MinnErgy, LLC (MinnErgy), a Minnesota-based company focused on developing, building and operating dry mill corn-processing ethanol plant, has received approval from Olmsted County Board for its rezoning request to build an ethanol plant near Eyota, Minnesota. The county board granted to amend the zoning district from Agriculture Protection land to Agriculture Resource Commercial land, to make way for the ethanol plant.
Commissioners Jim Bier, Mike Podulke, Ken Brown and Matt Flynn voted for the zone change and commissioners Paul Wilson, Judy Ohly and Dave Perkins voted against the zone change. Podulke had voted against the project during a Planning Advisory Commission meeting earlier in April 2009, but after the testimony he said he was unimpressed with his own logic.
MinnErgy will still have to go through a conditional-use permit process, which Podulke said will be vital.
It doesn’t seem like we’re being heard by them at all, Eyota resident Jan Blevins, co-chairwoman of Olmsted County Concerned Citizens said.
Blevins said her group intands to continue with a lawsuit against the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and MinnErgy, seeking a full environmental impact statement for the plant.
This is just another stumbling block, Blevins said. I love my neighborhood, and I won’t let my neighbors down.
Blevins said, We’ll consider anything to keep this plant out of the area it doesn’t belong in.
Wilson said he regretted that the board told the city of Eyota to come back with an updated land use plan, but Wilson also said that MinnErgy followed all of the rules for the zoning request.
The concerns made by citizens are also legitimate, Wilson said.
Bier said MinnErgy met and exceeded present zoning ordinance needs.
County planning staff had referred to Eyota’s future land-use map when they recommended against the zone change earlier in April 2009.
MinnErgy’s attorney John Arnold asked board members to not decide on a future land use map as their decision must be based on the present map.
You can’t decide this on ifs and buts. … You can’t decide this on something that might happen in the future, Arnold said.
MinnErgy chief executive officer Ron Scherbring told the board that MinnErgy has invested $4 million on the ethanol plant till now. Scherbring was happy with the board’s decision but said the company still has a lot of work to do before a plant is built.
Scherbring said the company will continue to look for investors and plans people in the Eyota region will consider spending.
We’re going to continue to answer the questions and concerns of the community, Scherbring said. We started out that way, and we’ll continue to work that way.