Two subdivision applications move forward

At the August 23 Hot Springs County Land Use Planning Commission, in old business, the board members voted to untable the Maddock Minor Subdivision and Land Use Change application. Applicants Duane and Cindy Maddock previously presented to the commission on July 19. Chairman Adam Estenson and County Planner Bo Bowman explained that the reason the application was tabled was to allow staff time to ask County Attorney Jill Logan what kind of obligation the commission had to hold the subdivision’s covenants accountable. Bowman added that Logan said that Hot Springs County cannot enforce the covenant, as it is a civil matter and outside the county’s purview.

Chairman Estenson added that they did not want to hold up the applicant and acknowledged the letters of opposition they received from the neighbors. There were no additional public hearings for this application. Estenson asked for the present members, Vice Chairman Merrill Ready and Harvey Seidel to go over their checklists. 

Seidel made a motion to recommend the applicant for both the subdivision and land use change. Ready seconded the motion, but during the discussion, Ready expressed his concern which was along the lines that losing the ag designation might weaken the landowner’s ability to keep his water rights in the future. It was noted that there are two irrigated fields on the property, and one would go with each proposed lot.  Hence the proposed subdivision would not directly “impact irrigated land.” According to Bowman, they have never dealt with this particular matter regarding irrigation. 

After further discussion, Harvey amended his motion to go forward with the recommendation of the subdivision but to not recommend the land-use change. The application will be presented to the Hot Springs County Commissioners (HSCC) on September 19 for their decision.

In new business, County Planner Bowman presented the Wyoming Whiskey Minor Subdivision & Land Use Change application from Brad and Kate Mead on behalf of Wyoming Whiskey LLC. They requested approval of a preliminary subdivision plat for a single 21-acre lot and a land use change for the same 21 acres from the Agricultural land use category to the Industrial land use category. The proposed lot currently contains five barrel houses at its western end, with a foundation for a sixth, and grain bins at its eastern end. No domestic water or sewer service would be provided to the proposed lot. 

The proposed lot is a portion of the Mead Ranch and is located in the east half of Section 6, Township 44 North, Range 94 West. It fronts on the east side of NE Railroad Avenue, approximately 1,300 ft. north of E. 3rd St. and the Kirby Town Boundary.

A Land Use Change to Industrial was granted in 2011 for the two-acre portion of the property that at present contains the existing barrel houses.

This property is located within one mile of the Town of Kirby, which has the option of also reviewing this proposal. However, the Town has elected to waive that option.

Regarding access, at present, the proposed lot would front on the east side of the northern extension of NE Railroad Ave., which provides all-weather access. An existing interior farm road then runs from the barrel houses to the grain bins. 

However, once this existing gravel access road leaves the Kirby town limits, it is on BNSF Railroad property. It is not a public road. Consequently, the final plat must include legal access to the proposed lot, either in the form of an easement from BNSF on the west side of the property line or an easement from Mead Ranch on the east side of said line. This easement should have a minimum width of 40 ft., and should be designated as an access & utility easement. 

Regarding the Industrial Land Use Change. The applicants propose to reclassify the 21-acre lot as Industrial, reflecting the present grain storage and warehousing activities in support of the nearby distillery. A four-acre portion of the proposed lot was designated as Industrial in 2011 (LUC 2011-01), when the first four barrel houses were proposed.  

Bowman said that he recommends approval of the request to change the land use category of the proposed 21-acre lot from Agricultural to Industrial.  

Chairman Estenson opened the meeting to public comments and Engineer Anthony Barnett said, “Just one point on the access easement. Technically, that would not be made part of the plat, assuming it gets passed along to the commissioners. We filed the easement consecutively with the plat, but prior to that, because it wouldn’t be a change in ownership that would be attached with the plat plans.” Chairman Estenson thanked Barnett for the clarification.

Applicant Kate Mead is one of the current owners of the land. Mead said, “I just wanted to let you know that these storage buildings have no heat, no water, and barely any electricity. You don’t want to have a lot of sparks when you have a lot of alcohol. So they’re very basic and they’re great big metal buildings with ricks. Ricks are the shelving basically for barrels. And it’s anticipated that over the years we’ve built well, Brett and I were the majority interest holders in Wyoming Whiskey, we built a rick house, a storage house every year. And I anticipate that they’ll probably go to a storage house every two years on this 20-acre parcel, which is intended to allow Wyoming whiskey to grow, with the storage houses being based in this one parcel of land on our ranch. Between Kirby and this parcel is about a 40-acre alfalfa field. And then to the north of this parcel is just irrigated ranch land. It’s for Wyoming Whiskey’s expansion plans and they’ll have this 22 acres more or less to expand. Thank you for considering it.”

Chairman Estenson closed the public meeting for comments, as there were no more. The commission went through their checklists and board member Ready made the motion to recommend the applicant to the HSCC. Board member Seidel second. The commission then voted and passed the approval to recommend the Wyoming Whiskey Minor Subdivision and Land Use Change application to the HSCC, who will review it on September 19.