Zoning Board of Adjustment - Regular Meeting

Okay. Good evening, everybody. Thank you for attending the Mills County Zoning Board of Adjustment. Can I get a roll call, please? Collins here. Here. Light here. Warren gentlemen here. Okay. Please note Warren is absent. Okay. Can I get a review and action and approval of the current meeting agenda? Motion to approve. Motion from Ted. Second.

Second from Pat. Thank you. Can I get a review action and approval of the previous meeting minutes of August 19th, 2025? Motion. Motion by Pat. Second. Second by Ted. All right. Thank you. First item up for business is the discussion and formal action on a conditional use permit 25-08 to the CUP223 for the proposed resource extraction for a limestone quarry involving on-site extraction of surface and or subsurface mineral products or natural resources excluding site grading for a specific construction project or preparation of a site for subsequent development located in northeast Mil County off Highway 59. 9 in the Ander and Anderson Township. It is in the agricultural zoning district. The applicants ready. We are ready for this presentation. All right. Good evening board. I'm Seth Wise representing Shelters Construction. I also have Brandon Montgomery here with me. He's our engineer, environmental manager. And uh Brandon was just recently named to the state soil conservation and water quality committee of the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. He's a it's a 12 member committee appointed by the Iowa Secretary of Agriculture. It's a huge accomplishment and we're super proud of him. I just wanted to share that. So, we have two items to ask the board today. Uh, first off, back in March, the board granted us a conditional use permit to open a limestone cing operation in Mills County. Uh, since then, we p purchased two adjacent parcels, which in turn we're here to ask

be included in the permit. Uh with the inclusion of these two parcels, we hope that it will uh add longevity to Corey operations, uh help with storage of overburden from the first few cuts and uh to give us another option for a permanent stockpile uh plant site. Oh, and up here, so just uh northeast of Henderson, this is the parcels that were zoned in March. and our proposed two parcels here um are just adjacent to these two and that's what we're looking to um add into this this permit. So our vision we talked before our vision is to still start our quarry pit in the south section. Um, as we talked before, initially we had talked uh having a temporary stockpile plant site in this location off of Highway 59. And as we progressed to the north, we were going to swap it down to this south south section. But with the acquisition of these two parcels here, we thought the be the best the best case or best scenario would be to build a permanent uh stockpile plant site right off the get-go with entrances and exits to Applewood Road. You've seen this map before. Um as our the yellows is going to be the Corey the Corey pit as it progresses north. The green is going to be the uh reclamation that's going to follow it as it progresses north for the lifetime of this Corey. And here, this is this is as we progress

oh 10 to 15 years. um this parcel here, it's going to give us the opportunity to widen this quarry pit um to maybe to help potentially help the lifespan and add a few years to this uh this core the quarry operations here and followed by the reclamation. This is just going to follow reclamation in and out. Just another five-year progression here. It shows here how we we have uh the possibility of if Corin to the left or to the west towards Highway 59. There's potential there. Um so again, longevity is um is key here too. And the progression with the the reclamation in that too. And this this is just going to show it in and out progressing or progressing to the north um with the reclamation and to the final quarry pit here to the very far northeast section uh reclamation up to that. So, you know, by adding these two parcels, hopefully it it helps to add add some longevity to the Corey operations and I think the um the permanent stockpile yard, not having to move it around twice, I think that is a benefit, especially maybe coming off this county road here. Do you guys have questions?

Any questions? This this the second item is um last time we were here the board said that we were going to have be required to have a a third-party engineering service to observe the progression of the operations. Um we're highly regulated on the both federal and state level and u we're going to go go ahead and ask the board if it's possible to do this in-house with our own engineering. Um, I'm gonna have Brandon speak a little bit about how we are governed and to show a little bit of information on these slides uh that we have to provide on a monthly basis.

First of all, um, two permits we have, they're MPDES permits, National Pollutant Discharge Elimination Systems. They're through the DNR. Um, one of ours covers the storm water discharge. The other is for processed water, mainly pump water in our in our case. Um, but with the general permit number three, our storm water permit, we're required to develop and maintain a stormwater pollution prevention plan. Um, and part of that we have a map. Um, we per perform monthly site inspections. This is just an example of a map. So all of our uh control structures are identified. They're all labeled. They all have individual names so that each one is individually inspected. Have an inspection sheet here going outlining what we're looking for each individual with um control structure uh as they're being inspected, checked off. If there's any sort of issues or whatever, it's noted in corrective actions. And then they go through different things like good housekeeping, spill prevention, sediment erosion control, dust control, excavation area and equipment, material processing, storage areas and equipment, stock soil stock piles and reclamated areas. Those all get inspected on a monthly basis and then filed into the storm water pollution prevention plan. So,

and you fill those out. Yes, I do. Or um we have a guy in training right now. He's gonna I'm a storm water a state certified storm water inspector the program that at all. How are you regulated at the crescent? Who or do you do your own there? I mean, I understand that this is your your signature on that. So, yeah, there's not a third party on that. No. No. Yeah. He at every single one of our locations, this is ex this is how we we uh keep track of it month in month. So, do you remember why we asked for a third party?

Uh I had the third party inspection in there as a condition to this. It was really based on the other soil. It was on a soil extraction permit that was granted condition use that was granted for uh a little bit different of operation. They were just going for soil. They did not employ an engineer on their staff. So it they are a little bit unique in what they do where they do employ engineers. They do have the storm water certifications that go along with that. Um, I wouldn't see really an issue with them submitting those reports to us because they do have those people on their staffs and it's not um, so when you think like, yeah, they might employ him, but being an engineer, I mean, he has to fill this paperwork out correctly and submit it to the state. So, I mean, nothing's getting looked over.

