Board approves adding storage use for Fantastic LLC at 5141 22nd Avenue after resident concerns about property values and industrial storage

Andrea from the Benton County land-use office (speaker 8) presented an application from Fantastic LLC to add a nonagricultural storage use on a 16.15-acre parcel at 5141 22nd Avenue, about 1.5 miles northwest of Mount Auburn. Andrea said 7 notification letters were mailed and legal notice published and that the request would permit storage within existing buildings and was found consistent with the Benton County Land Preservation and Use Plan. Andrea explicitly addressed a neighbor's concern that the use could be for wind-blade storage, stating the application was for storage only and "the intent of this request is not for the storage of wind turbine blades." (Andrea, speaker 8).

A resident, Don Peterson (speaker 1), said changing the property to commercial use would reduce surrounding property values and asked for enforceable conditions such as bonds, written restrictions on what may be stored, business hours and waste-disposal controls. Andrea and other staff clarified that Benton County uses land-use approvals (not traditional zoning), that approval would add storage as an allowed use but not automatically permit other industrial uses, and that building permits and some state permits (electrical, floodplain) would still apply. A motion to add the storage use was moved and approved by the board; staff noted enforcement for uses outside the approved storage classification would follow the same land-use process and could result in notices of violation.