CONTACT: Janet Hallaway, 507-374-2280
Ralph Schwanke, 507-528-2564
Adam Warthesen, 612-722-6377

2/28/06
CLAREMONT, Minn.—On the eve of a special March 1 meeting to discuss whether the City of Claremont should make a 3,000-animal unit mega-dairy a distant part of the community through a controversial annexation proposal, the majority of voting age residents in the city have signed a petition opposing the annexation. As of Feb. 28, 120 Claremont residents had signed the petition. Claremont had 236 registered voters in 2004, according to the Minnesota Secretary of State.

On Feb. 7, the Claremont Planning and Zoning Committee voted 4-1 to recommend that the city not pursue the annexation. The Claremont City Council must give approval before the annexation process can proceed. On Wednesday, March 1, beginning at 7 p.m., a special Claremont City Council meeting that focuses on “Dairy Development” will be held at the Claremont City Hall.

“This result of this petition drive is just one more sign that residents in this community think this annexation is a bad idea,” said Ralph Schwanke, Claremont City Council member. “The citizens have spoken.”

The proposal would annex the rural mega-dairy site in Ripley Township, which is at least one and a quarter mile from the current city limits of Claremont. In 2005, after extensive study and review, Ripley Township enacted planning and zoning, which was supported by 75 percent of the township’s residents. The zoning ordinance includes, among other provisions, a 1,500-animal unit cap on livestock development, which is equivalent to 1,070 dairy cows. Ninety-six percent of the dairy operations in Minnesota are less than 200 cows.

However, a New Jersey investor bankrolling a proposed 3,000-animal unit operation in the township does not want to comply with the township planning and zoning rules. Annexation of the site would essentially circumvent Ripley’s planning and zoning standards, allowing the mega-dairy to build in the same location but become part of the city limits of Claremont.

“This proposal represents an abuse of the annexation process,” said Kerry Schroeder, a Ripley Township Supervisor. “This annexation proposal does not meet the minimum state criteria for appropriate annexation by a city of land in a neighboring township and is an attempt to get around our local township ordinance and the wishes of the residents.”

The proposed dairy would have a liquid manure lagoon the size of seven football fields, and be 18 feet deep. Residents in Ripley Township have expressed concerns that such a large facility would contaminate water, cause air pollution and lower property values. Mega-dairies of similar size have caused environmental and human health problems in other parts of Minnesota, as well as in Iowa and as far away as California.

“A majority of Ripley residents oppose livestock projects of this size, and now the majority of Claremont voters have spoken and recognized this annexation as unwise and wrong,” said long-time Ripley Township resident Janet Hallaway. “I hope the Claremont City Council will agree.”

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