Okay. And you do have an in-house engineer.

It's okay. And there won't be any dirt extracted off site. And typically there may be only three to six months of uh worth of progression a year. And and that's on the high side. You know, we're not in there extracting dirt and moving dirt twice a year typically. You know, demand is high. you know, eat a mega center, come out, you know, and in in southwest Iowa and there dire need for hundreds of thousands of tons of rock, maybe in that can scenario it would change, but no dirt's going off site and you can do a crushing in there a year and three months is typically what it it takes to uh move remove the overburden or move it. And um so yeah, three to six months out of the year is all the progression you're going to see. And day in day it's going to be very minute throughout the years. I mean we're talking about 30 or Corey possibly. Um so you take into fact that six months out here it's going to be exactly the same.

Okay. But we will monitor growth and control. Okay. Thank you. This time is there any public comment? Are there any letters or any emails? Okay. Okay, we'll post public comment and we can now go into the staff report.

Staff recommendation on it is to approve the application for the CU source extraction uh listed out in the staff report for you. the exact same conditions that since we had just done the other conditional use permit they're the same that's that the applicant will obtain a grading permit from the county applicant will secure the state permit from Iowa DNR number three is a condition that they just addressed where I have the applicant will obtain third party or third party inspection reports showing that the site is in compliance with the engineer grading plan as submitted those reports will be submitted each month to the building department for review until the grading portion of the project complete. Number four is that the applicant will secure uh building permits for any improvements to the site such as installation of a scale or scale house. Number five is that the applicant will secure the necessary septic and well permits to support the site and the employees. It's based on the following findings of fact. Number one, the property is located in a class A agricultural district. zoning ordinance adopted in conjunction with the land use plan stipulate that resource extraction is a permitted conditional use in the district. Number two is that Mills County, Southwest Iowa have a limestone shortage and that the gravel site will support the roads in

Okay, thank you. move into board discussion with no opposition at all and then also seeing that the site actually is larger. I mean it kind of cleans up the site. Have no issues with it at all? There's been no issues with the site since we issued the permit. Correct. I don't believe they started. Nothing has happened with the site.

No. On the on the original site they No, they they started that. They permitted March. Okay. So, So the other I uh I think they're a very reputable company, a good family. They've had a great history in our county. I would be happy to make a motion to approve and they can also u eliminate number three bullet that they can have their own in-house engineer to create the reports as needed. So, okay. I guess I'll make a motion to approve with the following conditions. As Matt said, rating permit, state permit for BNR, third party inspection reports could be from in-house engineering, secure building permits, necessary septic and well permits. We have a motion by Pat. We have a second.

Second. We have a second from Ted. Can I get a roll call, please? Collins. Yes. Yes. Life. Yes. Warren absent. Gentlemen. Yes. And I just like to clear up that number three that that it won't be a third party. It'll be an inspection from an in-house licensed engineer. We don't know. Okay. Okay. Thank you.

He had the measure button. I thought you let him control like all the way. You guys are free. Thank you very much.

Okay. Tonight's second item is the discussion and formal action on the conditional use application 25-09 CUP224 for a proposed wedding and event venue involving a smallcale event space to host private gatherings, receptions, and weddings located at 25589 Gaston Avenue. It's in Glenwood in the Center Township. It is in the AR district. If the applicants ready, we're ready for your presentation.

Thank you all for allowing us to come and speak. But, uh, I'm Troy War. This is my wife, Carrie Moore. Um, we are, uh, looking to get a special use permit. Um, and I guess right out of the gate, I just kind of want to make it clear that, uh, when it says advance, we are we our desire is just do small venue weddings. So, um, it's 125 people or less. So, I just kind of want to make sure everybody understands that that we're not looking to do graduation parties, birthday parties. This is not a uh something that's going to be open all the time. It's going to be a very special event type of deal. Um my wife, you may know her, she has been a florist for about eight years in the area, has identified u the opportunity uh for a small venue. Um and just talking with many brides over the years. Um, so that is that is why her desire to do this. Um, she has a heart to help uh in that area. Again, uh 125 max is where we're going to be as far as the size of our venue, which makes also um the parking that uh we are looking to do on the property uh very minimal. Um truly probably 70 cars or less. Um, and just to talk about parking and and maybe traffic, um, we have a desire to make the, uh, event and the whole property look like it's just an acreage. Um, so when people aren't there, there's not going to be concrete and gravel and and all all kinds of unsightly things. We're going to use um what's called a true grid pa. It's a route and it it basically allows us to operate it as a lawn when nobody's there, but uh it gives the ability to park on it as well um when we do have an event. So, um we are also going to be living on the property. We're building a house right next to um this proposed uh spot. So, we

will be there at all times for that. But that also gives us the opportunity to actually have two lanes to make traffic flow very simple and efficient so that when people are coming and or going um it's done quickly and without uh too much backup. Um we have talked about though if we do need somebody to uh initiate you know some traffic flow we would hire that additionally for these events if that was necessary. Um, again, 20 uh very small, so it's going to be very niche and it's not going to be open for everything. Um, as far as from a a noise perspective, I know that's going to be something that that people are going to want to know about. Um, we are researching measures to keep all the noise and light for that matter on the property. Um, from acoustics to whatever it might be, we're going to take every measure possible to not let that go out. We envision this not being any more noisy than what we hear the train go by at five o'clock every morning. Um so that that is our true desire. Most of what's happening is going to be inside the building and not outside. So it's not going to be, you know, all this public uh uh noise going on. Um again, traffic flow, we're going to make it minimum. A lot of it's going to come from the west uh side of the property and and coming from Glenwood. Um, so as far as, you know, where a majority of the people live that are around us, uh, I don't think it's going to get to them. Um, we are going to set parameters for our events for our weddings that, uh, the music will be done at 11:00 p.m. Um, and that we will have everyone off the property by midnight, cleaned up and off the property by midnight. So, um, just to make you aware of that. Again, we'll be living next door on 25587 Gas. Um we're

