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Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Enviroment - Jasper County hog farm protested, approved

The Munster (NW Indiana) Times reports today:

WHEATFIELD | Jasper County Board of Zoning Appeals approved a special exception permit Monday by a vote of 4-1, allowing a proposed hog farm to set up shop.

The residents say this isn't the end. They already started taking donations to hire an attorney.

Angry residents were fighting the proposed farm of 2,496 hogs because they say the operation could lead to air, water and land contamination.

Residents, who collected nearly 1,000 signatures in about 10 days, protested the plans by DeMotte-based Belstra Milling Co. at a Jasper County Board of Zoning Appeals meeting Monday. * * *

Belstra, which requested a special exception to operate the confined feeding operation in east Jasper County on 20 acres of land owned by Harper Brothers Grain and Livestock, first applied for permission Oct. 13. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management approved the plan soon after and the Jasper County zoning board issued a permit for the breed-to-wean operation after an public hearing Oct. 24 that brought little or no opposition.

Marlatt said not all residents were told about what was going on. She said she learned about the hog farm when she looked out her kitchen window and saw a new building under construction a half mile away. * * *

Belstra, which has operations in Jasper and Newton counties and in Illinois, is a family-owned company. The Belstra Group includes the feed mill in DeMotte, five Pig Improvement Co. gilt multipliers made up of 7,000 sows in Northwest Indiana and the 160-head boar stud operation in Kankakee County, Ill.

Malcolm DeKryger, a Belstra vice president who will oversee operation of the Jasper County site, said he notified residents but did miss some of the landowners.

The Gary Post-Tribune also has a somewhat earlier report:
RENSSELAER — Protests continued into the night Monday against a proposed confined-feeding hog operation in northeastern Jasper County.

Board of Zoning Appeals members moved Monday night’s meeting to the superior courtroom to accommodate the more than 100 remonstrators, most opposed to the plan by Belstra Milling Inc. of DeMotte.

Board members hadn’t votede on the controversial proposal as of press-time late Monday night.

The company, which has 13 hog farms in Jasper and Newton counties and in Illinois, has asked to build two barns for 2,496 pregnant and newborn hogs on 20 acres immediately south of the Jasper-Pulaski Fish and Wildlife Area.

Malcolm De Kryger, vice president of Belstra, read a letter dated Oct. 24 from the Department of Natural Resources that operates the wildlife area, which included the statement: “We do not oppose construction of the facility.”

Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 15, 2005 09:00 AM
Posted to Environment | Indiana economic development