Anti-slaughterhouse group asks judge to block Wholestone Farms construction until after November vote

Smart Growth Sioux Falls wants city to stop issuing building permits

Construction on a Wholestone Farms butcher shop is underway in northeast Sioux Falls. (Joe Sneve / The Dakota Scout)

A pending vote to block new slaughterhouses from moving into Sioux Falls might not stop a Nebraska-based meatpacker’s plans to open a pork-processing plant here.

But a campaign committee behind the Nov. 8 ballot question hopes the courts will.

Smart Growth Sioux Falls filed a lawsuit late Thursday in the 2nd Judicial Circuit Court against the city of Sioux Falls, aiming to force the stoppage of work on a butcher shop that Wholestone Farms LLC is constructing inside city limits.

“We think Wholestone is undermining the law and ignoring the will of the people — and, unfortunately, the city of Sioux Falls is complicit,” Smart Growth Sioux Falls member and lawyer Brendan Johnson said in the statement. “We believe the law bars the city from preempting the ballot measure and effectively prohibits Wholestone from proceeding until the matter is decided by voters.”