Slaughterhouse ordinance on ballot for Sioux Falls voters

By
Jim Eadie
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Source: Keloland

Only registered Sioux Falls voters will decide whether new slaughterhouses will be allowed to be built inside city limits through a municipal ballot measure.

The group called Smart Growth Sioux Falls turned in more than 10,000 signatures to get its petition on the ballot.

At 8:30 p.m., the first results from the city of Sioux Falls were being reported. As of 11:30 p.m. p.m., with 21,578 votes counted on the slaughterhouse ordinance, “yes” had 44% (9,921) and “no” was at 52% (11,657).

Initiated Measure – Prohibit New Slaughterhouses

Initiated Measure – Prohibit New SlaughterhousesSioux Falls
Measure Votes Percent
Yes
 17,711 47.0%
No
 19,956 53.0%

 

The specific language of the ballot question would amend zoning ordinances in Sioux Falls to not allow any new slaughterhouse to be constructed or permitted within city limits. The second section of the measure states it does not apply to existing and operating slaughterhouses.

Voters will then decide whether to adopt the ordinance by voting “yes”, thus banning any new slaughterhouses in Sioux Falls, or reject the ordinance with a “no” vote.

The latest campaign finance reports published by the city clerk’s office show biofuel company POET gave more than $1 million to Smart Growth Sioux Falls.

POET CEO Jeff Broin owns a home in a gated, luxury-house development less than two miles from the site where Wholestone Farms has built a butcher shop and plans to expand to a facility to harvest 3 million hogs annually.

Proponents say slaughterhouses’ impact on the city will be negative and want to see them operate outside of the city limits.

Smart Growth is also awaiting a possible future trial on whether the city of Sioux Falls was wrong to issue permits for Wholestone Farms. Circuit Court Judge Sandra Hoglund Hanson denied an injunction in October and said a trial would need to be held for the court to provide “extraordinary relief” to the plaintiffs.

Opponents of the initiated measure have said the ban would hurt future businesses from coming to Sioux Falls and harm the agriculture industry and other industries in the area.

Wholestone Farms held a ribbon cutting at its butcher shop near Benson Road and I-229 in October.

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