building a structure there. Um we are also going to take steps to work with um fire and rescue so with the Glenwood and with Silver City to make sure that all emergency uh plans are in place before we ever open the door. Um to make sure that everybody understands exactly what needs to happen. Um we have also um I have several friends who are retired police officers. We've also talked about security measures, things like that that uh we will have that hired and and on grounds uh when needed um for that stuff. Um I really and I apologize Seth kind of stole thunder. You brought that nice presentation. I didn't have one to throw up there for you, but uh I do have a map of the property. I don't know if you guys were provided that. I know I set one.

I have one in color you all, but uh but I do have it mapped out on the property where everything would be used. Um, I will tell you where the actual building is going to be. It's going to be a cathedral look to it and it it's going to be down with with almost uh 8 foot of wall all around it which is going to help with the sound plus you know whatever measures we we come up with to uh to help with that as well. Um, any questions from you guys? I don't really have a whole lot more than what I think the Can you walk us through the colors since ours is Absolutely. Yep. So, we'll just start on the very left side of the the paper. That is going to be our house over here. This right here.

So, that's on 25587. So, that's actually on the property next door. There's actually two parcels here. Um, now I won't guarantee you it's going to be in that exact spot, but that's about where it's going to be. The in red outlines is where we would have available parking and where we would I don't see red. I'm sorry. You should have never mind. Sorry. I could probably take you if you want. That's okay. But anyways, the bigger outline is the park. Thanks, Audrey. You did the best. And so that's what I've identified where the true grid pavers are going to be and it's going to look just like a lawn. It's not going to look like a parking lot. It's on. Do you have any those bigger ones pictures around or you just have the one?

I just have the one, but you're more than welcome to it. I can take a black and white. Just show it. Yeah, we can look at that. Look at that. You guys want to look at that? Can I have one in black and white? I'll just make sure. Can you make copy of that quick? Is that hard to do? I'm sorry. That's a lot better than the ones we got. Oh, wait. Don't you make some comments?

Yeah, it looks like the parking lot didn't show up at all on this one, but from the map, it looks like you got neighbors to the east and west. I have. Yes, we do. We're And when you look on like Google Maps, it looks like your That would be your ETH neighbors, there's a big row of trees down the property. There is actually two rows. Two rows of trees. Yep. Plus, we'll be u Carrie has a design idea as far as planting more trees that's going to be right along the building and going to the back of the property. So, what's on your east property line right now? Trees. Trees. Yeah, we got trees. trees you can't see through or just

No, you can see through because we've cleaned up a lot of the garbage trees, but we're going to be planting more between us and that western neighbor. Uh after we get the house built, we get the septic in and things like that, we'll be planting more trees, but um yes, the the uh the horns live to the west of us and to your south, it's just an open field right now. It is an open field. Yeah.

Yep. And an open field on the other side of the road. The map also does not show that second driveway, I don't believe. And when you get the colored ones, you'll see that where that where the new house is going on 8 on 25587, the lane is just directly to the north of that house. So, it's showing a little house there now. So, there is a farmhouse on there that we live in right now. Okay, I'll explain what we're going to be doing.

So, yeah. So, if you look at just where the pink box is and straight to the north of that, that is that is where the new lane is. It's already in place. Um, so that would be our second lane and we would create an in and out for the events uh coming through that lane. The red is where we would put all the pavers for the parking. Again, that that's that's the true grid. It would look just like a lawn. You're not really even going to know it's parked other than you're able to drive on it. and we will basically make the the parking uh spots available each time we have the event. So, um the white box at the north end on the east, that is the current house that's there, that will be used uh truly just for the bridal party to get ready. Um that's what we're going to utilize that for. Um the yellow box just to the south of that house will be where Carrie's floral shop will be. And typically we we'll probably make that into something like where the grooms get ready to start out anyway. And then the uh the green box to the back and uh south and east side of the property, that is actually where the venue is going to be. Um there's already a red building there um that will be replaced. But uh um and then that orange box that you see on the very east side, that is down the road could be the groom room kind of thing. you know that we would build a separate building for um

and there's nothing there now. There's nothing there. But the existing home has well and septic. It does. Is there any other well and septic on the property? There is not. The venue, how far is that from your east property line? The venue would be about um I didn't I did not measure it, but it would be about 20 ft. What would it be? From the actual neighbor's house. From the what? From the actual neighbor's house to your east. Oh,

230 ft. There you go. 230. And I guess um I'll just finish by saying I mean and then you guys keep asking questions, but um Carrie and I are the type of people we're going to do everything we possibly can to be neighborly um and do everything we can to make this not a nuisance for anybody. Um we hope to have fun with it. We hope that that others around us will have fun with it as well. But uh um that's just the kind of people we are. We'll take into considerations if anybody ever has a problem, they can come and talk to us. Um but uh again, That's really all I've got.

Okay. We might come back with some questions here in a little while, but sure.

