By Mark Coddington
mark.coddington@theindependent.com

"Is this deja vu all over again?" asked Barton, the Lincoln attorney representing several nearby residents who oppose the project.

The specifics of the evidence presented by the applicants and their opponents differed, but the central issue before the board remained the same as the first time around: How much information should it require, and how much should be left to the state Department of Environmental Quality?

The operation, applied for by Ken, Ron, Dennis and Jerry Woitaszewski of Wood River, would house 7,500 dairy cows in enclosed buildings southeast of Ravenna while using a methane digester to convert the manure into electrical power.

But scores of neighbors have objected, citing concerns about water quality, lower property values and odor.

Representatives of those neighbors, including Barton, argued Tuesday that the board should require a detailed waste management plan with information about how much waste would be produced and exactly how it would be disposed of.

"What you have in front of you is nothing more than an outside boundary of a proposed location," said Kathy Martin of Norman, Okla., a civil engineer who specializes in livestock operations. "There's nothing to critique."

But spokesmen for the Woitaszewskis said such plans would be scrutinized by the DEQ, whose approval would be required to go ahead with the project.

"There are many, many layers of bureaucracy that these gentlemen will have to go through before anything can be built," said Galen Stehlik of Grand Island, their attorney. "We're here seeking a permit to start the application process."

Since the permits were first applied for in October, they've aroused a wave of public opposition, generating a half-dozen packed public meetings and hundreds of signatures on petitions asking officials to disallow the operation.

The board narrowly denied special-use permits for the project in January when its 4-3 vote for approval fell one vote short of a required two-thirds majority.

That margin was necessary because adjacent landowners filed a formal protest against the application.

But the Woitaszewskis filed a second application, which marked out a smaller tract of land within the original proposed site.

They own all of the land adjacent to that tract, eliminating the possibility of a formal protest.

Board Chairman Dick Pierce said the board will make a decision at its April 22 meeting.