The Burleigh County Commission has upheld a recommendation from the Planning and Zoning Commission to deny proposed changes to the county’s agricultural recreation laws.
The decision on Wednesday follows a County Commission meeting last month, where officials voted to expedite the approval process for the changes after considering a special use permit appeal from Baldwin Greenhouse and Nursery to establish a corn maze on their property. The board asked the Planning and Zoning Commission to hold a special meeting on the changes. That meeting took place last week.
“The basic action that was taken at (the Planning and Zoning Commission) meeting (last week) was to deny the amendment … due to the fact that we still have a lot of work (to do) in writing that ordinance,” County Commissioner Wayne Munson told the board on Wednesday.
The denial follows months of work on the changes, including three stakeholder meetings and the drafting of ordinance language. The new ordinance would have established a tiered system to define what agriculture tourism uses would be allowed and how they could be operated.
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With the changes denied, county officials and other stakeholders will likely meet again to hammer out a new proposal to be considered by the County Commission, though a timeline wasn’t mentioned during Wednesday’s meeting.
The Planning and Zoning Commission held a special public hearing on Aug. 29 that lasted more than 2 ½ hours. County Planner Mitch Flanagan presented the board with three ordinance drafts. He explained that commissioners could either choose one of the three drafts to forward to the County Commission or develop a new draft based on public comment.
During the meeting, nearly a dozen members of the public, including some initial supporters of the changes, expressed opposition to the drafts. Speakers included Mary Powell, owner of Baldwin Greenhouse; Dave Lehman, owner of Burnt Creek Farms; and representatives from the Burleigh County Farm Bureau and the North Dakota Tourism Division. Several Baldwin residents also addressed the board.
Many public comments criticized the regulations as hastily and poorly written, leading to confusion and confliction with other zoning ordinances. Others were concerned that the proposed language, which included limits on visitor numbers and education days, would burden agritourism operations. Not a single public comment was made in support of either of the drafts.
“We will support agritourism all the time, and this (ordinance) completely restricts agritourism,” Heather Lang, a representative from Burleigh County Farm Bureau, said during the meeting. “Agriculture runs our state, it runs a beautiful state of North Dakota. I don’t understand why we are trying to restrict agritourism and the industry that runs our state.”
After public comment, commissioners felt the drafts presented were not adequate enough to be sent to the County Commission. They ultimately voted 7-1 to recommend denying the ordinance. Commissioner Munson did not provide a reason for his vote against the denial recommendation.
Changes to county law regarding agriculture recreation began in February after the Planning and Zoning Commission denied a request from Burnt Creek Farms to create an event space at their property. Neighbors of the property spoke out against the event space proposal, concerned about dust control and gravel road maintenance.
Since then, three stakeholder meetings have taken place and ordinance language has been drafted. The ordinance was also discussed at several Planning and Zoning Commission meetings this year.
Agriculture recreation, often referred to as “agritourism,” is the practice of inviting visitors to participate in farm or ranch activities. These are generally small in scale and education-focused, put on by working farms and ranches as secondary income, according to the North Dakota Department of Commerce.
Reach Zachary Weiand at 701-250-8264 or zachary.weiand@bismarcktribune.com.
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