Right now, and I'm just going to remind everybody on public comment, you can come up and you you're you're speaking only to the board. You're not speaking to the applicants. You're going to limit yourself to three minutes. If what you're going to say is similar or the same thing as the person before you, you can come up and state your name and say I agree or I go along with or I disagree or whatever it may be. So at this time we'll go into public comment. Hello, my name is Larry Hullman. My wife Chris just handed out a map of kind of layout of our property is in the marked in the red. The house uh the western most part of our house is 230 ft away from the venue. Um the property line like Troy said is right there, right? And the trees are on our side. So the shelter belt that's there now is on our fence basically means um this is not a personal thing at all. The mowers have been friends of ours since well for multiple years professionally it's not I hope goes in I hope they find a place for it but an agricultural residential area is not the right place for a venue that has music 25 weekends out of here. um went through and did some research on uh many things and I did write a letter

know if you were given the letter or not but I put some time into it. Okay, we received all the letters.

Okay. All right. So, the land's compatibility and the county strategic development neighborhood character. The character of the neighborhood would be changed. No doubt about it. uh the venue noise, the attendees operating hours, the at midnight doesn't sound like much, but you know, when I've got the grandkids, I have six of them now, thank God, uh that come and visit and we're want to do something outside, but we have music or we have a venue going on, we have, you know, whatever people are doing, whatever 125 people tend to do when they're at a wedding, they tend to be loud, right? And I don't think that that is inconsistent with an agricultural residential neighborhood. Uh property valuation, I would say that their increase in the property of their property will increase dramatically because it was there before didn't take care of it like they and they've done a lot of great things with it. However, who wants to buy a place that sits next to a venue that is operating in the community? Not very many do. So I think that saleability would be definitely impacted by that. Um I went through and did some research on the Iowa code and on the zoning ordinance. Um the 27 section 27 um classify the property and we all know what that is. It's a agriculture residential means you live there and you andor you do agricultural things. We have livestock there. We have horses. Horses tend to be scared noise and So they're out in our pasture and when we used to have illegal fireworks going off or when we have legal fireworks going off the house, he runs. He wants to jump. I can only imagine what will happen when multiple people, multiple cars, lots of people around us bananas and tell you um you guys can grant a variance that will not be contrary to the public interest.

I don't think this is in our public interest. neighborhood that's there. The literal enforcement of the regulations result in unnecessary hardship. Okay. I don't think there's any necessary hardship if you deny this experience. The spirit of the ordinance shall be observed and substantial justice done. What is justice? Justice is when I moved 15 years ago after spending 20 plus years in the military, moving on to an acreage, moving on to a place where I can have livestock in a rural environment in a neighborhood. and now it's getting changed. That's not justice. There is no unnecessary hardship to the prop current property owner. And if there is, they have to show

and they have to show multiple things. And I'll just I'll summarize it real quick. The land in question cannot yield a reasonable return. That's not true. And I'm going to stop you there. This isn't a variance. This is conditional use permit. So it we're on a little bit different tangent there. But we appreciate your time. So, we're ready for the next person if they can come up.

Hello, I'm Jim Dayton. I live on Grace Circle. Um, I agree with everything Larry said and uh my big concern is what happens. I mean, if MoS decide to to leave and this is zoned for commercial, what can it turn in after that? Can it turn into a bar? Um, and then can they have more than 125 people? And I work at with OPS and I work at Northwest High School. They've already had one shooting and I would not want 125 of those kids in my backyard. And I think the Fountains had a similar um incident where they had a graduating class from North High there and it got to be a security problem and they were very much concerned. They were using drugs and you know a lot of them have guns. Our kids in Glenwood they a gun is a tool on a farm and they they hunt with guns. In the city guns are a way of life that they keep in their vehicles and I see it all the time. So, that's my big one is that it could turn into something down the road. It could bring down our property values, um, the traffic, the safety, the security, and you know, Glennwood's motto, the best of both worlds. We moved out here to be in the country and to have a quiet place to live. Thank you very much.

What was your name again, sir? Jim Dayton. Jim Dayton. Thank you. Phil Thomas. I'm sorry. Phil Thomas. Phil Thomas. Thank you.

906 Gray Circle. And we move from Belleview to get away from the city lot. We enjoy the privacy. We enjoy the neighbors. Although we're not right on your, you know, we each have an acre or two or three months. and our property value is going to take a dive when we midnight the bubble went up in our our neighborhood 70 cars. I don't know how it'll be parked. Uh the 257th street that comes in off of Gaston, I believe it is, or 256. Anyway, that's supposed to be a county road, but they've never accepted it as a county road. They don't plow it. they don't maintain it. It's up to us as owners now. We're going to lose the the peace and serenity of living in the country and trade it in for something that we have no control over. There's a lot of terms that were in the presentation that are kind of nebulous terms, you know, so it could change with the next property owner. I'm not saying these people are trying to slip something by us. I don't believe that. But they can't control who might, you know, own the property after they feel like they want to retire and be done with it. Probably I won't be alive to argue the point, but but we like the the sound of coyotes in the yard, not bands, and we feel it would be a detriment to our our property value. We own three acres there and the top of the hill and we're not in favor of having this against those who have spoke before. Thank you, Bill.

I'm Pat Thomas. I'm his other half. Pat.

Okay. When we moved here 20 years ago, we moved here for a specific reason. country living, quiet. Uh we have 20 grandchildren and when they come we fill up our three acres and we feel very safe with having them there because of where we live. We look out, we see a beautiful sunset, we can see a beautiful sunrise. And my greatest concern is the security, the garbage that there will be. And I'm sure that they will take care of it. But I kept hearing from him over that we want to do this and we're going to do this. Well, I'm I'm just really concerned that well that didn't work. So, you know, I want it very clearcut and I'm I'm just very very concerned about our property value for us personally. Even though the money I'm sure it will increase, our taxes have increased substantially since we have been there. But we love it here. We love the peace and quiet. We love our neighbors. We We only go five miles an hour up the hill. I get concerned about somebody who misses their two lanes and comes into ours and spins around and goes back out again. My grandkids, I'm concerned for me even because we like to go for walks and we do that every day. And so I would appreciate it if you would consider that nothing personal with him. They're good people and we've watched him take care of the dirt and everything around there, but uh we've been here 20 years and we feel like um uh we are being served an injustice if you take these. Thank you.

