I just read this article at the SiouxFalls.Business website which provides an interesting spin on the ballot measure coming up in Sioux Falls. A measure that’s been pressed forward to attack the proposed Wholestone ag-processing facility. And if you take what Jodi Schwan found out about a Wholestone plant’s neighbors in a different community, it paints the entire project in a far different light than it’s critics would have you believe:
“My overall impression of Wholestone is they come to a community looking to say and see how they can assist, how they can partner,” Fiala said. “I have just been so impressed. They use their expertise to serve the community. They serve on a number of boards for nonprofits, which is incredibly helpful. They organize volunteers. Those are two examples of many. I wouldn’t say that about every organization in this community, but I am adamant to say it about Wholestone because that’s exactly what they’ve done.”
and…
“No. 1, as far as a steward in the community, you can’t get a better company,” she said. “When they came in, everybody was nervous when they bought Hormel. I think everybody thought it was going to be cut and kill and not ham and hot dog processing, and to be honest that’s not been an issue at all. They thought the higher-level positions would go away, and not so. And it’s a very, very clean operation, state-of-the-art. They’ve done so many improvements it’s amazing.”
I didn’t know what to expect making these calls, but it was eye-opening to hear such effusive praise.
An ag processing operation that partners with the community, believes in charity, and according to the story, doesn’t do anything to negatively affect the community it resides in.
Not exactly what the opponents would have you believe.
Sorry, but I do not trust anyone who says that they will ignore the will of the citizens. They admit that they will build this thing in city limits even if the vote goes against them. OK, then please don’t tell me how great they are. They have proven that they don’t care what we think.
There is no reason to build it in town. It makes no sense. And there are virtually no regulations to keep them in check. They will do whatever they want. It will be too late.
The reason to build where it is going is to be able to tap into city utilities. Those, of the scale necessary, aren’t offered or accessible in townships. They are required to build a facility like this.
They are building a plant on a commercially zoned property. I hope the ballot measure fails miserably. Jeff Broin has made a terrible political miscalculation that will come back to haunt him and POET for decades to come.
Wow. You people think you disregard our vote. And it sure looks like you are harassing a supporter of the measure. A bit heavy-handed, don’t you think?
What is the point of a zoning commission if ballot measures are going to supersede after the fact? Didn’t the “will of the citizens” elect those in power who gave Wholestone the go ahead? Aren’t you worried about the potential liability the city is taking on by denying construction after issuing permits? The SF taxpayers may end up funding a large portion of the plant if Wholestone is impaired.
Oh my. Legal intimidation too. You have lots of little threats in your piggy bank, don’t you?
It would be quite the flex coaxing the residents to stop something you hate and pay for it too.
Elk, you’re not responding to the point. You said “there is no reason to build it in town.” There are many reasons, several of which the previous commenter pointed out for you.
They have a five hundred million dollar budget. I think they can get electricity to where they need it.
You do realize the Ordinance proposed on the budget will not effect this company right? They are building the business as we speak, soon to be open, it currently sits out the eastern edge of the city north of the Water Reclamation Plant, south of I-90, which allows it to connect to our electric grid, water grid, and like John Morrells, sits along the river. They will be grandfathered in to our old ordinance fully protected to do business in the city.
I will make the contention, the ordinance will be challenged in COURT due to it being unconstitutional, you are violating someones natural right to life, liberty, property, prosperity. And it is one attribute to building a City, Township, Sub-Division – to pool the collective property assets together as to collect and pay taxes to use a public infrsatructure, roads, electric grid, water and sewer. They will also be protected by the Sioux Falls Police Dept as well.
Your “right to prosperity”?
There are 200,000 folks who demand a say in your “right” to stink up our town and reduce our quality of life. And that isn’t “unconstitutional”.
That’s not how water infrastructure works
Electricity is NOT the problem. WATER is the problem. You clearly have no clue what you are talking about…
Ever smelled an ethanol plant? The ammonia smell is worse than pig poop. Broin is a hypocrite.
Is he planning to put one next to the mall or something?
Well said, they are only going in the city to try and get cheap utilities and benefits from a city council that was implanted by developer money. So they will be stinking up the city and getting paid to do it from the taxpayers. This is what a one party system will do for us, great work, folks.
