Crescent Ridge work may carry into 2009

Feedlot fences, feed bunks and buildings have been removed from the Crescent Ridge property, formerly the Winter Feedlot. Concrete footings still need to be removed, along with trees. [Click to enlarge]

Crescent Ridge, previously the Winter family's farmsite and feedlot, was purchased by the Le Mars Business Initiative Corporation (LBIC) by October 2007.

Since then, the City of Le Mars has been cleaning up the site.

Several lagoons have been cleaned out, tires have been removed and buildings taken down.

So far this year, the city has recorded $127,964 in expenses for cleaning up the land.

The City of Le Mars also contributed in-kind labor like tearing down buildings, removing trees, removing cement and grading.

Now, progress is halted until a wood chipping company from Sioux Falls, S.D. completes the chipping of all the wood products on the site like buildings and trees, City Administrator Scott Langel said.

"Then we have to take out the concrete footings and pile them for crushing, and we have to deal with at least one underground fuel storage tank," Langel added.

Water discharge piping must be added in two ponds, which were formerly lagoons.

Langel said he was hoping this work would have been completed already. As winter sets in, work becomes more difficult.

"Trying to pull out concrete footings is almost impossible after the ground is frozen," he said.

Currently, the land is being rented to farmers.

In the long range, the LBIC is seeking buyers for the land. They rejected several offers in April because they were too low, based on recommendation from City of Le Mars and Plymouth County officials.

The LBIC, an economic development group, originally purchased the 60 acres to make way for development directly west of the recently built Wells' Dairy Corporate Center.

Interested parties can submit purchase offers to the LBIC.

The Winters moved and expanded their feedlot operations in rural Akron.