Thank you, Pat. keep opening back and forth. That's why I keep looking. My name is Jack. Great. I sent you a letter. Okay. That's that's what that's what I was doing. And not to be rude when uh Jim was up there. I was trying to find the letter from everybody.

Okay. basically wholeheartedly agree with everything that everybody has said against this. Uh we moved out here 10 years ago from Belleview to get away from the rat rat race. Um we enjoy the quiet. Everybody we have great neighbors. Everybody walks around with their dogs with their kids. And my concern is this is not a large property that we want to put this venue on. 70 cars is a lot or a couple of acres. And that that property is right on Gaston. It's not even that far. You know, where there's traffic. Yeah, there's going to be traffic and security. That's another concern. Is there going to be alcohol served in these venues?

We address that though. Sorry. Well, is it? We can ask those questions after you. That's your concern. We'll ask those questions. Okay. But again, it's just, you know, we like our peace and quiet. That's why we moved out there. Um, I don't none of us have a problem with, you know, a business that has intermittent traffic. That's not an issue. It's a venue that where you you're getting a a large portion of people driving in and out and noise and, you know, who knows what goes on. So this mic. Thank you, Jack.

Patrick Da also on Grey Circle. Um just kind of echo a lot of the same things that have been said. Um much like everybody else, it seems like in our neighborhood, we move to Gray Circle for the same reasons. Um, we looked for three or four years to find property that we did. We've only lived there about a year in this month. So, and that that's the thing that we enjoy the most is the peace and quiet. Um, and that's that's really my biggest concern in addition to what will happen to our property values with a venue um going right next door. So, um, and you know, to their point, they talked about adding more trees to dampen the sound. That's I mean, in 10 or 15 years, maybe it would add sound dampening. You know, we all it's trees aren't a short-term solution. It's uh kind of a long game trees. So, um, those are those are really my biggest concerns as far as the access. Um, you know, Gaston's a fairly I mean, it's got I would say moderate traffic on Gaston right now. I think uh there'll be a lot more traffic. Um especially on the weekends when everybody's home. So, and then yeah, you know, the the sound that's that's the big one. It's their their venue is going to host events when people are going to be at home trying to relax. So, um, you know, sitting outside on my deck and watching a a sunset, um, it's not going to be it's not going to be the same type of piece that it is now. So, um, that's all I have.

Thank you. Anybody else for public comment? Dayton and I agree with what everybody says. Um, you know, we are residents. We are not commercial and we like to keep it that way. And um, agriculture's great because, you know, but commercial that's different. That's a different thing. And I it shouldn't be around so close to residential. It's just way too close. All the other venues in this area, there's a lot of space. And this is right next especially to the homelands. I mean it's smack next to them. And they move there like they said for residential and agriculture. And our residential area the kids are out playing and they use the our road, you know, and you know we enjoy the peace. It's very beautiful and the wildlife is beautiful and everyone in this moved here for the country lifestyle and that would change and it would be so desirable if anyone did have to move to sell it. You know, that's what we all moved out there for. Thank you.

Thank you, Anna. I'm the property adjoining it to the east. Christina, correct?

Christina and I'm also a real estate agent. I show properties all the time and I can tell you if I go to sell my property and I say here but don't worry about the weekends you know just there might be music might be loud music because even if your building is sound barrier those doors come open it gets hot people open the doors I was just at a wedding last weekend I couldn't even stay in the room so we walked out and I just I totally think it would change the desiraability of our property when we go to sell and it could be who knows when it might be five years two years 20 years but and we don't know what's going to happen if more sell what's going to happen to it then so I just wanted to say as a real estate agent it would definitely affect it

thank you Is there any additional public comment? We did receive a dozen or so. Some of the people that spoke here, we've all read those. Um before I go into staff for a couple of the things that came up um what is the plan for in your in your business plan for alcohol sales?

We will apply further. You guys think of any other question would ask viewers. Could you clarify though? We're not reszoning, right? It's still it's it's not a zoning classification. Yeah, it's not res, right? I was going to ask Matt a conditional use permit. It's permitted in the area with a conditional use permit. It's not a variance. It's it's a conditional use permit. Am I correct in saying that, Matt?

Correct. If conditional use permit is exactly that is a permit that is granted based on certain conditions that either limit neighbors and or you plan to run this off the existing septic or you put on a larger septic be there'll be another septic on that deal. Ted, I did call the Mills County Public Health and I talked to uh Matt, I forgot his last name. That's Scott.

That's Scott. And I said, "What would be normal for a wedding venue?" And he said normal would be like two two 1500 gallons tank and 500 to 600 feet of lance. And you know obviously off up from the field the well's got to be 100 ft from the field.

If you look Pat on where we have all is circle and it's both room room. It's on the very east side. There is ample room there for not I have to talk about myself. I don't know if there are if that makes a difference on the side that we are.

Well, these would be to determine new if if if something like this was approved, you'd have to go through all the different building codes and make sure that you went with the building codes and the septic codes and any Iowa state electrical codes and anything. We would be following all of that, obtaining all the necessary permits. There would not be any steps that would be Is the neighbor to the west here? Directly to the west. No. No. No. That's right here. To the west. Tim and Jody Hall. They're not here.

