Photo by George Lauby An empty pen at the Beer Creek Ranch, waiting for state and county permits.

Photo by George Lauby New, replacement bunk lines under construction. Trees along the So. Platte are in the distance.

Photo by George Lauby Kurt Pieper

The Beer Creek feed yard five miles west of North Platte should be allowed to expand, the county planning commission recommended Thursday.

FREE Mobile Banking NOW AVAILABLE!

After taking comments for four hours, the commission voted 7-3 to recommend extensive improvements at the feed yard, agreeing the feed yard has a long-standing capacity of 3,500 head.

The meeting room was packed. As many as 30 people stood in the hallway, straining to hear the discussion inside the room.

Owners Tim and Jon Holzfaster are renovating the feed yard along the South Platte River. They bought the place in 2008 and are installing new bunk lines. They seek a permit to build an extra-large wastewater retention pond and disposal system.

Previous owners did not have either a county or state permit, because the cattle feeding operation was built before county zoning ordinances were enacted in 1975, so it was in effect “grand-fathered.”

Opponents, spearheaded by residents within a half-mile, presented the commission with 150 signatures they said were in opposition. Their attorney George Vinton said the feed yard lost its “grand-fathered” right to feed 3,500 head because it had less than 1,000 in each of the last three years.

According to the current owners, former owner Don Chase fed less than 1,000 head from 2006-08 to avoid making extensive renovations. The Holzfaster brothers said they want to protect the environment against damage by building a greatly-improved waste handling system, and feed 3,500 there again.

And, with a permit to feed 3,500, they could expand to 5,250 without another permit, Tim Holzfaster said.

Work is already well-underway to slope the pens so runoff water will flow into a large holding pond.

System engineer Dean Settje told the commission the above-ground pond will be 70 percent larger than it needs to be to meet state requirements that it survive a 100-year flood.

The bottom of the pond will be lined with a flexible but impermeable sheet of styrofoam, designed to keep water from seeping into the ground. The pond water will be pumped through two irrigation pivots an average of six times a year and fertilize crops, Settje said.

Three monitoring wells will be dug and pumped at least twice a year to check the underground water for contamination, he said.

Neighboring farmers Jeff and Peggy Orr spoke in favor, noting the financial benefit of feedyard purchases of crops and calves. Peggy Orr emphasized the importance of agriculture to the state’s economy.

Justin Roberts of the Lincoln County Farm Bureau said the county commissioners have declared Lincoln County to be “livestock friendly".

"I guess now is the time to support agriculture," Roberts said.

Opponents spoke of the dangers of river, underground water and air contamination, diminshed property values, plus increasing numbers of flies that could feed on manure.

Records say...

Although the feed yard never had a permit, it has been inspected a few times by the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality.

Attorney Steve Mossman of Lincoln, representing the Holzfasters, presented inspection records and affidavits from previous owners that he said showed 3,500 head of cattle or more were fed on the place for decades.

But Vinton said that number could not be proven, pointing to evidence in the reports that the pens could not hold that many and were empty at times; summer crops were often grown in the empty pens.

Commissioners Lowell Fenster and Roger Merritt, after studying the exhibits and doing the math, said no more than 2,700 head were ever fed in the pens. They voted against the permit. Commissioner Bob Mann joined them.

But Commissioner Kurt Pieper, who operates a sizeable farming operation, defended the livestock business during the meeting and moved to recommend the permit. Brad Stickelman of rural Brady seconded the motion.

Next

The county commissioners will review the planning commission’s recommendation before a permit might be granted. The county board typically approves recommendations from the planning commission, but not always.

“This isn’t decided yet,” neighbor Jim Reimers said after the meeting. Reimers lives about a quarter-mile from the Beer Creek operation.

During the hearing, Vinton told the commission that both sides appear poised to appeal the decision to the state courts, which could tie things up for 3-4 years.