County supervisors recommend denying Goldbrook LLC confinement permit

The proposed hog confinement operation is just north of 240th Street, on property that's next to Otter Creek

The Iowa DNR will be sent a letter from Winneshiek County supervisors recommending denial of an application by Goldbrook LLC for a hog confinement operation permit.  Supervisors voted unanimously Monday afternoon in support of the motion to recommend denying the application.

Their action came after a 50-minute public hearing at which the applicants did not appear and at which numerous neighbors testified against the permit application.  Neighbor Jed Becker noted the land in question is "very flat" and susceptible to flooding and asked supervisors to reject the application.  Neighbor Connie Hanson also asked supervisors to vote "no," saying "This is a wetland."  And Wayne Millotte of Cresco, who said he farmed the property in question for 18 years, termed it "pretty sensitive" and said it also contained sandhills, which would increase the chances of problems.

But it was the manure management program that brought the strongest criticism--including some by supervisor Mark Kuhn, who asked his fellow supervisors to reject the application because there were "so many flaws" with the management program.  He noted that some of the fields where manure was proposed to be spread were 4 or 5 miles away, requiring trucks to cross streams several times--often on bridges that were in poor shape.  Another field was right next to the Ridgeway city limits and another field already was being used by two other farms for manure spreading.

However, opponents of the project still have one more hurdle to overcome--the decision by the Iowa DNR.  While Winneshiek County supervisors rejected the application, the final decision rests with the DNR.