« All Events

  • This event has passed.

Lawrence County Commission 2nd Reading of Ordinance 24-05 – Place CUPs under Board of Adjustment

November 26 @ 9:15 am - 5:00 pm

Lawrence County Commission 2nd Reading of Ordinance 24-05. –  Nov 26th @ 9:15 am.

Oppose Lawrence County Commission adopting Ordinance –  24-05.

POST MEETING UPDATE:

The Lawrence County Commission passed Ordinance 24-05 on Nov 26th. Local citizens are collecting signatures on a petition to refer the decision. Go to our post on Dec 18th, for details on this referendum effort – https://phas-wsd.org/event/deadline-to-return-notarized-petitions-on-referring-lawrence-countys-zoning-ordinances-24-05-changes/

DISCUSSION:

Currently mines need a conditional use permit (CUP)  in Lawrence County.  Lawrence County’s section of their zoning ordinance that covers mining is called – “extractive industries “zoning.  Mine CUPs are reviewed by the Planning Commission and the County Commission. Here is a link to that section of the zoning ordinance:

        This action that the Commissions plans to take on Tuesday (the Board of Adjustment vote) would place CUPs under the Lawrence County Board of Adjustment authority and the Commission would no longer have the final approval of a CUP. This would remove CUP approvals from public referendum, which if I remember correctly – has  been used to oppose mines or mine ordinances in Lawrence County.  SDCL on County Referendum – SDCL 7-18A-15
       If new ordinance is adopted then Lawrence County citizens will need to refer the proposed  changes to an ordinance to would give the Lawrence County Board of Adjustment the authority over CUPs. The objecting public will need to collect signatures over Christmas Holidays.  They will have 20 days after the minutes are published in the second paper of record to collect the required petition signatures, which will be a period that is longer than 20 days but perhaps about 30 days – it depends on how fast they type up the minutes and how fast the papers publish them.
       The members of the Lawrence County Board of Adjustment are currently the same as the Commission, but they are appointed and the Commission in the future could appoint other, not-elected people.
LINK to A WELL WRITTEN ALERT YOU CAN DOWNLOAD AND COPY:

Please note the Lawrence County may be planning not to allow public comment, but statute requires them to allow some public comment, but they may limit the time for public comment – SDCL – 1-25-1

BELOW ARE EXCERPTS FROM A DAKOTA RURAL ACTION ALERT

======================

*Call or write commissioners.* Let them know — before their TUESDAY, Nov. 26 vote — that you oppose passage of Ordinance 24-05. E-mail: commissioners@lawrence.sd.us

o The ordinance (attached) exempts the commissioners from accountability for decisions on applications for Conditional Use Permits.

§ HOW? It redirects these land-use planning decisions to the APPOINTED county Board of Adjustment, noting the decisions will NOT be subject to citizens’ referendum initiatives.

§ FYI: Incredibly, the commissioners have appointed themselves as the Board of Adjustment! So they would keep the decisions entirely in their own hands, but now, beyond residents’ oversight.

· *Attend the Nov. 26 Commission meeting* to show you are watching how each commissioner votes.

o No public comment is allowed since this is a second reading of the proposal.

· *Carry a petition and ask others to do the same.* If the Commission votes in favor of the ordinance, as is expected, county
residents will need 60 volunteers, preferably more, to obtain at least 20 valid signatures each on the official petition to oppose it — within the very short time frame of 20 days after the vote.

· *Circulate this call to action. Share it with your contacts. Vested interests are threatening the Commission with big money. *EXERCISE YOUR CIVIL RIGHTS! THIS IS A NON-PARTISAN ISSUE. THE FIRST AMENDMENT TO THE
U.S. CONSTITUTION GUARANTEES THE RIGHT “TO PETITION THE GOVERNMENT FOR A REDRESS OF GRIEVANCES”. The Commission must not abolish that right.

o This call to action is not funded or sponsored by any political party or other organization. It is strictly word of mouth.

Supporting materials for nerds:

The ordinance proposed —
https://www.lawrence.sd.us/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/1168?fileID=19395

The perspective —
https://www.bhpioneer.com/local_news/lawrence-co-commissioners-approve-first-reading-of-ordinance-governing-conditional-use-permit-approval/article_9679637c-a394-11ef-8b34-03198b4089d2.html

….To illustrate, below are the Conditional Use Permits that may be allowed on land zoned (A-1) General AGRICULTURE:

1. Kennels, grooming, boarding, vet clinics and animal shelters
2. Churches, religious structures
3. Schools
4. Golf Courses
5. Fairgrounds and community centers
6. Fire stations
7. Antennas, microwave and communication towers
8. Rental storage units, garages, buildings
9. Temporary Second Residence as per Chapter 10-Additional Use Regulations, Article 13 Temporary Second Residences (Amended ORD 11-01: 05/20/2011)
10. Bed & Breakfast
11. Specialty resort
12. Organized group camps
13. Commercial gun and archery ranges
14. Fish hatcheries
15. Water treatment, purification, storage, pumping, solid waste disposal sites
16. Mineral exploration
17. Mineral extraction
18. Light manufacturing of agricultural products
19. Commercial indoor/outdoor arenas
20. Commercial outdoor recreation, e.g. paintball, dude ranch, BMX track, motocross, and mud bogging
21. Commercial sawmill/molding mill
22. Campground
23. Eating and drinking establishments
24. Auto repair, maintenance shop, welding shop, trucking, drilling, sheet metal
25. Wildlife sanctuary
26. Airports with FAA regulations
27. Commercial feed lots
28. Livestock auction yards
29. Drilling for oil or natural gas
30. Small and Large Scale Sand, Gravel or Rock Extractive Industry Extraction (Amended ORD 16-03: 07/21/2017)
31. Utility substations
32. Small and Large Wind Energy System per Chapter 10, Article 1-Small and LargeWind Energy System
33. Personal Use Airstrip/Heliport if the location of airstrip/heliport is at least 500’ from
the outer perimeter of the parcel(s) (Amended ORD 13-01: 05/02/2013)
34. Restricted Use Solid Waste Disposal Facility (Amended ORD 17-02: 09/29/2017)
==========

End of quotes from Dakota Rural Action’s Alert . Their alert is longer. I did not quote it all. For more information download the PDF alert – LINK to A WELL WRITTEN ALERT YOU CAN DOWNLOAD AND COPY:

 

We do not know how long the discussion at the Commission will be so we put the end time at 5:00 pm — we have no idea when

discussion of this topic will end.

 

Details

Date:
November 26
Time:
9:15 am - 5:00 pm
Scroll to Top