BEATRICE – A few weeks ago, the Gage County board asked the county’s planning commission to examine zoning regulations as they relate to concentrated animal feeding operations.


Now, the county planning and zoning commission is tossing the ball back in the supervisor’s court.


The Gage County Planning Commission voted 5-1 Thursday night to recommend that the Gage County board establish a committee to seek public input on all county zoning regulations….in effect, holding townhall meetings for that purpose.


Zoning Commission member Steve Whitwer offered the proposal. "They've asked us to look at these things, but I, for one am satisfied with our regulations as it is right now, unless somebody else can show me some different facts on it. I also concur it would be a good thing for us to go to the supervisors and say let's have some open meetings in places with a committee. Then, we can get a little bit more specific as far as what we need to address."


Planning Commission Chairman Jeff Argo is concerned over the potential for legislating development out of a county through strict regulations. "I my opinion, I don't know that we mess with these....we don't want to make them so strict, that you can't even do anything."


Two proposals for swine CAFOs were considered by the commission and county board in recent weeks. One permit was approved for a facility being constructed between Pickrell and Adams. But a second similar plan proposed near Liberty was rejected.


County Planning Commission member Terry Acton voted against formation of the committee and the townhall meetings, saying the commission was asked to focus on CAFO regulations. Acton said addressing setback distance is one possibility. "It took a community two months of those people organizing and spending too much time on something that perhaps should have been taken care of with just going from a half-mile to a mile."(setback)


Argo understands the importance of setbacks but points out that’s only part of the story. "We need setbacks, I understand that, but every permit we've put out, we've addressed the roads, the truck routes, emergency applications, trees. Whether it's the last CAFOs we've done....the wind towers....solar panels, we addressed it....decommissioning.....we've addressed all that with the setbacks that we've had that we haven't made amendments or changes to. And, any permit we get, we can add stipulations if we feel it needs to be stricter."


The suggestion for a special committee made up of county board members, planning commission members and citizens would accept public input that could factor into what zoning regulations look like, in the future.