TOWN OF DIAMOND BLUFF – The Pierce County Land Management Committee will consider a proposal for a horse boarding and event operation in the Town of Diamond Bluff.

Phillip and Cynthia Symes and Cody and Anne Marie Sjoquist are seeking a conditional use permit for the private outdoor recreation operation on the property in an agricultural residential zoning district.

In April, the Diamond Bluff Town Board gave approval for a driveway to the site off 340th Avenue with no concerns noted. The board gave its support in May for the CUP, forwarding the item to Pierce County’s Land Management Committee, which meets Wednesday, June 16 at 6 p.m. in the Courthouse Annex County Board Room, 124 N. Oak St., Ellsworth. Public attendance, however, is only virtual, via Zoom. The agenda for the meeting and Zoom link are located on the Pierce County website.

The committee will also consider a conditional use permit from the ownership group for construction of a duplex on the property.

In a description of the operation, known as SS Ranch, provided to the Diamond Bluff Town Board, events will be held at indoor and outdoor arenas. The indoor arena will be 70×200 feet with no indoor permanent seating. The outdoor arena will be 150×220 feet with fencing around it.

“There will always be an owner on site. We will be building a ‘shouse’ (shop/house) on the property,” the plan states.

Events will include barrel racing, roping series including rough stock steers, pole bending, goat tying and penning events.

“We will have an appropriate shutdown time as set by the township,” the plan states.

The plan is for parking for events on-site only, with no parking on 340th Avenue. Events will be limited to 150 riders who will pre-register to attend.

“We will have portable facilities for events with future plans to erect free-standing facilities with either holding tank or appropriate septic system,” according to the plan.

Camping will be allowed on-site for event participants.

“We would like to include an area for overnight camping to reduce road usage and congestion with people leaving the ranch. We would have established quiet times along with requiring inverter generators if run at night. Future plans would be to install hookup sites for the participants,” the plan states. “The area will be away from our neighbors too.”

The Sjoquists currently operate a boarding/training facility near Beldenville, and Anne Marie has 22 years of experience training horses and five years of experience running her own facility.

The facility will also board horses, and hours of operation for boarders are proposed as 7 a.m. – 10 p.m., seven days a week.

“We will have a set number of boarded horses at 50 between pastured and stall-boarded horses,” the plan states.

The plan is also for composting bunkers for manure and rodent and insect control.