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HARTINGTON – The Cedar County Board of Commissioners were asked to reconsider allowing an aerial application service a conditional use permit to develop a landing strip near Laurel.
At its regular meeting last week, Mark Van Der Hart, chairman of the Tekamah Municipal Airport Zoning Board, provided additional information for commissioners to consider. Ultimately, the board decided to table the issue so that Cedar County Attorney Ron Temple could be consulted.
How we got here
At the commissioners’ Feb. 11 meeting, the motion to approve the permit for Nebraska- Iowa Helicopter to develop the landing strip parallel to Highway 15 in southeast Laurel did not get seconded and was not put to a vote.
The Cedar County zoning board had given the project the green light and landowners within 1,000 feet of the planned development were notified and no objections were raised, said Zoning Administrator Tim Gobel at the February meeting.
However, the county is essentially flying blind because there are no zoning regulations in place to guide such a development at the county or state level, he said.
The Nebraska Department of Transportation was notified since the new grass landing strip would be near and parallel to the highway, and officials did not raise any objections, either.
Commissioners cited safety concerns, and the noise impact to both people and animals near the proposed development.
Last week’s meeting
Van Der Hart argued that the landing strip development provides critical infrastructure to the county without taxpayer costs.
“Most people aren’t familiar with the nuances of flying. An airport is like another exit off the interstate for a town ... Even though its private, it’s a win. Anything that places you in access to that infrastructure is a positive thing,” he said.
Although the landing strip would be privately owned and operated, it could be utilized for emergencies that require a medical helicopter, he said.
Van Der Hart also minimized safety concerns with the landing strip’s proximity to the highway.
“All over the state, airports are adjacent to roads. I’m not denying what you say because I gawk at airplanes all the time ... so I totally understand it ... but it’s not a problem,” he said. “I’m not saying there’s never been an unhappy co-existence between airplanes and cars, but you can’t put your finger on it around the state.”
Hearing concerns about the proposed location, Nebraska-Iowa Helicopter looked at different ways to configure the landing strip but nothing made sense, Van Der Hart said.
“It did move a little farther north but not drastically,” he said.
Commissioners Dick Donner and Mike Meier remained unmoved by Van Der Hart’s additional information.
“The opposition that comes from around the area carries a bunch of weight,” Donner said. “I’m just saying, they got to live here, you don’t.”
Van Der Hart said with his own experience on a zoning board he deals with opposition regularly and while he empathizes that developments can ruin views, he still must abide by zoning regulations.
“There’s no regulations against this. It meets all the criteria. Technically you can’t say no,” Van Der Hart said.
He said that the commissioners erred when they didn’t consider the county zoning board’s recommendation as the first motion on the issue. But Chairman Dave McGregor, who has 18 years on the board, said the board has never operated in that way.
The commissioners have also never gone against the county zoning board recommendation before, at least not that McGregor can recall.
With a three-person board, County Clerk Jessica Schmit said even if the board had treated the zoning board recommendation as an official motion, the proposal would still have needed the board votes to pass.
Although the commissioners did not hold a vote at the meeting last week, Meier said he remained against the project.
