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Update: On September 6th Hard Rock Mining Ordinance at the Pennington County Commissioners’ Hearing.

CONTESTED HEARING(S)

H. PUBLIC HEARING OF ORDINANCE AMENDMENT / OA 22-01: To add Section 321 “Hard Rock Mining” [to add Section 321 “Hard Rock Mining”] to the Pennington County Zoning Ordinance.

Sept. 6 – Motion: MOVED by LaCroix and seconded by Rossknecht to continue this item indefinitely. Vote: Unanimous. Source: Click Here and scroll down to page 10 of the PDF.

We thank those who came to give comment and stayed for close to four hours waiting for the HRMO to come up on the agenda. After hearing some of the comments and Q/As with some still in attendance the Commissioners voted to “continue this item indefinitely.” At the end there was discussion and it was then they decided to set up an ad hoc committee. We will keep you posted as we learn more.

For your convenience, here is the portion of the Sept. 6 hearing starting at the HRMO discussion and public comments. This portion lasted over an hour.

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Sept. 6, 2022 – The Pennington County Commissioners are accepting public comment on the Draft Hard Rock Mining Ordinance (HRMO). Meeting starts at 9:00 a.m. (be there by 10:30 a.m.) in the Commission Chambers located in the County Administration Building, 130 Kansas City Street, Rapid City.

WHAT’S AT STAKE? FUTURE GENERATIONS’ WATER. The Hard Rock Mining Ordinance would be extremely important for protection of Pennington County’s water, landscapes, and agriculture/tourism economy. It would give the County a say when companies want to mine. So your email or call or when you give in-person testimony should start and end by saying you are IN FAVOR of the Ordinance.

However, we believe that the way the draft ordinance now reads it is weak in those major areas mentioned above. We can do better. And, during the July 5th meeting the Commissioners listened to our concerns and decided to keep the public comment opportunity open for a few more rounds. It is our hope that they will take several options that will help strength this ordinance to help protect water, wildlife, and humans.

PENNINGTON COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS:

Not sure who your Commissioner is? Commission Districts Maps 

Ron Rossknecht Commission District 1 Term expires: 2022 605-391-1162	Travis Lasseter Commission District 4 Term expires: 2024 605-391-0416 travis.lasseter@pennco.org
Lloyd LaCroix, Vice Chair Commission District 2 Term expires: 2024 605-545-4269	Gary Drewes, Chair Commission District 5 Term expires: 2022 605-940-1120 gary.drewes@gmail.com
Deb Hadcock Commission District 3 Term expires: 2022 605-389-0395 debdistrict3@vastbb.net

Commissioners’ Office Phone Number: 605-394-2171
Click here for a contact form: Board of Commissioners – Pennington County, South Dakota

NOTE: Be sure to check the Commissioner’s Calendar to see the meeting agenda and what item number the HRMO is listed for time consideration.

Extracted pages from the July 5th BOD packet regarding the Hard Rock Mining Ordinance documents/comments.

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