Following a public hearing at which several neighbors opposed the idea, Seward County commissioners on June 23 rejected Vitaliy Martynyuk’s application to convert a former turkey feeding farm into a salvage parts business.
Martynyuk, who is owner of Prestige Parts LLC as well as the Prestige Auto Sales in Lincoln, sought a conditional use permit to convert the 22-acre parcel of land on Superior Road northeast of the Milford interchange, where in the 1980s and perhaps 1990s up to 80,000 turkeys could be housed at a time.
His intention, he said, was to use two of the buildings close to Superior Road to salvage and store parts he could resell online and have the vehicles from which they were salvaged removed from the property. All work would be done on concrete within the buildings to avoid any leakage of oil or other substances into the ground, he told commissioners.
Martynyuk said he would likely have two to four vehicles on site at a time for salvaging.
Martynyuk said the buildings on the farm in Precinct I, Section 7, Township 10 were being leased for storage by several people prior to his purchase of the land in March. He said it is taking him some time to work with lease tenants because some did not have written agreements.
Aerial file photos of the land show 10 buildings on the site and Martynyuk’s application indicated he would use Building 8 (31,500 square feet) and Building 9 (26,500 square feet) for his business and may convert one of the two homes on the property into office space in the future.
He submitted a site plan for the 22.03 acres that showed about half the buildings having items stored inside belonging to tenants who preceded his purchase of the land and a gravel lot where five or six cars remained. Martynyuk said he and some of those tenants had removed a number of vehicles already.
Seward County Zoning Administrator Marissa Pfile told commissioners that regulation allows buildings to cover up to 10 percent of the total square feet of a rural property. She said Martynyuk would have to clear about 80 percent of the buildings on the property to comply with that.
Business operation
questioned
The county also alleged that Martynyuk had already begun using the land for his salvage parts business before having permission to do so. Pfile said the county and county sheriff’s office issued a cease-and-desist letter to Martynyuk on June 3 for doing so and he paid the $1,800 fee for that on June 15.
Commission Chair Misty Ahmic said Martynyuk had spoken with her in November about the need for permits, and asked Martynyuk if he was conducting business from the site, which he originally denied. He said he had people putting up shelves and sorting parts and that three or four trucks a week had been coming to the site.
Martynyuk said his business in Lincoln had had a fire and he needed to remove some items.
“I did not think I was doing anything illegal,” he said.
Martynyuk also said there had been some confusion over his use of a burn permit and someone who was helping clean up at the site burning a boat on the land a different day without a new permit. He said he was cited for that and paid the fine required.
Upon purchasing the land, he said he had repaired some of the buildings’ roofs, installed some garage doors and had concrete work done in one of the buildings he plans to use.
“It is my responsibility to clean it up. I have sent everybody letters to remove their stuff,” Martynyuk said.
Commissioner Scott Pekarek said the property operated as a turkey farm in the mid-1980s and had “no less than 29 complaints” since then through the Nebraska Department of Water, Energy and Environment, formerly known as the Department of Environmental Quality.
He said the farm seemed to have been turned into a “scrap yard” after it ceased turkey feeding operations. He said there is a 2023-24 Google photo of the site showing at least 60 vehicles there.
Ahmic said that operation was operating without a zoning permit.
Neighbors speak out
About 20 people attended the commissioners’ public hearing on the conditional use permit.
Bob Blevens said he owns 20 acres about a half mile from Martynyuk’s and his daughter also lives nearby. He questioned the county’s required application form and said there was a lack of specific information in the application.
“This is a substantial piece of property and this is a substantial development,” he said.
He said the lack of information on plans for the property is “perplexing” because the parcel has been involved in environmental investigations before Martynyuk purchased it.
Jessica Justice, who lives nearby, told commissioners about past concerns related to Wolf Creek pollution when the land was used as a turkey farm.
Byron Luebbe farms next to the property and said he was concerned about the slope of the land for runoff.
Pamela Barr Brady spoke with concerns about traffic to and from the site and said she once heard firearms in use after dark.
Martynyuk said there had been a domestic disturbance on the property involving one of the tenants. He said those who had rented space from the previous owner were not supposed to be living there.
Martynyuk said he hopes to have the property cleaned up before winter.
“My vision for the property is to have all the buildings in tip top shape,” he said.
Traffic to and from the buildings would end at 6 p.m. and all salvage work would be done on concrete.
“I want it to look like a very nice place,” he said.
Commissioners reviewed their standard list of conditional use permit considerations before denying Martynyuk’s application, noting concerns about non-conformity to land uses around it.
To vote on a conditional use permit, they added requirements for an 8-foot fence like the Planning Commission had required, plus security measures, a drainage plan and compliance with the percent of the land that can be occupied by buildings, as well as making it a non-transferrable permit.
Ahmic encouraged Martynyuk to communicate with his neighbors about the land.
“You keep saying ‘I do not know,’ ‘I do not know anything about this.’ It seems like you do not know what is going on here and that is a problem,” she said.
Commissioner Darrell Zabrocki said he is a proponent of people being able to do what they want with their property, but said Martynyuk has “gone about this backwards.” He told Martynyuk to come back with another plan.
“As it stands right now, I do not see anything that I can get behind,” Zabrocki said.
Ahmic, Zabrocki, Raegan Hain and Pekarek all voted to deny the permit. Commissioner Ken Schmieding was absent.
But Ahmic told Martynyuk that he could return with another application.
“I think if you were to address some of these and talk with your neighbors, you could come back again,” she said.
