Sonstegard: 6 million-bird farm not happening

The company behind a proposed egg-laying facility in Turner County says its plans no longer include a 6 million-bird operation.

Sioux Falls-based Sonstegard Foods’ application to build a massive facility less than three miles from Parker sparked controversy and a lawsuit against the county and the company in 2015. The lawsuit led a judge to overturn a zoning ordinance revamp passed in 2014.

The controversy continued to ripple through the debate on a second zoning rewrite, with commissioners deadlocked Tuesday in a vote on the matter.

Brian Donahoe, the lawyer who represents Sonstegard, said Thursday that the company’s plans still include an operation in Turner County, but that the original proposal is no longer on the table.

“There is no intention to go forward at that same site and at that same number of animal units,” Donahoe said. “We want to get that out there.”

Company representatives haven’t participated in any public meetings on the latest zoning rewrite, with vice president Pete Sonstegard saying last fall that “the county has to do what’s best for the county.”

The lawsuit was, in large measure, over information included in a fax sent by Sonstegard to the Turner County Commission before the passage of the 2014 rewrite. The fax contained a set of animal-unit calculations used in Moody County for the purpose of determining feedlot setbacks. Sonstegard didn't appear at any Turner County meetings to ask for the change, but those animal-unit numbers were folded into the ordinance.

A judge ultimately ruled that the entire ordinance was invalid, as the changes hadn't been sent back to the county planning commission for review.

Sonstegard still has land in Turner County and hopes to build something, whether under the 2008 zoning rules or under the rewrite, should it pass during a second vote on the matter next week. The company also is looking other areas of the state for possible expansion.

Turner County deadlocks on animal rules

Donahoe declined to offer any further details on the size or site in Turner County, but said the original plan and site are no longer feasible.

“After the 2014 ordinance was knocked out, it took too long for anything to happen,” Donahoe said.

Discussions about the zoning ordinance rewrite, last fall and again on Tuesday, focused almost exclusively on Sonstegard’s original proposal. The county capped the number of animals allowed on one site as a compromise, meaning only 3.3 million chickens could be kept on any one site.

But Mike Schaffer, the lawyer for the opposing landowners, pressed county commissioners about whether the ordinance would prohibit a “Sonstegard 1” and “Sonstegard 2” from opening side-by-side. It would not, he was told.

Donahoe called it unfortunate that the discussion on a wide-ranging, comprehensive zoning ordinance focused on one plan that no longer exists and another – two adjacent 3 million-bird sites – that has never been proposed.

“Everything that gets reported is that it’s all about the Sonstegard project,” Donahoe said.

Commissioners are set to revisit Tuesday’s vote on the morning of Jan. 19 in Parker.

John Hult is the Reader's Watchdog reporter for Argus Leader Media. Contact him with questions and concerns at 605-331-2301 or 605-370-8617. You can tweet him @ArgusJHult or find him on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/ArgusReadersWatchdog.