Like state, county moves to curb deer disease

Upon the recommendation of the Carlton County Planning Commission, the Carlton County Board of Commissioners approved zoning changes to the county zoning ordinance Tuesday for cervid farms, kennels and cemeteries.

Existing cervid farms (raising deer, elk and/or moose) in Carlton County — there are two — will still be able to operate. However, those operations will not be able to expand, and new ones are prohibited.

According to a story in MinnPost, Democratic lawmakers in St. Paul are close to banning new white-tailed deer farms in Minnesota, a decision that would serve a major blow to the statewide industry but one that DFLers hope will help curb the spread of chronic wasting disease and protect wild herds.

Legislators agreed to a moratorium last week as they hashed out differences between major environmental bills passed earlier this year by the House and Senate. The DFL is also poised to implement other regulations on deer farms and transfer oversight authority on captive white-tailed deer from the Board of Animal Health to the Department of Natural Resources.

Chronic wasting disease is a fatal neurological illness that has spread to some parts of Minnesota. The contagious disease is caused by self-replicating, abnormal proteins called prions. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has found 216 CWD-positive wild deer since 2010, which is far less than in surrounding states like Wisconsin and Iowa.

But state officials say containing it must be a priority to protect wild deer — and the hunting industry. The DNR has estimated the economic impact of wild hunting statewide at roughly $750 million every year.

CWD found in seven captive deer farms since 2017 has raised significant concerns among lawmakers and some state officials, who worry the disease can spread from escaped deer — potentially transported from areas with CWD outbreaks — to the wild population, or through interactions between deer along fences.

Cemetery changes

The county board made changes to public cemeteries — established under state statute 306 — which now must have a conditional or interim use permit.

Other requirements include:

• 50 parking spaces;

• Primary access must be located off state or county road;

• Minimum acreage for cemetery must be 20 acres;

• 100-foot setback at least from property lines or road right of way;

• Site does not have wetlands or more than a 12-percent slope;

Private cemeteries established under statute 307 were not addressed yet. Commissioner Gary Peterson proposed a working committee to study the implications of this type of cemetery regulation and come back to the county board with a recommendation after action from the planning board.

“The reason Carlton County would like to distinguish between 306 and 307 is because we had 15 private cemeteries (307) in the last 10-ish years,” Zoning administrator Heather Cunningham wrote in an email. “Many families want to be buried on their property. We didn’t feel like the county should regulate that use for what is required in the statute. In addition, churches are a permitted use in ordinance. It aligns with the county’s values to allow religious uses of properties as a permitted use.”

In other zoning changes, commercial kennels must now have a conditional or interim use permit along with a facility operators plan. Setbacks to property lines, a noise management plan, a ratio of dogs to employees, and a vegetative buffer maintained at least 100 feet from kennel operation and protected waters or neighboring drainage areas into protected waters are addressed in that portion of the ordinance.

The public hearing on May 3 by the planning commission had brought considerable testimony and written material. The planning commission voted to recommend changes to the zoning plan and did so unanimously.

Road funding

Projects for 32 roads numbered above 100 listed on a LOST (local option sales tax) funding stream were approved by the county board. At today’s prices, it would cost about $37 million to do them all.

At the May 2 public hearing, county highway engineer Jin Yeene Neumann stated that the half-cent sales tax could be used at a later date on CSAH county roads and bridges if federal and state funding for roads was cut. She explained that future needs were unknown at this time.

A preliminary 5-year plan for county road construction was approved as well as a bridge replacement list. Most bridge replacement projects are funded by state bridge bonding dollars. Major work needs to be done on several CSAH roads. Major funding for these projects comes from state aid. Roughly $600,000 is financed by proceeds from a vehicle excise tax and some from the half-cent sales tax revenues is paid out each year for the new Barnum county garage.

Other county news

• Public Health and Human Services has been lacking an electronic document management system. The county board approved investing in a program called CaseWorks, which reduces the amount of paperwork that has to be stored physically. PHHS fund balance would be used for the initial startup costs.

• A resolution was approved and promoted by commissioner Gary Peterson declaring May a “no mow month” to give the pollinators a chance to get through spring and spread out to other food sources in the bulk of the warm months.

• Eight tracts of timber off county-managed land will be put up for sale with oral bidding on June 5. Nearly 9,000 cords of wood are up for sale with a potential sale value of $218,99.

• There is good news for Carlton County residents that have failing septic systems. Another $100,000 was awarded for installing new systems for those screened and approved by the Carlton County Zoning Department.

MinnPost, a news partner of the Pine Knot News, contributed to this report. Find more statewide stories at minnpost.com.