Did they send a letter? curious on that if anybody was this one. This one was not signed. We got some questions to get us started. Um the staff report for the staff report I know Um, there's a lot of times where we talk about additional use in the area, but I went and had Audrey pull some figures back for us because I I had concerns over the size of these parcels and um the number of attendees that would potentially be there trying to have that. So, you look at the other social hall ones that are in this county right now. of the Bellera it's on 8 acres fountain sitting on 6.49 acres is 14.31 acres there's a Hillsdale lily that's on 3.4 acres the castle is on 25 acres and hauler 20 acres and the best nest farm area is on 23.6 six acres. And then I really went back to what

Mills County zoning ordinance has in there for the board to consider um as far as what the applicants when they should when they should come in. I mean, right now I think they have a good what I would say with what's been substituted the board of a broad idea of a venue. Right. We don't have an engineered site plan. We don't have engineered plans for a building. We don't have an engineer. We don't have layouts for the interior of a building. You know, it's um so when we see projects like this come before us, a lot of times those are the kind of items that we get. So we can see traffic flows. We know emergency vehicle access um availability in and out of the site on there. And so at this time I would tell our recognition to the board to be that application currently being denied and it's based based on following findings of fact and that would be is that the applicant has failed to show that the proposed use would not involve any activities activity substantially increasing the traffic movement on the public street unless procedures are instituted to limit the traffic habits in congesture. Number two is that the adequate the adequate measures have been or will be taken to provide ingress and egress designed to minimize traffic congestion in the public streets. Number three is that the proposed use should not include any noise which is objectionable volume or beat unless muffled or otherwise controlled. And that is really kind of centers down on that agricultural residential district which the res the Mills County zoning ordinance lists out as the residential agricultural district recognizes residential development in and around the Lust Hills region where slopes are low and moderate and there is significant demand for residential development. The land within this district is likely to continue being

subdivided or otherwise used for low density residential development. The county should encourage conservation subdivision development and community wastewater systems when possible. Okay, thank you. What was the total acreage on the site?

Uh the proposed is on three and a half and it may not show that on beacon right now. Well, I understand where Matt's coming from with it and I understand public comment on everything. I'm looking at it as at a, you know, it's a it's it's kind of a the venue spot where it's at being close to the home and property. It's it's right next to it and the house is the furthest away from it. I'm just wondering if there's a good take on any of that or not. I think part of you know you engineers get the architects and engineers involved in it. If you wanted to do a layout like that, they they're gonna kind of think forward think those concerns about, well, you have neighbors right here with horses. You know, I know that existing building that's there. You can never use that verb. I mean, the cost associated with trying to turn that thing into a commercial standard building would outweigh the outweigh the renovation of it. I mean, you're talking about I mean, you'd be looking at something more like a pre-engineered steel building, then all of your interior improvements upon it. That's probably I'm guessing that's probably a pull barn with post footings on it.

So, what you're saying, Matt, in in a nutshell, is that it'd be nice to see some a better layout how it would affect the direct neighbor, especially at night consider everybody else in the gray circle also. But right now the the direct neighbor and then what kind of traffic flows once it was at capacity and showed the 70 cars that were parked somewhere and something like that.

Yeah. Well, and that's when on the traffic piece of it. I mean that that's a cons a real concern. You're talking about 70 cars that probably let's say 20 of them show up ahead of time, right? 50 of them are showing up for the event. So they're rolling in at one time to get then are you talking about backups on Gaston trying to get into the parking lot to get parked and then at the time the proposal of it was you know hey we'll just kind of be out there till about 11 o'clock at night. Most of the time you're doing anything outdoors like that especially you have things that close. I mean, it's 10:00 maximum would be everything outside needs to be shut down. And then trying to get then you're talking about getting those 70 cars out of that property. Then what we'd have to look at then is what is their like glare as they're swinging around through the parking lot or out of there. That becomes that becomes a complaint factor on is the way that you know they get in their car, fire up their headlights. Well, they're all maybe they're all parked to the neighbor to the to the west. And so at 10 11 o'clock at night, every time his house is getting lit up with headlights and trees are a line of defense, but it's a it is like stated that it's kind of a future line of defense. What's the immediate piece that we look at to try to to nail that light glare down and get that traffic back out on there? I mean, it's looking at it just from that development aspect, it's it's a tough site to put something like this in.

I agree. I uh I I think you know over the years we see a lot of conditional use permits and I always want to approve them because number one it's legal. share property or land owner. And this is allowed in our zoning. And two times over the years, I've been on the zoning board a long time. Our county has been sued because we denied something, but they did everything right. And it was in in our zoning laws that it was okay to do. So, I think we have to be very careful if we're going to deny something. With that being said, I I see I agree with property values decrease in the adjacent properties and I see the properties that going up the gray circle. I can see how they really wouldn't be in my opinion wouldn't be affected that much. The traffic is going to gas and none of it's going on gray circle. You've got a lot of space between you and the property. But obviously the property to your east and west would have a a direct effect on that. And you know, no matter what conditional use permit that we come before, everybody comes and says, "Oh, it's going to decrease our property value." A lot of times I don't believe that in Mills County. I mean, in this I can see that in this situation, and I kind of agree. I mean, I'd like to see something with the stuff more centralized in the property and away from your neighbors. And in the past when we have, you know, conditional use permits, we usually try to approve them because it's a legal thing to do, but we can put on conditions. So, we usually we usually talk about what conditions that the neighbors would like to be good neighbors. you know, this I don't think we've ever had a a wedding venue before. I mean,

we've had we've had gun shops, there's been, you know, bell towers, there's been logging, there's been all kinds of other stuff, but this is unique and I I don't I think we need to be careful if we're not going to prove it because this is something that's legal and you know everybody, you know, moves to the country and we don't want someone moved next door to ruin our view. You know, I've lived in the country here since 91. We got neighbors that like to shoot their guns. Drives my wife crazy. But what can we do? It's legal in the country, you know. And the other side of that fence is not your property. and a good land owner that pays their taxes if it's legal, you know, they have a right to do that, too.

