The Pierce County Land Management Committee took public comments on the Conditional Use Permit for a concrete plant at CAFO Ridge Breeze Dairy in Town of Salem, ultimately approving it after committee discussions.

Haas Sons Inc. has a temporary concrete batch plant on the Ridge Breeze Dairy site, and claimed to be unaware a permit was needed for the temporary site, and since finding out, have sought a permit.

“Given the applicant’s willingness to immediately pursue a Conditional Use Permit, enforcement action was not initiated,” Zoning Administrator Adam Adank said.

If enforced, there could have been a fine of up to four times the cost of the permit. Adank said historically the fees have not been enacted unless there was an “intentional disregard for the ordinance or a repeat offense.”

The plant is in place primarily to supply concrete to the Ridge Breeze Dairy site for its feed pad, waste storage facilities and free stall barn expansions, which has faced some public backlash in recent months. There are also plans for off-site selling of the concrete.

The plant application was for a 100 x 150-foot area with a cement silo, a conveyer, aggregate bins, a job trailer, a water tank and sand and rock piles. The plant would operate until work is completed with a projected date of November 2025, where a site restoration plan would kick in.

A Haas Sons representative was questioned on why they were not aware of the need for a permit when it is something their business does regularly, and the representative said other portable concrete plans they have, including one in Maiden Rock, did not require this permit.

“The message it sends is, well go ahead and start and if something happens, the worst you’re going to experience is a couple of times the permit fee other than what it normally would have been,” Ellsworth resident Brian O’Connell said.

Members of the committee said the fine is not one that is frequently used, and this is not an instance of preferential treatment. Resident Mike Davis said he knows of people that have been fined for putting decks on their homes without a permit, and Haas Sons should be held to the same standard.

“Operating without a permit should be enough to constitute a fine, especially when we’re talking about multi-million-dollar corporations,” Danny Akenson of GrassRoots Organizing Western Wisconsin, an organization that has organized gatherings against Ridge Breeze’s expansion, said. “If this is the way things have always been done, I ask you to reconsider the way you’ve been doing these things.”

Residents asked why the proposal includes selling concrete off-site, and the Haas Sons representative said it was not in the original plan, but they wanted to benefit the neighbors. He said if it was unwanted by the community, they could take it off the permit.

Committee members expressed their belief that this instance was at a different level than some of the previous lack of compliance instances because of it being more commercial than other times where it has been someone not realizing what they are doing is commercial.

“As far as giving these folks preferential treatment above county residents, that’s simply not the case,” Land Management Director Andy Pichotta said.

With proposed hours of operation spanning from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. from Monday-Saturday with deviation from the hours allowed with approval from the Town of Salem, some residents said the hours will pose a problem to nearby homes.

“Operating as early as 4 a.m., I think, could be very disruptive to the neighbors in that community,” Akenson said.

The county had not received a report on the hours of operation being an issue for the neighbors, and the hours were determined by the Town of Salem.

Another concern mentioned was the safety of many trucks entering and exiting the site from HWY CC.