Infrastructure & Zoning Committee

Infrastructure & Zoning Committee

December 17, 2012  -  10:00 AM

SD State University Extension Regional Center, Mitchell, SD

Members Present	Members Absent
Katie Konda, SDDA	Dusty Anderson
Ty Eschenbaum, SDDA	Steve Rommereim
David Skaggs, SDDA	Bob Wilcox
Todd Kayes	Bob Thaler
Mitch Fargen
Steve Pohl
Paul Brandt
Cory Eich
Karl Jensen
Lester Mueller

The meeting began by each committee member introducing themselves and explaining their backgrounds and experience.  After explaining the purpose, intent, and overall goals of this meeting, the agenda was accomplished in three main steps:

First:  The committee discussed in roundtable fashion the Positives & the Challenges regarding the infrastructure and zoning issues facing our state as a whole.  During this brainstorming session, all of these identified items were listed as either a POSITIVE or a CHALLENGE.

Positives	Challenges
Strong  agriculture community	Some zoning ordinances are restrictive in nature (not see as ‘guiding’ progress)
Clear/concise regulations are a net positive for  county and all involved	Some zoning ordinances need updating
Some townships have used haul agreements	Townships don’t receive funds for infrastructure
New operations are building to high environmental standards	Infrastructure in townships can’t handle the large loads
Some counties (i.e. Minnehaha) have used agricultural easements	Inconsistency in applying zoning ordinances  & permits
	Discretion allows for subjectivity
	Some counties don’t follow formalized meeting processes (i.e. Robert’s Rules, structured meetings, etc.)
	Bad actors are hard to account for
	Clear Communication & Education

Second:  The committee viewed these Positives & Challenges lists and used them to formulate Ideas as listed below.  These ideas were all listed without throwing any out.

Ideas

Educate regarding zoning, public & county commission/zoning, planning boards           -SDSU Extension has training opportunities           -Dept. of Environment & Natural Resources           -SD Dept. of Ag           -SD Association of County Commissioners

List of pre-certified/ “ag friendly” sites in counties

Get funding to townships/State

List of Resources for counties who want to update zoning           -Template for zoning with customization           -Agricultural easement/CAFO easement for new properties: housing

Example of process/procedure for counties when dealing with permits           -Categories in decision making process           -Checklists/Flowcharts

Use planning districts’ expertise to help counties

How to fund infrastructure?

Last:  The committee used the list of potential Ideas to develop specific action steps that we identified as our Objectives.  By summarizing and grouping the related Ideas into clear & concise goals, the following steps were identified:

Objectives

1)     Define & Determine what infrastructure is essential for agricultural development

2)     Establish funding mechanism to support necessary infrastructure

3)     Education and Resources

a.      Develop a standard list of available resources  and contact information for involved agencies  and organizations

b.     Develop training module for interested counties

i.     Customizable templates for decision making/flow charts

ii.     How to run a formal meeting

iii.     Updating comprehensive plans to include agricultural friendly  policies