After delaying the vote for three weeks, the Minnehaha County Commission finally approved a zoning change for land near Sherman that a local energy group wants for its proposed ethanol plant.

Last Tuesday in Sioux Falls, the commissioners voted 5-0 to rezone the 300-acre plot of land northeast of Sherman from A-1 agricultural to the Buffalo Ridge Planned Development District. Buffalo Ridge Energy is considering the site for an ethanol plant that would produce at least 50 million gallons of ethanol per year.

The rezoning decision was tabled due to negotiations between Buffalo Ridge and landowners near the site. On April 24, the commission decided to defer a decision on rezoning the land to give Buffalo Ridge Energy and Delbert and Linda Danielson more time to come to a purchase price agreement for the Danielsons’ property. Both sides said that did not happen.

“We were not able to reach a resolution between the parties,” said Mike Bornitz, who represents Buffalo Ridge. “I don’t think it was for lack of trying on either of the sides.”

Although the commissioners approved the rezoning unanimously, Commissioner Bob Kolbe said he did so reluctantly. He questioned Chad Core, a project developer with Fagen Inc. working on Buffalo Ridge, about the environmental effect the ethanol plant could have.

Others were concerned with the personal effect. College student Brandi Pierret, who was raised in the area, said the action means residents “will lose our entire way of life.”

“We chose to live here where there is no industry,” she said. Her father, Randy Pierret, said the plant will ruin the quality of life in the area. Area residents are being railroaded, he said.

Commissioner Jeff Barth praised the proposed ethanol plant.

“This is a tremendous investment being made in our county and our area,” he said. “I think, in weighing things, the positives and the negatives, we have to be planning and moving forward.”

During testimony at the meeting, attorney Bill Janklow, who is representing the Danielsons, confronted Commissioner Anne Hajek over what Janklow considered inaccurate information about an alleged affiliation with ethanol producer Poet.

Janklow said Hajek had told several people that he is associated with the law firm Woods, Fuller, Schultz & Smith, and his work “may be a front for Broin because they represent Broin.”

“I have never represented Broin in my life, I don’t represent them now, I don’t speak for them,” Janklow said. “I don’t speak for Woods, Fuller (Schultz & Smith), and I am not a member of the Woods, Fuller law firm.”

In April, lawyers with Woods, Fuller, Schultz & Smith confirmed to the Argus Leader that Janklow was of counsel with the firm. “Of counsel” is a term applied to someone who aids in the preparation and management of a legal case but who is not the principal lawyer.

Janklow said he recently had learned that Hajek and her husband, Douglas Hajek, are both lawyers. Douglas Hajek is a partner with Davenport Evans Hurwitz & Smith in Sioux Falls. Janklow said Douglas Hajek had represented a Wentworth ethanol plant when it split off from the original company. Janklow said her voting on the issue was a conflict of interest, but added that it wasn’t illegal.

Hajek declined to recuse herself from the vote, saying she would not discuss her husband’s clients with Janklow and that she did not know all of them. Hajek said she was concerned about any possible ties Janklow might have to Poet.

Argus Leader material reprinted with permission. Brent Zell contributed to this story.



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