produce these two products, basically from nylon rock. These products will be extruded about eight feet in length. And they're primarily used in the ag business. They're usually kind of in the pieces as well and shipped out for companies, et cetera. But I'm not going to be doing that. That takes a CNC machine in far greater capacity. All I'm going to do is just make these and make those sections.

So you guys got Jeff's resume, I think, in that packet. So Jeff's been in, you know, PVC. He started working and he's managed a couple different factories. We were proactive. We talked to all the neighbors. So we've talked to Bartlett Hills. We've talked to Chris up on the hill in Lee Daxner's little place. I talked to Robbie Daxner, Walt, who lives in the rental house. And Robbie Daxner was with Sergeant. So we've talked to most neighbors. So years ago, Heather and I inherited this building. We've used it for storage. Jeff's company has lines that can make more money than this. And so it got removed from his factory. He still thinks there is a chance that this can make him some money. so he's taking a risk in trying to start it out to see if it works well he'd like to build his own building eventually of course that entails finding ground and building a building well until he knows that it's gonna be profitable he's gonna lease if you know if you guys approve this he's gonna sign a two-year lease for me um like i told the neighbors i'm gonna concrete the other half of the shed we're gonna put in doors and re-insulate it for sound um He's going to try it for a couple of years. If it's profitable, he's going to move and build his own building and move on from this. This is kind of an opportunity for him to move forward. Jeff and I have been friends for a long time. I have the building. It's not really used much other than storage. The neighbors are actually happy. Instead of having my extra stuff, my boats and that stuff sitting around, we're going to clean it up and do that. So we've talked to them. I think we've educated them all on if they have a problem, If there's noise, you know, we've promised them there's not going to be semi-traffic in there. They can come to you guys because it's conditional use permit and say, hey, we need to put some stipulations on here. Nobody that we've spoke to has any issues, you know, like everybody else they had, you know, just kind of wondering what was going on. We kind of put in writing our intentions and they can, you and they can hold us to that. You know, if there's semi-traffic or a bunch of noise, obviously they can come here and you guys can help them resolve that, but I think for the fact that nobody's here, it shows that we have support. Bartlett Hill has actually offered to write me a positive letter that they were for it. Like I said, we have a really good relationship. I am well aware of what it takes to try to be a good neighbor. Like I said, we've informed everybody this really won't change anything. Honestly, this is the right thing to do to get the conditional use permit, but really for the average person driving by, I think HAB-Jacques Juilland, The only thing i'll know this is it's mode up more often and there's some new stuff to the shed so it really shouldn't affect anything in the area where we're hoping.

HAB-Jacques Juilland, yeah and all finished goods and just be packaged up in a box, but it might pick up take an account supposed to ship out so there's no there won't be a semi. HAB-Jacques Juilland, there'll be nothing showing up there'll be no ups and FedEx so there's gonna be no extra really traffic.

HAB-Jacques Juilland, Okay. Thank you. Anything else? All right. Is there any public comment?

Yeah, I received one phone call and they said, I believe it was from, uh, the members of the Bartlett Hills associations kind of asking questions once I was able to clarify through what Jeff had supplied us to what they were going to be doing. He said that that answered all those questions and he didn't have any more concerns about the property on there. So that was all I received from the public on this one.

Okay. Can I get a motion to close public comment? I so move. Second. Second. All right. Thank you. We go into staff report, please.

So this one, you received my written staff report on it. It is from the Mills County ordinance. It does fall under the light industrial use, which is a conditional use in the zoning district for that. So our recommendation is to approve the applicant for the conditional use of light industrial with the following conditions on there that the applicant would submit for any necessary building permits for any structural issues. changes or signs to be built or placed on the property. There's not going to be any, no, number two would be no outdoor storage of materials. Number three would be if they can add any exterior lighting to the property that would be downcast. Number four, the employees are limited to those requested, which is owner only. And number five, that any noise generated from the fabrication machine would be mitigated with insulation if needed. Based on the following findings of fact, which is that the subject property is located in the class A agricultural district. Zoning ordinance adopted in conjunction with the land use plan stipulate that light industrial is a conditional use for the zoning district. The conditional, number two, the conditional use is not foreseen to have any negative impact on the property.

Okay.

Thank you. We move into board discussion.

My only question is, why do you have a question on that address? Did they just have to get the correct 9-1-1 address?

