County OKs three-year conditional use permit for Prairie Lakes site with limits on outside material

Becker County commissioners voted Aug. 11 to grant Prairie Lake Investments LLC a conditional use permit to remove and remediate soil and aggregate on a 90-acre parcel off Highmark Avenue, with conditions the board said were designed to reduce impacts on nearby homes. The board’s final approval set a three-year limit on active mining operations and bars bringing in outside material to be crushed on-site.

The permit follows months of review by county planning staff and a planning commission hearing and drew more than two hours of public comment Tuesday from property owners who live within a few hundred feet of the site. Residents warned of dust, diesel fumes, truck traffic and noise and asked commissioners to deny the permit or impose strict limits. Several speakers described health concerns and potential property-value impacts.

Applicant representative Matt Hedstrom said the work is intended to make the property buildable as a roughly 30-lot rural subdivision and that the heavy material must be removed to install a township road and develop home parcels. Hedstrom told the board a site engineering study estimated the volume of material that must be moved and that the owners intend to reclaim and seed the site when removal is complete.

County staff and the planning commission recommended conditions that include a reclamation plan, berms, dust-control measures, traffic signage and a requirement to comply with required state permits such as any MPCA stormwater controls. Opponents urged commissioners to require all removed material to be hauled off-site and crushed elsewhere; the board’s final order expressly bars introducing outside material to be crushed on-site and requires the company to follow the reclamation plan submitted to the county.

Commission debate centered on duration and enforceability of conditions. Several commissioners said they were reluctant to permit a long-term commercial crushing operation next to residential lots. After several unsuccessful amendments, commissioners adopted a change reducing the permitted mining window from the planning commission’s original framing and added the prohibition on bringing in exterior material for crushing. The board also required a written road agreement with Lake Eunice Township addressing dust control and pavement wear if truck volumes affect township roads.

The board instructed county staff to draft a final, written decision consistent with the planning commission’s findings and the changes approved by the board. Commissioners noted that the county’s land-alteration permit already in hand allows on-site grading activity and that the conditional use permit governs commercial extraction and sale of material.

The decision does not remove the company’s obligation to obtain any state permits required by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency or other regulators before operating. The board’s action ends the hearing phase; staff will prepare a final resolution with the exact permit conditions and time limits for publication.

Speakers quoted in this article are drawn from the meeting record and include applicant Matt Hedstrom (applicant/representative), attorney Tammy Norgaard (representing neighborhood residents), and several residents who spoke at public comment including Monica Douglas and Jim Coleman.