How close is this to a mall? The closest thing to Wholestone will be a concrete plant
The mall already smells like ammonia.
If Sioux Falls wants unimpeded growth, corporate sponsored high salaried blue collar jobs such as Wholestone’s would be a great way to sustain that growth. Not everybody can be a realtor and own property. 🙃
How about this… when we vote… you listen.
How about this…you already voted for city council, planning commission, etc…Were you protesting when they rezoned the property???
A town 1/10 the size of SF with three processing plants, meaning they’re basically fully dependent on that type of business, is not mad that they’re there? Not surprising.
The point about Smithfield doesn’t make much sense either. Jodi is fine using politics to limit their growth or force their move in the future but not using politics to stop this plant?
The Smart Growth “turn our town into Sewer Falls” radio ad is obnoxious
15-20 years ago, I was living in Central Sioux Falls and the Smithfield / Morrell stench was truly awful. There was some sort of expansion or other project in the works, I can’t remember exactly what, and public opposition was fierce.
I was at the council meeting where the city finally fessed up and admitted their lagoons in the area were just as responsible and voted on immediate mitigation measures.
As soon as the City completed the project, the smell was dramatically reduced. The current opponents won’t tell you about that bit of history, will they?
And yet Smithfield still stinks today.
I’m not a resident of Sioux Falls so I don’t have a dog in the fight. If this question has Ben asked already in previous posts I apologize. Where is the proposed location if this facility?
East of Sioux Falls close to the Sioux Falls Water Reclamation Plant..
It would be south of I-90, east of I-229, north of Benson Road, west of S.D 100 or better known as Veteran’s Parkway. Keep in mind, the City has input and some sense of country 3-5 miles outside of its city boundaries, by law, it can license, permit these facilities to be placed just in the exact spots around the city, which at some point, will be part of city limits.
The land itself is already zoned commercial use, and thanks to being in close approximately to the Water Reclamation Plan and the Sioux River, has easy access to the Sioux Falls Water and Sewer Grid, and can be connected to the Electric Grid as well.
The Facility is being built as we speak and will in full use by the time the proposed ordinance would take effect if passed which would be November 28, 2022, if adopted on Nov. 8th. That means, it would be ‘grandfathered’ into our older “ordinance” known today.
The new ordinance would only effect any ‘new’ business that establishes itself after November 28, 2022.
I am not sure on this, I would have to get a legal opinion, but I think the “ordinance” itself could be deemed unconstitutional and could force the “CITY” to pay millions to defend itself vs the ordinance if adopted. So, beware of any legal challenges. Based on the fact, a business owner/individual have a constitutional right to build their companies anywhere inside South Dakota.
To add further … think about this scenario, the State and, or County could license, permit these types of facilities all day long anywhere outside of Sioux Falls. And because Sioux Falls is a growing city, whereas our growth has been on an uprise over the past 20 years, these types of facilities would eventually be inside City Limits one day in the future, so what really is the intent of this proposed ordinance, reason for it being ruled unconstitutional if adopted on Nov 8th.
Let’s also keep in mind, the County of Minnehaha has full right to commercially zone any land within its borders, so long as the land owners consent to such zoning, hence again, the ordinance can be legally challenged, cause a LAND OWNER/property holder has every right to zone his land, build on hid land as per the S.D Constitution.
If I was a land owner or an investor within Minnehaha County, I would buy land around the outside limits of Sioux Falls, take advantage of the electric grid, water-sewer grid, let alone build as close to the city as possible to take advantage of the “commerce” of the city. My natural right to life, liberty, property, prosperity is of course a constitutionally protected right of course.
Hence, if adopted by the voters of Sioux Falls – they are placing themselves in a position of being sued in a S.D Courtroom. Which of course can force the ordinance into litigation, being challenged for years, and if so, the older ordinance stands as is until that time, let alone the monetary fees of the lawsuit could cost the city millions.
This could be a politically driven “ordinance” by lobbyists against this type of business, could be a federally lobbied ordinance with exterior motives behind it.
I hate autocorrect
I know of no “natural right to prosperity”. In what document is that found?