Owners of a Moody County salvage yard must clean up the vehicles and scrap that has crept onto the roadway and must put up a fence to block the public’s view of the operation, a county board has determined.
After an hour-long meeting with the county board of adjustment on Aug. 21, Bernie Opland, who operates B&B Steelworks at 23163 476th Ave. southwest of Flandreau, said he would comply with the county’s decision that he needs to clean up the road and restore it and the ditch in front of his property to an acceptable condition within 60 days. In addition, he will need to construct a fence that blocks the view of his operation by December 1.
Opland said he and his family have been cleaning up the area and will use a large magnet to retrieve metal out of the ditch. The process has been slowed by a wet year, he said. That’s also why he has been loading trucks on the road. He first argued that he did not need a fence because it would just cause snow removal issues and people don’t drive by his property enough that he would need to prevent them from seeing the salvage yard.
But the board chose to enforce the 1975 zoning ordinance that is more lenient than current rules. It allows a fence on the right-of-way rather than requiring a 200-foot setback, for example. “That road needs to be cleared and that right-of-way needs to be cleared,” said Kendra Eng, deputy of planning and zoning.
Opland, who has operated the business for 18 years, at one point took an existing fence down because it was dilapidated and didn’t put up a new one because it would clog snow in the area, he said.
He said he does work that no one else wants to do, cleaning up messes throughout the county and finding ways to recycle as much as he can. “We’ve done a lot of work for this county,” he said and stuck with his argument that a fence would be a burden. “I’m helping you. You help me.”
County attorney Paul Lewis said that the county can’t govern people if everyone is treated differently, and the ordinance is consistent for the business Opland operates. “This ordinance wasn’t created to pick on you 30 to 40 years down the road,” Lewis said. “It’s equal for all, due process for all.”
Representatives of Clare Township said the first priority should be restoring the road in front of the salvage business. “That road and that right-of-way has to be restored at somebody’s expense. It shouldn’t really be the township’s expense,” said Dusty Schoeberl.
Opland agreed that he would do the work on the road because the business also wants a good road to drive on. He also plans to put up a fence that will screen the view of the property but allow for snow to blow through.
At age 73, he told county officials that his business is for sale.
In other county business,
•The county equalization office has found $491,000 of estimated project construction costs and labor for past building permit violations. The discovery comes after county employees used a computer program that shows changes in properties since 2009. That information, matched with building permit applications, has triggered letters to property owners who didn’t apply for permits, giving them a chance to pay now.
The county is working through each township and so far has viewed properties in Alliance, Blinsmon and Enterprise townships.
•Commissioners approved the second reading to repeal an ordinance that reduced taxes on new industrial, commercial and commercial residential construction with an assessed value of at least $30,000 and agricultural structures with a value of at least $10,000 for five years after construction.
The issue came up after the Flandreau Development Corporation discovered it shouldn’t have extended tax incentives to new developments, including the Flandreau Meat Locker, which the owner planned to rebuild after it burned last summer. The FDC had to rescind its offer to Tyler Kills-A-Hundred, meat locker owner, at that point. The county’s tax incentive on its books since 2004 trumped any city plan, meaning neither Flandreau nor the development group could use tax incentives.
The county’s ordinance will be repealed 20 days after the commissioner’s action is published, which will allow any city in the county to offer its own tax incentives. The city of Flandreau plans to review what it has on its books.
•A building permit for $677,000 for two barns was issued for Jesse Anderson’s Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation. The CAFO two miles south of Highway 34 near 482nd Avenue in Grovena Township has about 700 head of cattle with room to expand.
•The county received a check for $5386.33 from its insurance company after an ambulance hit a deer this summer.
•Commissioners approved a request from auditor Kristina Krull to travel to Washington, D.C., later this month to represent the county at a meeting at the invitation of the White House. She estimates her flight and hotel will cost $610. Sheriff Troy Wellman’s request to attend the same event was approved earlier.
•Commissioners approved moving David Prokulevich from a part-time EMT to a full-time paramedic, effective Sept. 2. His pay will be $38,928 a year.
•The city of Flandreau has declared a garage at 317 E. Third Ave. a nuisance and has torn it down. The property is owned by Jeremy and Melissa Elverud of Trent, but Moody County will be the legal owner in a few weeks, Lewis said. “The Elveruds for the most part are just washing their hands of it,” he said.
The house on the property has not been declared a nuisance at this point, Lewis said.
