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Lincoln County amends, approves conditional use permit for milk‑processing expansion with road and neighborhood conditions
Summary
After nearly three hours of testimony from residents and township officers about traffic, noise and water concerns, the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners amended conditions and approved a conditional use permit to expand a milk‑processing facility, adding annual township payments and routing/meeting requirements.
After extended public testimony and a series of late amendments, the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners on July 22, 2025, amended and approved a conditional use permit to allow an expansion to an existing milk‑processing facility operated by Red Rock Real Estate LLC in Delaware Township.
The appeal concerned a planning commission approval of USE00142025, a proposed expansion of approximately 13,048 square feet to an existing roughly 47,000‑square‑foot facility. County planning staff described the project as an upgrade from the current reverse‑osmosis (RO) processing to an ultrafiltration (UF) line that would separate additional milk components for sale and return treated process water to neighboring dairies. Toby Brown, county planning representative, said the expansion is consistent with current A‑1 agricultural zoning but that the planning commission imposed six conditions, including a traffic study and annual meetings with townships.
Residents and township officers urged the board to overturn the approval. Appellant Bethany Eric told the commissioners she lives a half‑mile from the facility and said noise readings she documented were “well in excess of safe hearing levels” and that approval would add “75 trucks per day” past residences; she added concerns about floodplain and aquifer protection near lagoons. Brooklyn and Delaware township representatives described repeated road damage and complained that prior attempts to reach a road‑haul agreement with facility owners had not produced a binding arrangement.
Representatives for Red Rock disputed claims that the facility is a new manufacturing use. Paul Kasboth, representing the applicant, described the plant’s process: removing cream, recycling water back to dairies and fractionating remaining components; he said the UF addition would remove whey so that neighboring dairies could use it as feed. Kasboth said the expansion would add 5–7 jobs and represents roughly a $30 million investment; he said the operation is regulated and uses food‑grade cleaning chemicals.
Counsel for Red Rock, Seth Lepore, argued federal transportation rulings cited by appellants do not change the zoning analysis and urged the board to apply the county ordinance. Red Rock COO Brett Rosenblom provided in‑plant decibel meter readings and said off‑site measurements were in the mid‑40s to high‑50s decibels at points near the facility, and that the company would comply with required traffic and road improvements identified in the county‑coordinated traffic study.
To address township concerns, the board amended the planning commission approval to add conditions: routing raw‑milk tanker traffic to state, federal or county roads where practicable (excluding certain short township connectors), a requirement for the applicant to provide an annual neighborhood meeting facilitated by county planning staff, and a commitment from the applicant to pay $25,000 annually to both Brooklyn and Delaware townships for road maintenance related to facility traffic. The board voted to amend the commission decision and then to adopt the amended CUP; the roll call on the amendment was Arons: yes; Otten: yes; Schmidt: yes; Putnam: no; Landin: yes. The final vote to adopt the amended CUP mirrored those results.
Appellants urged the board to require independent third‑party water and noise studies and to restrict long‑term expansion, but the board limited its action to conditions tied to the permit. Toby Brown told commissioners that three formal written complaints had been filed against the properties since 2013 (all dismissed) though staff has received numerous phone complaints during harvests.
What happens next: the amended CUP stands as the county’s action on this appeal; the condition requiring a traffic study and coordination with the highway superintendent will determine whether turning lanes or other improvements are required. The $25,000 annual payments and the neighborhood meeting requirement are intended to provide a mechanism for ongoing communication and partial funding for road maintenance.
