Man seeks state, county approval for salvage yard

Terry Sides of McCook, Nebraska, is stockpiling junked vehicles on about 10 acres northwest of the former Republican Valley junior/senior high school between McCook and Indianola, preparing to turn it into an auto wrecking/salvage yard business -- if it's approved by the state and the Red Willow County commissioners. (Connie Jo Discoe/McCook Daily Gazette)

McCOOK, Nebraska -- A McCook, Nebraska, businessman wants to start an auto wrecking/salvage yard business northeast of McCook, if he can get approval from the Red Willow County commissioners and from the State of Nebraska.

Terry Sides, owner also of TJ's Family Fun Center in McCook, told commissioners during a public hearing Monday morning that there is a need for used car parts and for some place for derelict cars to go. He is in the process of completing requirements and paperwork for the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality, and Monday, asked for a conditional use zoning permit from the county commissioners.

Terry Sides said the facility could create two to three more jobs.

The permit request has been approved unanimously by the county zoning's planning committee and recommended to commissioners with the stipulations that the former hog facility manure pits are cleaned out and that Sides obtain the necessary state licenses.

Terry said the only change he asks of commissioners is that he be required to build a six-foot-tall privacy and chain link fence instead of an eight-foot-tall fence, because, his wife, Jana, said, a six-foot fence would be more stable in the wind. The couple's son, Michael, said the fence will be topped with razor barbed wire.

The location is a former hog confinement facility with manure pits that Terry said he is cleaning out. "We will take care of the property ... whatever needs to be done," Terry said.

With the permission of the current landowner, Sides has about 100 vehicles stored there now. Commissioners said their approval would include the stipulation that Sides stockpile no more vehicles until he assumes ownership of the land and all the county stipulations are met and state licenses are in order.

Kent Meyers of rural McCook, who owns land on four sides of the proposed salvage yard, said he objects to the project because of the potential for blowing trash and run-off of fluids onto his land.

Meyers said he was upset that Sides was allowed to store cars on the property even before going before the planning commission in December 2012. However, as commissioners, pointed out, Sides has the permission of the landowner to store the vehicles there. Meyers urged commissioners to deny the project, or at least "say no" until the process is approved by all government entities involved. He also asked that no more vehicles be allowed.

Kent Meyers' son, Jason, told commissioners that these vehicles "were dripping and leaking in town, and now they're dripping and leaking out here."

One of the first steps, Terry said, is to get approval from the county, "because the state won't waste its time" if the county says no. And the Department of Environmental Quality won't approve it until Sides meets all of its conditions, which includes building a 12-foot perimeter containment berm to protect neighbors' properties. Terry said there will need to be some re-sloping done, and an engineer will have to sign off on the plan.

Michael Sides said that once the operation is up and going, he will drain all the fluids -- gas, oil, antifreeze, brake fluids -- from the vehicles. "These fluids are highly sellable," Terry said.

Commission chairman Earl McNutt said there have been/are other salvage yards in the county. The county forced one owner to clean up his property (southeast of McCook) and comply with the county's zoning laws after complaints from neighbors in 2010, and another (more visible on Highway 6&34) was grandfathered in because it predated the county's zoning regulations approved in September 2001.

Commissioner Steve Downer recommended a "tentative" approval until the DEQ approves. Fellow commissioner Vesta Dack said that the commissioners' final approval rests with DEQ and EPA approval. "Kent needs reassurance that his property will be protected," she said.

Dack told the Sideses, "We do want you to be able to do this. But (we have to) protect the neighbors."

McNutt said he received a phone call from someone in support of Sides project, assuring commissioners that if Terry Sides was involved, it would be done right. McNutt said that he feels that the property, under Sides' ownership and operation, "will be safer than it has been in the past." He continued, "Once Terry becomes the landowner, it will be run as a business."

Terry said he would proceed with the land purchase and then with the state approvals, if he gets the county's go-ahead.

McNutt assured others, "If Mr. Sides says he'll do something, he'll get it done and act professionally."

Jason Meyers asked for regular updates on Sides' progress in the project. County zoning administrator Darcey Eckhardt said the state's process could take up to two years. She said she would keep commissioners and the Meyerses informed as the state approves plans and licenses.

Commissioners approved Sides' conditional use permit request, with McNutt adding, "We want to make right, and have it done correctly, so there are no issues in the future."

Kent Meyers asked whether he can appeal the commissioners' decision. Dack told him that would be a question he would have to ask county attorney Paul Wood.