However, we have to think a residential isn't necessarily residential and it's not egg. So, you have to look at it from that aspect. But our board of supervisors went through that when we went through zoning in 2008 and I was there and they decided what could be a conditional use permit and what could not. So that's not ours to say that this shouldn't be one. I mean our county supervisors that's not in our power. We're a volunteer board. They decided what could be a conditional use permit. But the definition of AR is written and you can't deter from it. You're saying that board of supervisor should not have allowed that is what you're saying?

I'm just saying if we need to look at the a residential definition of what it is and not read into it believe with what patch said about being careful. I agree. But at the same time, I have in several issues with the traffic. As an example, people that do not know the area are going to come down vary road. They're going to miss that turn and they're going to have to go around and they're going to try to turn around on that curve and come back down that road. You know, all these cars try to leave. You're going to have people that are not familiar with the area and it's going to be issues the same way. The other thing I have an issue with and that you pointed out, we have no idea at all what type of building you want to put there. And so, and as far as the septic, you say you plan to put one in, we have no idea what's going to be put in for the septic. And I feel unless you would come back with exact engineering plans, everything as to what it is you plan to do. we could actually look at trying to fit that on this small piece of power. I can't see where we can improve it.

And I would apologize, Ted, on my naive day as far as how this process goes because what Carrie and I thought was that we didn't want to put a lot into this as far as time and money without knowing we could get actual approval and then go about, you know, the rest and and finalize. But I understand exactly what your concern is because I have not only for the sheer fact I wasn't going to spend a lot of money on that process and that and then you know not have the opportunity to get get permanent themselves.

I really do believe one of your biggest issues is going to be the traffic and traffic control trying to park those cars in there the headlights when they go to leave. We've had issues with that before where we had to consider the headlights on the highways. people came by for a venue that I couldn't was for the way the headlights would sweep through the residential area there. But more than that, it's just the safety issue with 75 cars trying to leave and the two-lane highway there and people not being familiar with it. It it's not in an ideal location to get to for a wedding venue. You know, the roads just don't lend themselves to it.

Can I have ask a question? Is everybody aware that that's a 55 mile per hour road? Yeah, okay.

I want to add was able to speak to Lonnie and Richard at this morning's board of supervisors meeting and talking about who was going to come to tonight's meeting and then I mentioned what was going to be on the agenda for tonight. And when we kind of mentioned just very briefly about the wedding venue that'd be on the agenda and then where it was at, you know, all three of us really had some concerns when it came to traffic and uh our sheriff is out of county right now. He's on a hunting trip, but I know he would have the same concerns. I mean, going north there on 250th Street, you see people all the time turning off of 250th or turning on to 250th and not really paying attention to their surroundings. Um, I drive that road basically every single morning to get from Henderson to the courthouse and it is not exactly a safe road. Um, I have some concerns with that and it is a 55 mile per hour road. In addition to that with how many acres it is, you know, we're talking three and a half acres. Um, Bellotera 8 acres, Fountain's Ballroom is 6 and a half acres. Fountain's Ballroom is practically by itself. there's nothing that surrounds it except a small Airbnb house that the people who own the fountains also own themselves. And the same thing with Bellotera. So, this is quite compact for what uh is being considered and very close to the homeman's property. In addition to that, it's really hard to come up with a conditional use permit and to be able to put in specifics when you really don't have specifics of what the property will build.

The other thing is I mean if it did get approved there would definitely be conditions. When Matt first did it, there were seven conditions. You know, something to consider, too. You know, I don't think anybody's going to prove it to you after 10 p.m. outside events and parking, all that stuff. It's It's a very strong argument that it's going to be hard to fit all that in that property and be safe. I have a question on one of the letters. Um, you guys currently own do a floral business out of this property

from the property? Yeah. It is not a retail. I just Oh, so you just do them for free. You don't make money off of it. No, I do, but I do like and things like that.

Okay. I'm not sure exactly how this should be worded, but I'm going to make a motion not to approve, but they could come back with the information that we've asked about on what type of building, what would the building be, how would the traffic control, but I don't know how to how we would want to word that

architectural plans. When you do that, would you add in that they should meet with the county sheriff and county engineer? Well, that would be with what they would need to return with. I'd like them to meet with those. I mean, how would we word that? Just like you just did. Just did. Okay. I'm going to make a motion that we do not approve that they can return with the engineering information we need after meeting with the county sheriff, county engineer for reconsideration. We can reconsider it. Are you denied it or

what would be the difference now? You'd have to reapply if it's denied. So no, if it's tabled, they don't have to reapply for there's not another fee.

A lot of times on conditional uses, if you can remind that conditional use, then you have to bring new information to be able to reapply for it. If you couldn't, they couldn't turn around tomorrow and reapply this same application in and say, "We would like to reapply because we're not offering any new information or anything for the board to reconsider." So you can deny the application, they can bring in new information, supporting documents and it would go back through the same process again. The neighbors would be renotified again. Public hearing would be set again. Um and there would be opportunity for review of the documents um and public comment at that time and coming up against what they did today. Obviously, I'd recommend those things and some neighbor outreach to beforehand with their new documents to show what their proposed idea would be to kind of go over that with them.

