Meeting by organizers of referendum on Lawrence County Zoning changes
January 9 @ 5:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Meeting at which organizers of referendum on Lawrence County Zoning changes (to put Conditional Use Permits (CUPs) under authority of Board of Adjustments, not the Commission) will speak.
An informational meeting is being held this Thursday (1/9) at the VFW in Spearfish starting at 5:30pm. The VFW is located at 3102 E Fairgrounds Loop – just down the road from Guadalajara restaurant.
The volunteers in Lawrence County got more than enough signatures to refer Ord 2024-05 (rewrite of Zoning Ordinance > to put CUPs under the Board of Adjustment, instead of Commission).
The signatures were due on Dec 20th, 2024
However on Jan 3rd, 2025 the Lawrence County Auditor wrote a letter to referendum leader who submitted petitions and said the County Commission thinks the rewrite of Zoning Ordinance is an administrative action not a legislative action and they think administrative actions are not referable, so she refused to plan an election.
The volunteers in Lawrence County have retained counsel (Bangs McCullen Law Firm) and plan to proceed with court challenge,- perhaps that challenge will be filed this week. For more info -Kevin Farmer at 605) 641-2595 cell, visionsmf22@gmail.com,
“Save Centennial Valley Association”, a nonprofit organization, organized in 1975 is accepting donations to help pay for the legal fight.
This is relevant to mining as Lawrence county requires CUPs for sand/gravel and hard rock mining. These CUPs gives another layer of oversight and public involvement beyond DANRs oversight.
We don’t know how long the meeting will last, but guessed it would take 2.5 hours.