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Board approves 160-foot setback variance for dwelling near small feedlot in Houston County
Summary
The Houston County Board of Adjustment voted to grant Gerald Ladston a 160-foot variance that allows a proposed dwelling to encroach into the feedlot setback. Staff said the structure was already under construction; a stop-work order and after-the-fact permit requirements were announced.
The Houston County Board of Adjustment voted to grant a 160-foot variance for a proposed dwelling that encroaches on the setback from an adjacent feedlot, the board said.
Staff told the board that a measurement in the original packet (134 feet) was corrected to 160 feet after re-measurement of the site and that the applicant, Gerald Ladston, seeks relief tied to the 160-foot figure. The board reviewed findings required for an area variance and then approved the variance in a roll-call vote.
The variance matters because the property sits in an Agricultural Protection District and adjacent land uses include a registered feedlot. Staff noted the adjacent feedlot’s reported size is just over 2 animal units; the board discussed how historically registered animal-unit counts are used to determine protections for existing agricultural operations.
Neighbors urged caution after learning construction had started. One attendee told the board that he received notice on Friday and "he's laying concrete on Saturday morning," expressing concern that work had proceeded before approvals. Staff confirmed enforcement steps: "He has a stop work order that will be hand delivered tomorrow," and said the dwelling is now an after-the-fact permit subject to a triple fee and that county building permits will not be issued until septic plans are submitted.
Board members and commenters debated whether variance approvals should explicitly notify or protect adjacent feedlot owners from future impacts or fees; staff said any change to notification or variance language would require county attorney review and possibly a planning-commission ordinance referral. The board discussed that granting this variance should not automatically preclude other owners from applying for their own variances in the future and emphasized that feedlot operators must comply with feeding and manure-application regulations.
Clerk-collected roll call recorded affirmative votes from Ken Anderson; Franklin; Dean Hopple; Wayne Runigan; and Ken Visker, and the motion carried.
Next steps: staff will deliver the stop-work order, the applicant will need to provide septic system plans before a building permit is issued, and the public comment deadline for the advertised hearing was 11/11/2025 with the hearing scheduled for 5 p.m. on 11/20/2025 in Caledonia.
