No show leads to no recommendation for fertilizer warehouse and blending facility near Hartsburg

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[December 03, 2015]  LINCOLN - The Logan County Regional Planning Commission met Wednesday, December 2 to discuss AgLand FS's proposal for a Fertilizer Warehouse and Blending Facility, consider a Comprehensive Plan Survey, and look into some proposed projects that they had previously discussed.

AgLand FS is hoping to construct a 12,000 ton fertilizer warehouse and blending facility, a 7,500 ton Urea and Ammonia Nitrate (UAN) storage tank; and a 15,000 square foot chemical blending, storage, and warehouse facility at their property on 2281 Old Route 121 in Hartsburg.

A representative of AgLand FS was planning to attend to explain more of their plans and answer the Commission's questions, but was unable to be at the meeting. Commission members were given a description of the plans before the meeting.

Logan County Zoning Officer Will D'Andrea said the Planning Commission was supposed to make a recommendation of approval to the Zoning Board of Appeals, which is holding a public hearing on December 3.

Chairman Bill Graff asked if the Commission members could actually approve the recommendation since the AgLand FS representative was not present. Graff said he has read the information on AgLand FS's proposal and does not foresee problems with it.
 


After a brief discussion on the issues, Graff said he felt uncomfortable recommending the proposal without the representative being at the meeting to provide more information. The Commission voted not to recommend the proposal. Commission members said they agreed with the proposal itself, but were voting "no" because the representative was not able to be there to explain it further.

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Will D'Andrea handed out Comprehensive Plan Surveys to Commission members asking them to rank goals for the plan. He said that each Commission member was to rank a list of four areas in order of importance to help in planning. The areas on the survey were Community and Environment, Growth and Development, Transportation and Public Service, and Interagency Cooperation.

D'Andrea said that ranking the goals will help the Commission prioritize their planning, organize their discussions, and figure out what actions to take. Commission member Blair Hoerbert asked about what each area included.

D'Andrea said that Community and Environment would include taking care of our environment and parks, Growth and Development would include planning issues, Transportation and Public Service would include streets and roads, and Interagency Cooperation entails how the agencies work together.

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Graff said he would like to put together a committee to further discuss issues such as the transportation projects brought up at Regional Planning Commission's November meeting.

The committee would help figure out which proposals might work.

Graff said the committee would have member from Lincoln, Atlanta, and Mount Pulaski. Mayor Marty Neitzel said Dave Schonauer should represent Lincoln. Commission members Fred Finchum and Jim Fuhrer will represent Atlanta. Bill Graff and newly appointed vice chairman Blair Hoerbert will also be on the committee.

D'Andrea gave the members a list of transportation related projects from 2012 and said the Commission members should look over possible projects on the list for future discussions. Graff said that issues such as traffic have not changed since the list was made.

From previous meeting discussion, Mayor Neitzel asked about the templates to help put lines on the streets for the bike trail.

County Highway Engineer Bret Aukamp said he has looked at prices and a set of templates would cost $500. He plans to present the costs to the Trails Subcommittee at their next meeting.

Graff said he really wants to find out other needs through subcommittee discussions so the Commission can plan for the future.



Commission members present were Jeff Hoinacki, Marty Neitzel, Blair Hoerbert, Fred Finchum, Jim Fuhrer, Dave Schonauer, Bret Aukamp, Becky Werth, Bill Graff and Scott Schaffenacker.

The Regional Planning Commission will have their next meeting on January 6 at 8:00 p.m. after their annual appreciation dinner. At the meeting, D'Andrea will discuss the proposed language changes to the conditional use criteria.

[Angela Reiners]

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