(Le Mars) — The Plymouth County Board of Supervisors again discussed the issue of vacating 212th Street during its weekly meeting held on Tuesday. This was the second week the supervisors held a public hearing regarding the access road. Last week, the supervisors had voted down the project and had asked Smith and Company officials to offer a more detailed plan of their intended expansion. On Friday of last week, Supervisors Jack Guenthner and Mark Loutsch met with SmithCo officials and toured the manufacturing facility to get a better understanding of Smith Co’s expansion plans and why the road would need to be vacated. Guenthner says the two supervisors had discussions that lasted nearly two hours. He informed the other supervisors that he now understands the reasons for SmithCo wanting to vacate a portion of the road.
Guenthner says SmithCo officials showed where they want to expand their facilities to the southeast and to the southwest of the present facilities. Guenthner says the expansion plans show SmithCo wishes to add an additional 4,000 square feet to the present plant, with an estimated cost for construction to run more than $500,000.
Guenthner indicated SmithCo hopes to hire additional employees to join the 95 employees already working at the manufacturing plant, but he said SmithCo officials does not know the exact number of employees that will be hired. Following Guenthner’s presentation, the supervisors voted to approve the vacating a portion of 212th Street for the expansion of SmithCo’s facilities.
