Skip to main content

Rock County buffer ordinance hearing Oct. 17

Subhead
LMO: 'Our staff will work with landowners and producers the best we can to help them come into compliance.'
By
Mavis Fodness

A public hearing is set for Tuesday, Oct. 17, for the county to consider adopting a local ordinance to enforce the state’s new buffer law.
The hearing begins at 9 a.m. in the Commissioners Room at the Rock County Courthouse.
Commissioners will take comments as well as act on the proposal outlining the implementation and enforcement of the state’s riparian protection requirements.
The buffer law, as the legislation is commonly known, requires landowners to install up to a 50-foot perennial vegetative buffer along public waters running along their farmland.
Implementation deadline is Nov. 1.
For cropland along judicial ditches, the deadline for the buffer installation is November 2018.
According to Land Management Office Director Eric Hartman, the local ordinance follows the model developed by the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources. He indicated the proposed ordinance best stipulates the law’s parameters with not a lot of flexibility for local input.
However, landowners can apply for an eight-month extension prior to the deadline.
In the proposed ordinance, a landowner is defined not only as holder of the fee title but also any other party responsible for farming activities on the parcel.
Failure to comply by the Nov. 1 deadline may result in charges against the landowner for non-compliance, which could lead to fines.
For the initial violation no fines would be levied for the first 11 months. After that time, a fine of $200 per parcel per month for the next six months takes place with the fine increasing to $500 per month per parcel for the following six months.
After two years, criminal prosecution is possible.
“Our staff will work with landowners and producers the best we can to help them come into compliance,” Hartman said.
Vegetative buffers are designed to intercept storm water runoff and prevent river and stream bank erosion. The buffers also reduce the amount of sediment, nitrogen and phosphorous entering the public waters, improving its quality.
LMO has identified 841 parcels in Rock County that are subject to the buffer law. About 70 percent of those parcels are already compliant or are in the process of becoming compliant with the law.
Copies of the proposed ordinance are available at the LMO facility at 311 W. Gabrielson Road in Luverne.
Local commissioners voted in June to enforce the buffer law within county borders. The county will received $200,000 over the next two years in an agreement similar to the monitoring of local feedlots.

You must log in to continue reading. Log in or subscribe today.