Editor’s note: The author of the following is the planning and zoning administrator for Madison County.
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By JOHN JOHNSON
The term “setback” was thrown around a lot this summer when Helena Chemical wanted to locate a fertilizer facility southwest of Norfolk. What is a setback? How were they created? Why are they used?
In planning and zoning, setbacks are used to provide a spacing distance between different land uses. If a person wants to put a building along a county road, your setback is 50 feet from the edge of the right-of-way. For a 1,000-head cattle feedlot, the setback to the nearest residence is 1,320 feet or a quarter-mile. For a commercial fertilizer facility the setback is also 1,320 feet.
Why do we even have setbacks? Setbacks are designed to protect things. For instance, a setback between a building and the road protects the road from snow drifts or protects sight lines at a driveway or an intersection. Setbacks on how close you can spread manure to a creek, lake or river helps protect surface water quality.
Setbacks also separate incompatible land uses, such as a feedlot or storage of hazardous chemicals or even racetracks, from a residence. These setbacks also are reciprocal, meaning a residence cannot locate within the setback distance of uses like those listed above.
Why do we use numbers like a quarter-mile, or a half-mile? Most of Madison and Pierce counties’ land use setbacks are based on research that shows odor from a 1,000-head feedlot begins dissipating at around 1,320 feet. Of course, weather — including winds and humidity — have a lot of impact on odor dissipation. This same type of logic can be used for the spread of airborne chemicals.
The current setbacks being used, are derived from the original Madison County Zoning Resolution adopted in the mid-1970s where setbacks for animal feeding operations, fertilizer, fuel and hazardous chemical storage were all set at a quarter-mile. Since the 1970s a lot of things have changed, animal feeding operations have gotten bigger which is why setbacks have gotten further for larger livestock operations. Storage methods of hazardous products and even the products have been refined in many ways. No longer is explosive fertilizer the norm as it was prior to the Oklahoma City bombing.
Recently, the Madison County Joint Planning Commission and the Madison County commissioners passed an amendment to the zoning regulations allowing neighbors to sign a waiver or impact easem*nt to allow storage of fertilizer inside of the 1,320 foot setback. This is already done for livestock and manure stockpiling setbacks.
I’ve had a lot of people ask why can’t we be like Platte County which has no zoning regulations for the unincorporated areas of the county. At first, this seems simple and much less complicated. Just put whatever you want wherever you want. That may sound great at first. How about a subdivision locating within a quarter-mile of a hog operation. That may be fine until the residents of the subdivision sue the hog feeder for being a nuisance. How about the guy who puts up a grain bin on a corner only to have a fatal accident caused because a driver didn’t see a hazard since his view was blocked by the grain bin?
County zoning in Nebraska was put in place by the legislature to protect the health, safety and general welfare of the citizens. Zoning isn’t always perfect, but the zoning in Madison County has worked pretty well and without many complaints for almost 40 years.
