With an overflow crowd as an audience, the Dakota County Board of Commissioners heard a presentation on plans for an asphalt plant near the Highway 110-20 intersection that drew the concern of residents living in the immediate area.
More than 60 people crammed into the tight quarters of the commissioners’ meeting room Monday afternoon, where officials from Knife River showed concept designs of a plant they hope to build just south of Highway 20 along Highway 110 between Jackson and South Sioux City.
While a public hearing on the project won’t be held until later this month, two local residents asked to be on the agenda to express their disdain for the project and encourage county board members to reject the plant.
Cindy Morgan Anderson pointed to a 2014 comprehensive development plan that showed the land where the proposed plant would be built as agricultural property. She also noted several potential conflicts of interest, including board members Jeff Reed and Rick Bousquet, who she said should recuse themselves from any decision on the plant but did not provide a reason for their recusal.
Anderson also noted that Knife River representatives presented a traffic study to the zoning board, even though the data was provided by the state. She said that “there is a risk of perceived bias in how the information was framed. This approach may not align with standard practices intended to preserve that objectivity.”
Emmet Albensius, another local londowner, said his family firm was first held by his great-grandfather, Peter Kramper, in 1878, and is one of the first pioneer family farms in Dakota County. His land is cross-corner from the proposed asphalt plant.
“The reason people move to the country is quiet enjoyment, not to have a rock and asphalt plant as your neighbor,” he told the board. “The dust from the rock piles will blow across our beautiful fields. This will have a devastating effect on our crops, our trees, our livestock, our wildlife and our songbirds.”
Albensius also questioned the company’s registration of its vehicles in South Dakota and what impact such a business will have on the water quality within the country.
“I see a lot of negatives to this future growth,” he concluded.
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