There is not a 9-1-1 address right now, and it's not going to be 215, because it sits on the property, sits on a corner, so it'll either be Pager or the other road.

Norris.

Yes.

I see no detriments in any of it at all.

Is there any industrial waste of any nature associated with this process?

No. Not hazardous. No water usage at all.

Yeah. The only change we're making up in the building is we're going to bring in more power. Glee originally built that building, I think, in 73. And so I think we're going to amp it up We've already talked to MidAmerican about putting a new panel in. Some of that's just because of age. But that's really the only thing that's going to change as far as the structure.

That's all I have. OK. Is there a motion? I'll make a motion to approve.

Motion from Jeff to approve. For staff recommendations? Yeah. We have a motion from Jeff that approved for staff recommendations and a second from Ted. Can I get a roll call, please? Volker?

Yes. Blythe? Yes. Gentleman? Yes. Evans? Yep. How much is that?

It's approved. Do you have a resolution? Clay, I'll actually give the resolution just stating these things. It'll probably be in 30 days when it actually comes around unless you want it sooner than that. The only other piece that I would recommend to you is currently Mills County has Mark Norman down here who's doing their economic development stuff. And now within two years, I know they just signed a partnership with the Band Southwest Iowa who's going to be doing their economic development things. I would encourage you that as you go along through this process, the state of Iowa loves this stuff and they will offer incentives for you to do things like this or expand either to start up. You might talk to them about the startup process and get in on them early. The incentives can be kind of a paperwork ordeal, but at the end, they do make it really worth your while as far as being able to help out with those things and HAB-Jacques Juilland, For you, especially if you're going to move in when you get ready to go move into your own facility. HAB-Jacques Juilland, Then they will they come in and kind of full force on those was especially when manufacturing. HAB-Jacques Juilland, Sure, so it might be worth at least having to sit down with them to say, well, thank you.

HAB-Michael Leccese, Sure.

HAB-Michael Leccese, Do you want me to get an I don't want to guess what I mean there's the Bartlett hills as one and Walt's house has one and Chris has one, but these are not one officially.

When you go to do what you're going to do with MidAmerican Energy, they're more than likely now going to require you do it. So you can preemptively go to the engineer's office and say, hey, can we get a 911 address for this property? Because we're going to upgrade the power. Because when you go to do that, they're going to make you.

And then is there going to be a permit for the concrete pad inside, the expansion of that, or the redo of the doors? Only if you're going to enlarge them. You're going to be the same. We're just taking off. This whole building has the sliders, and we're just going to put overhead with the sliders. You're going to see the same size.

You won't need a building permit for that. But if you were going to enlarge the opening or something, then you would. The concrete pad, no. And then you'll get a state electrical permit.

Which will come when we have the expansion of the service. Okay. Anything else?

If it comes up time and you need to connect to any of those economic development folks, just let me know.

Sure will.

Could you send me your number? Yeah, sure. I'll text it to you.

Okay. Thank you. The second item for business tonight is the consideration of formal action resolution 2606, designating the places at which notice of meetings of the Mills County Zoning Board of Trustees shall be posted.

So this goes in accordance with the new Iowa state law that came into effect as of July 1 for transparency with all boards and commissions associated with local government. We have to do a resolution that clearly states where our agendas are going to be posted at. They have to be available 24 hours a day for people to be able to read them and see them like that. So the auditor's office has process resolution um and then we've as you might have seen on our agenda that was posted add a little signature block to it so every time it gets posted that gets signed and by Audra uh so as the state auditors come around and audit us on these things then we can just pull these records and say here it is right there if we ever really get challenged on a chapter 21 or 22 violation I think they already posted on the website We do.

Is that not considered 24-7?

It is. We've pretty much followed that. You guys just have to approve where I post it. So it's posted on the website. I post it on the doors. It goes into the newspapers. You have to approve it each time? No. You just have to give me direction as to where you want it posted. If you want it somewhere else than what I do, then you just need to let me know.

So are we saying anywhere you want? Does that count? Yeah.

I was just doing my job, please.

Thank you.

I believe that this has to be an annual resolution. It's like the first meeting of the year. We'll always have this resolution up there. Just to certify to the public, hey, this is where it's going.

Okay. So I guess, how would the motion read? There's something of this sort of... He's looking to approve that resolution. Approve resolution, okay. I'll make a motion to approve. We have a motion by Fed.

Do we have a second? I'll second. We'll call, please.

