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Waupaca County board approves variance allowing Whitetail Valley Dairy barn addition within highway setback
Summary
Despite a staff recommendation to deny, the Waupaca County Board of Adjustment on Nov. 14 approved a variance for Whitetail Valley Dairy LLC to add a barn within highway/right-of-way setbacks after finding unique property limitations and hardship tied to an existing manure system; final vote was 4-1.
The Waupaca County Board of Adjustment approved a variance on Nov. 14 allowing Whitetail Valley Dairy LLC to add to a barn within the highway and right-of-way setback in the Town of Farmington, Waupaca County.
Chair A. Richardson opened the second public hearing at 11:50 a.m. The applicant, Brad Trinrud, testified that a manure lagoon installed in 2021 was configured to work with a pump room and that denying the variance would prohibit pumping manure to the lagoon and impede compliance with a nutrient management plan. “In 2021 we put in a manure lagoon which made us compliant with a 509 nutrient management plan. By denying this variance we would be prohibited from using our manure system as we would not be able to pump manure to the lagoon,” Trinrud said.
Planning and Zoning staff, represented by Candace Bauer, recommended denial. The staff report questioned whether alternatives to the current configuration (pump-room location or lagoon siting) had been fully explored and noted that economic hardship or self-created conditions are generally not sufficient to justify a variance.
The board then considered the three legal variance criteria through a sequence of motions and roll-call votes. A motion that strict compliance did not unreasonably prevent use failed on a roll call. A subsequent motion that conformity with the regulation was “unnecessarily burdensome” passed with a majority citing the manure pump and pit having been in place for more than 20 years. The board also found unique physical property limitations based on the existing pit and pump placement and concluded that granting the variance would not harm the public interest.
Chair A. Richardson moved to approve the variance; B. Abba seconded. The roll-call vote to approve the variance was G. Marx—yes; P. Leder—no; M. Strebe—yes; B. Abba—yes; Chair A. Richardson—yes. The board ordered the variance APPROVED.
The board closed the public hearing at 1:07 p.m. and adjourned the meeting at 1:09 p.m. Staff said the Holbrook hearing will be scheduled for mid-to-late January for continued consideration.
Details of the board’s findings and the roll-call votes are part of the official minutes.
