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DECORAH -- The Winneshiek County Board of Supervisors voted Monday to close a public hearing on proposed zoning ordinance amendments after more than an hour of public testimony sharply divided residents, business owners, and officials over how to regulate forest product concentration yards. The amendment in question would classify "forest product concentration yards with processing, not including sawmills" as an allowed use within the county's A-2 zoning district—an area reserved for agricultural-related businesses. Winneshiek County Assistant Attorney Jana Evelsizer Olson described the change as a narrow clarification for a specific land use. "This is very, very narrow definition for just that use on that property," Olson told the board. But members of the Ulring family, who operate Northern Timber Company, pushed back, arguing that their concentration yard activity—sorting, grading, and temporarily storing logs—should be treated as part of traditional agricultural use under A-1 zoning. "A log yard is a necessary extension of the initial timber harvest," Ned Ulring said. "It is a grain bin for forest products... it is agriculture." Supporters of the amendment, including nearby landowners, described the facility differently. "It is a distribution site that was similar to the UPS of Northeast Iowa," said Sarah Crose, who lives adjacent to the Ulrings' yard. She described "twelve to thirteen hours a day of constant loud noises from semis that are 30 feet from our house" and urged the board to affirm the amendment. Other residents agreed. "That definitely is a very commercial property," said Doug Tieskoetter, who described the yard as "kind of in the realm of a co-op" receiving logs from outside the county. "There are shipping containers in there from China, headed to China, so it's very worldwide...not like a local farming setup at all." The Supervisors repeatedly debated whether the business activities fell under protected agricultural uses. "The timber buyer is buying from the landowner... they didn't own and grow that timber," said Olson. Supervisor Mark Vick supported that distinction. "You're buying it from somebody else. You're bringing it there. You're sorting them... and you're selling them to somebody else," he said. "It's the same exact thing" as a co-op or sales barn, which are classified as A-2 uses. Ulring disagreed, arguing the yard was simply "an extension of the harvest" and comparing it to grain or livestock storage on a farm. "We're handling the raw commodity, not actually processing it into a different product," he said. Planning and Zoning Administrator, Tony Phillips reiterated that the county followed established procedure for addressing new or undefined uses by referring them to the Planning and Zoning Commission, which voted 5-0 in April to recommend adding forest product concentration yards as an A-2 use. The meeting took a sharp turn during an exchange between Supervisor Shirley Vermace and Phillips over a clause in the ordinance stating that planning commission members may be removed by the Board of Supervisors "for due cause." Vermace strongly objected to the language, calling it vague and potentially dangerous. "I just want to be really careful what we're allowing to happen here," she said, warning the clause could be used to remove commission members for political reasons rather than misconduct. "I think the cause has to be better defined," she added. "It opens it up to politics in a way." Phillips pushed back, stating that the clause simply mirrored existing language used elsewhere in county code, including for the Board of Adjustment. "Why would we list causes when there's a myriad of things that could be a due cause or may not be?" he asked. "It will be up to the Board of Supervisors to decide what a due cause is at the time that comes up." That answer did not satisfy Vermace, who grew increasingly concerned about how future boards might use the provision. "We are living in a completely new day," she said. "That new board could be all pro-growth and want to remove a board member who goes against that. That could start swaying what our county looks like and what our community looks like." Phillips maintained that defining "cause" too narrowly could handcuff the board in unforeseen situations, while Vermace insisted that the language, as written, was ripe for abuse. "They're volunteers," she said of commission members. "It'll be harder and harder to get people to volunteer for those commissions if they know they can be arbitrarily removed for any small thing." With no consensus on key points and several supervisors requesting further review, the board ultimately voted to close the public hearing with a motion from Vick, seconded by Supervisor Steve Kelsay, and scheduled the first reading and possible action on the ordinance for next week.

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Winneshiek Supervisors Close Public Hearing on Zoning Amendment After Heated Testimony