The board's split
vote was symbolic of the community disharmony on this topic: whether
country home lots should be reduced to less than five acres and be
interspersed with rural homes and farms. Thirty-three Logan County
citizens lined the walls of the Logan County courtroom last night,
ready to defend their rights to farm without the risk of nuisance
lawsuits over hog farm odors. Ed Medders stated earlier that he
could have had at least 40 petitioners at the meeting to represent
his stance as well. Other than Medders, no guest speaker sided for
the country home petition.
After an hour of
heated deliberation among 10 of the board members and seven out of a
roomful of guests who had signed up to speak, the vote was taken.
Only one of the 12 board members changed his original stance on the
topic.
Board member Patrick
O'Neill, with a surprise "nay" vote, stated that two points
convinced him to change his decision. "When Jim (Jim Drew of the
Farm Bureau) said that all these previous homes we rezoned were
still sitting, I knew that our previous rezoning changes were not
benefiting the county. So why would this be different?"
O'Neill also agreed
with Bob Gleason's comment on his new barn that recently went up
following a barn fire. "Who wants to move to the country and look
out their front window, only to stare at a huge barn?" O'Neill
stated. "People move to the country for privacy."
Medders, on the other
hand, felt he was meeting the need of the housing market by
producing three more country homes. He stated that these properties
would be beneficial to the county, in that they would annually
produce a total of $10,500 in real estate taxes, as opposed to their
current taxes of $11 per acre, or a total of $33 per year.
O'Neill's change in
vote put the board at a 6-6 stalemate, with the following members
also voting "no" to the proposed rezoning petition: Gloria Luster,
Chuck Ruben, John Stewart, Bob Farmer and Dick Logan.
Dr. David Hepler,
board member and zoning committee chair, argued that both Tim Huyett
and Jonathan Wright had discussed hog farming issues and "were not
aware of any litigations in this area." Hepler was speaking of the
concerns expressed by area hog farmers about nuisance lawsuits that
could be filed against them if neighboring country home owners were
close enough to smell hog waste from the farms.
Board member Dick
Logan argued that the original purpose of the rezoning ordinance,
established in 1977, was to eventually annex nearby land into
surrounding towns, not to build more rural homes. Logan
stated that since Medders' properties are five to six miles out of
town, they do not meet this purpose for eventual town growth.