Call vote.

Yes. Mike? Yes. Gentlemen? Yes. Evans?

Yes. OK. Is there any new business? We got some.

Oh. So we do have a big solar permit. The 6,000 acre project, Northwest Mills County up here, the conditional use permit application has arrived at our office. Right now we're shooting for the September meeting because it has to, for the ordinance, it has to go through department approvals first. So the board of supervisors all has to sign off on it. County engineer has to sign off on it. Conservation has to sign off on it. Emergency management has to sign off on it. I sign off on it. And then it comes to you all. We're shooting for the September 15th meeting. But if I told a committee that, you know, I need to know by August 21st, if it's a go for September or not. So I need their comments and considerations of it. Obviously, this is the largest scale project that is going to change the landscape that Mills County has ever seen. It's been a big deal for 10 years now, at least, right? The mega site. 1500 acres is the mega site. Well, we're talking 6000 acres of ground that is going to change. It is Bungie Avenue. So it goes from Bungie Avenue pretty much to the river. There's a little bit on the north side of Bungie Avenue, not much. The majority of it is south of that and it goes all the way down to about where the rest area is at. There's a portion at the beginning of the Bellevue interchange there where it's on both sides of the interstate. Majority of it is on the west side of the interstate. Now it's 6,000 acres of total that they have leased land. I think that a project is set to cover, when you actually look on what panels are going to be covering, it's about 4,500 acres of panels will be on. So, you know, once it gets constructed, there's going to be a race between them and,

Google who owns the most ground out there. Google just knocked 200 more acres. That's all I've been told.

It's going to be a lot of money injected into this county when this all happens. Just based on the money that the landowners get, based on the money the projects bring in, the number of construction workers. There's a project going on at Tallgrass Pipeline. I'm sure you guys all heard about that. I was out at that construction site last week, and I don't think I appreciated until I was there the amount of people from out of town that come here to work on these projects. I mean, there was Texas license plates everywhere. There was Maryland license plates. There was Colorado license plates. They were all transient workers up here doing that job, and the majority of them were electricians on this course of it that they were at. a lot of electricians that were there wiring this thing all up.

And they're working on the Nebraska side too.

It'll be interesting. I haven't seen a phase plan yet of how this goes in or what like MidAmerican showed us on their 350 acre site that they got out there.

So is this MidAmerica putting this in?

This is Orion Energy. And they put together, along with it, there's a community benefit plan. It's anywhere from $200,000 to $500,000 per year that they're going to donate out to the Willis County.

That's neat.

It'll be a big deal.

Well, I can't wait for that meeting. Nobody will be gone.

I think the good thing is, the landowners down there all voluntarily signed on to this. There's not a whole lot of landowners. I mean, it's you know, just a couple of families kind of landowners. It's not like we have a number of them, you know, and these are, and they're long, I feel like, I think you can say pretty much the comments. These are long-term Mills County resident landowners. I mean, it's just generational farms that have been down there that are switching over into this, but I think it'd be pretty hard to turn down, you know, when you, if you were to rent ground and you get three to 500 an acre. So what about rent per ground is, you know, and then you turn to solar and they come in and they say, Hey, we have a 17 to 1800 per acre. And they get to keep their ground. Yeah. I mean, how do you, how do you not turn that in?

It's a subdivision.

Right.

No new rules. That's good. Okay. Do we have a motion to be adjourned?

I got one more thing. Next month's meeting is during the state fair. Can we move it to before or after?

You can as long as it's here at the board.

It's Tuesday at the state fair.

Do we have any applications yet?

The person that was in here?

Potentially one.

Clay for seven more sites.

So my preference would be, to me anyway, if you were going to move it, you can move it one week after. but the original date was.

To me, that one doesn't bother me at all. I don't plan to come. You might not want to after the last motion for that or is that just an agreement here?

I would probably, yeah, if we could do a motion in a second just to say, yeah, we're going to move that date to then.

Can I get a motion to move the date to the following week? August 25th. August 25th of 2026.

Make a motion to move the meeting.

Can I get a second? Second. Second from Jeff. Okay. Can I get a roll call?

I think you can say all in favor.

All in favor, say aye. Aye.

All these times when I make a vote, when a roll call comes up, I say no.

Okay.

I thought of that too. I thought, how am I going to look at the record?

Can I get a motion to be adjourned?

So moved. Second. Second. I'll give you a vote.