Fears the notorious FLDS cult is planning to expand have been sparked after the brother of imprisoned leader Warren Jeffs applied to increase the water supply to the group's South Dakota compound. Seth Jeffs wants to double the amount of water it can draw from an aquifer in the 140-acre compound about 30 miles from Mount Rushmore. His request prompted concerns from neighbors and law enforcement about the possibility of members being displaced from their enclave on the Utah-Arizona border. He told state authorities that members of the United Order of South Dakota, a trust run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) need more water for gardens, orchards and herds of animals. Seth Jeffs (pictured left), the brother of imprisoned cult leader Warren Jeffs (right) has applied to double the water available to the group's South Dakota compound, sparking fears of an influx of members there . Women and girls from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) can be seen wearing prairie dresses in Hildale, Utah . But with few details available and considering the group's troubled history, residents are worried members are planning a mass exodus from other areas to make Black Hills their new home. Warren Jeffs and other church leaders have been convicted of sexually assaulting underage girls . And while Seth Jeffs pleaded guilty in 2006 to harboring his then-fugitive brother, he did not face any sex abuse charges. South Dakota officials said that the local members of the FLDS, a radical offshoot of mainstream Mormonism, have never been in trouble with the law there. But Linda Van Dyke Kilcoin, one of several neighbors who filed petitions to intervene in the group's water request, said: 'As locals, we know what is going on in there and we don't want to see it expand. 'We value our 12-year-old girls in South Dakota.' An aerial shot shows buildings inside Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints compound near Pringle, South Dakota. The sect has applied to double the amount of water it can take from an aquifer . A log-cabin-style home is among the buildings on the FLDS compound that has nearly 50,000 square feet of residential space . Seth Jeffs declined to comment to The Associated Press, but told a local newspaper in January the compound is 'not growing right now' and members 'just need more water.' The request for more will likely be acted on in May. But Ms Kilcoin doubts it's for crop production. 'They're not going to irrigate. You ever been to Pringle? It's bedrock,' she said. 'You can't grow anything down there. They're bringing in a whole pile of people.' The group has said about 75 people live at the South Dakota ranch, according to a 2014 drinking water report filed with the state. The fenced-in compound, complete with a guard tower, sits on hilly, rugged land the group bought about 10 years ago - and was valued at $5.3 million for tax purposes. Inside the complex are seven large residences totaling nearly 50,000 square feet, a chapel and school, greenhouse, and several farm buildings. A sign warning against trespassing and dump trucks can be seen in operation on the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints compound about 30 miles from Mount Rushmore . Attorney General Marty Jackley, who said he's 'generally aware' of the activity at the compound, said the permit request and ongoing construction at the site 'are all indications that there is some level of expansion going on.' Mr Jackley said the group is on his radar because of what has gone on at FLDS sites in other states, and the additional law enforcement resources any expansion might require. Warren Jeffs is serving a life sentence after being convicted in 2011 of abusing underage girls he considered his brides. Willie Jessop, who is Warren Jeffs' former bodyguard but left the cult in 2011, says he believes the group could be planning a move to South Dakota . For decades, members of his church have controlled the twin cities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona, but some are now being squeezed out by authorities ordering evictions because people haven't paid millions in overdue occupancy fees. Last year, the Texas government seized the group's Eldorado compound on the basis that the FLDS leaders financed a $1.1 million land purchase in 2003 through money laundering. Custer County Sheriff Rick Wheeler, whose jurisdiction includes the Black Hills compound, said when the group was evicted from its Texas property there was no indication they had moved to the compound near Pringle, citing a low level of traffic and activity. But now, he said that has changed and the group is hauling in more gravel and lumber. 'It's churning right now,' he said. Both Sam Brower, a private investigator who has spent years researching the FLDS, and Willie Jessop, Warren Jeffs' former bodyguard, agreed leaders could be preparing to move people to South Dakota from the shrinking Utah-Arizona enclave. Mr Brower said 'I think they are looking for places to move the elite,' adding that Seth Jeffs, like his brother, is considered royalty among devout members. Unlike most Mormons, members of FLDS believe polygamy will bring exaltation in heaven. Loyalists consider Jeffs a prophet who speaks for God and can do no wrong. Seth Jeffs, who originally sought to triple the amount of water the South Dakota ranch could draw, recently told the state he was scaling back his request to relieve the 'fears and concerns' of the U.S. Forest Service and the National Park Service. William Hansen, chief of the Water Rights Branch of the NPS, said its main concern is the effect an additional well, without stricter limitations on usage, could have on Wind Cave National Park, since the FLDS draws from the same aquifer that has been forming the cave for millennia. A US flag flies at the compound built for polygamist Warren Jeffs, in defiance of his rules, in Hildale, Utah. It was converted into a bed and breakfast by his former bodyguard Willie Jessop . FLDS cult leaders could be preparing to move people from the shrinking Utah-Arizona enclave. Hildale, Utah, sits at the base of Red Rock Cliff mountains, with its sister city, Colorado City, Arizona, in the foreground .
Seth Jeffs wants to double the water available in compound near Pringle . Claims compound is 'not growing' and members 'just need more water'
Concerned neighbors have filed petitions to intervene in water request . Linda Van Dyke Kilcoin says: 'They're bringing in a whole pile of people'