TRIPP -- A landowner associated with a proposed 6,380-sow feeding operation says he plans to pull the project and move it out of Hutchinson County.
The project was expected to draw protests from area landowners at an 8 p.m. Tuesday meeting of the Hutchinson County Planning and Zoning Commission, but that meeting may no longer be necessary.
Ralph Marquardt, the landowner associated with the project, said late Sunday evening that he plans to instruct his attorney to withdraw the project's conditional use permit application today. Marquardt is the owner of Marquardt Transportation in Yankton.
Marquardt, who said he just returned from vacation, said he was called by Republican District 19 State Rep. Gary Jerke about the project.
"Gary has talked to me and with his recommendation, we plan on canceling (the project)," Marquardt said.
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The applicant for the permit is Stock Farms Ltd. of Hurley, the directors of which are listed as Elliot and James Benson. The proposed operation would have been in Fair Township in the southwest quarter of section 35 on land owned by Marquardt. The site of the proposed feeding operation was about four miles southwest of Kaylor and roughly three miles southeast of Tripp.
Some area farmers who would have been affected by the project have organized an opposition group. They have complained that they never were notified of the project.
Marquardt said consulting others would deprive his company of the right to use its own land.
"Our style is not to do that," he said.
Marquardt said Jerke told him there were a lot of hard feelings on the project.
"I'll pull the project and take it to a different county. If they don't want it -- it's an $8 million project -- we'll find somebody that does," he said.
Frank Kloucek, a Democratic state senator from Scotland, said Friday that he opposed the hog farm for "environmental, economic and social reasons."
Marquardt said he did not want to make a political issue of the project.
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"There are factions that are trying to use this to their advantage and I don't want this to be a political issue," Marquardt said. "I want this to be a complement to Hutchinson County as well as a complement to my overall structure. I'm not into playing political games."