But if we table it, they don't need to do they wouldn't have to do any of that. If you table it, they wouldn't have to do any of that. But then you're not going to have the opportunity for the I'm just trying I I just hate to see them have to pay $350 again to be able to come back and do it. But I wouldn't want them to come back without all the information.

Yeah, I think that's the key is having all the information. It's what the board's asking for and the supervisor and um probably themselves to find out where it fits and if it once an engineer lays it out if it does fit. I know one thing I just look at from the beginning is if the venue would be flipped all the way over west side, but that's just that's just me looking at it. So your west neighbor never sent a letter and did not respond then. So do you think he's their neighbors are okay with it the way it is? Those two have verbally told us they're if it stays on.

Well, no. I mean they didn't put any stipulations. Okay. Gotcha. Well, I think it needs to be the way that you're asking for it, Ted. You deny your table. What are you saying? No, it would be denied and ask them for have a new presentation that shows all the required things that you asked for and um Supervisor Jack asked for.

Yeah, it makes sense to me, too. It's like just like Jack said, this is a venue on a very small parcel really for a venue for a wedding venue. So, an engineer's got to come up with some unique answers, I think. Okay. Is there a motion? What's the motion again to deny the application? deny the application as is. Is there a period of time after denied application until they can come back and reapply?

Well, it needed to be at least 30 days because publication specifications

by chance did you write down the how that how I mumbled through that. Um to deny however come back in with in with info requested but to deny the application as is requested they return they with the engineering information we wanted right um reconsideration right within

and also that they meet with the sheriff and the county engineering Can you put in there that the that the uh the fee could be waved in a certain amount of time? Is that something that we could do? We can do that. I don't know if that's something that you could do. It's only though because of the cost they got to post it in the paper again. Are you going to second it? He better second it. You made the motion. I made the motion. I'll second too fast.

So, we have a motion to deny what stipulations read. We have a second by Heather. We have roll call, please. This is yes to deny. Correct. Yes. Like yes Warren's absent

gentlemen. Yes. you might stay after after the meeting and maybe talk to Matt and uh Jack and maybe figure out what would be the best angle if there is an angle. What I mean by that is who to go to because the cost of it like you said at the beginning could be substantial. What the other business?

Other business there's two things. Uh, number one is an update for you on your outside council for an attorney. Um, I was able to I only was able to secure one person to submit a proposal for that that was Lee Greenwald of Barrett Home. Uh Baron Home has worked with the county before on some solar and wind items and uh so he is in the process because he has done some work for Medam. Now he's in the process of getting an anti-conlict statement put together that both Mid AM and the county can agree on because if anything were to happen between Mid AM and the county, he would obviously be representing Mid AM. But um the landfill stuff. Yes.

Okay. Okay. he is going to be able to um and I just asked him to let me know next steps on when he would like to start some documentation and things to start reviewing documents on that but

attorney attorney legal whether or not that is legal to do along with whatever other conditions that can be put into. So it's kind of over to it. Do they need to be at all is the host community something that we're legally able to do or is it That's for that. And then uh the open Iowa, the state of Iowa did have a new law that went into effect July. Any appointed board by the board of supervisors, any new members from then have would have to do the online hourlong training course on open meetings. And uh I know it does state in there new members, but I will email out for all of you. Um if you have an opportunity to sit down and you want some something to take a good nap to for an hour, you know, whatever the case may be, but it would make it would help out to just it's always a good refresher. Open meetings laws, they're they're complicated, but we all need to know them. And so it it's an hourong video that I sucked together that you can watch. It's probably better than reading the like 50 page document that they give you to

Yeah. Just read through 21 craft 22 rough. So So can you explain how this kind of work? So we got outside counsel. So we have a paid attorney paid assistant attorney. Talking about the county. The county. Yes. But they're not involved. I mean did they were conjunction with our attorney and assistant attorney?

No. Uh Lee is going to So the reason why we went with outside counsel is because Lee is a land use attorney. He works in this area, right, of planning concepts of those things. So he has the expertise in that area. Deshawn and John do not necessarily have the expertise in that area. And so when they look at something, uh Lee is going to be able to look at it from a different aspect. He's going to know the case law that falls behind it. He's going to know where to go to get these answers on that. So, um, it will be independently. So, our our county is going to pay him legal fees to do this

up to $3,000 right now. We So, we budget it every year. The building department has a budget for this every year. Uh, this year it's got $5,000 in it. So, I asked the board to approve up to $3,000 currently for him. I mean it is so all our county would gain is in right now Ottawa County has a lower per rate per ton than Milstown which when I found that out I thought how can that be it's in our county how county pays less so all we would basically gain for that is maybe an equal to me well I don't know what are we going to gain from our outside counsel

well having outside legal counsel is talking to us through, like I said, the actual specifics of what we can put into the conditional use permits to not actual to not only talk about a host fee, but to talk about the surrounding area around the landfill, how to mitigate the trash, how to mitigate uh the traffic, how to mitigate all those things. So, it's all part of one. And you know, we have a we all know there's a lot of problems with the landfill. A lot of problems bringing trash all around the river bottom all the way to the landfill itself. A lot of problems with trash blowing and going all across the county, especially over on the middle and eastern side of the county. Um, then we have the landfill that's charging us a rate that is often $20 higher than places across the river. So, um I think three grand is is very fair to see how we can get a better deck of playing cards in this scenario.

Okay. Okay. So, is that going to be next month the meeting then? That's what I'm hoping he Yes. It's we got you when you have been American lawyers looking at an agreement and then our county attorneys will look at this non-conlict agreement getting conflict agreement. Mid-Americ attorney the lawyer did some work with so he doesn't want to have conflict of interest for this whole right is there a motion for the meeting to be adjourned