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Sunday, January 14, 2007

Environment - A state panel plans public hearings this month on its model rules for local regulation of large livestock farms

An AP story today reports:

MUNCIE – A state panel plans public hearings this month on its model rules for local regulation of large livestock farms.

The model ordinances from the Indiana Land Resources Council would guide local officials as they consider regulating concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, each of which can have as many as thousands of animals such as swine and cows.

Proposals for new livestock farms have frequently sparked opposition from neighbors worried about pollution, odors, noise and additional traffic.

Land council member Eric Kelly, an urban planning professor at Ball State University, said many local zoning ordinances were outdated and the model ordinance creates new zones dedicated to general agriculture and large livestock operations.

“Right now in Delaware County and other counties, we have one agriculture zone,” he said. “It allows residential subdivisions and row crops and animal agriculture. Those are a whole range of different activities. One thing we try to do is separate incompatible uses.”

The public hearings are set for:

• Wednesday, 7 p.m., at the Hamilton County Fairgrounds in Noblesville

• Thursday, 7 p.m., at the Elkhart County Fairgrounds in Goshen

• Jan. 22, 7 p.m., at Scottsburg High School

Julie Alexander, a rural Delaware County resident who opposes large livestock farms, said she planned to attend the session in Noblesville to learn about the proposals.

“The last thing we want is a CAFO across the road from us polluting this land,” she said. “We own 500 acres that we’ve had through generations. We have a lot invested. They keep thinking opposition to CAFOs is coming from city folks, and it’s not.”

The land council is headed by state Agriculture Director Andrew Miller.

See also this longer story by Seth Slabaugh in the Muncie Star-Press.

The story is interesting on several levels:

First, of course, that the state, through its Dept. of Agriculture, is now involving itself in local agricultural zoning.

Second, that the Indiana Land Resources Council has been reincarnated. Check this Muncie Star-Press story as quoted in the Jan. 18, 2005 ILB:

MUNCIE - Gov. Mitch Daniels has suspended the activities of the Indiana Land Resources Council, which was created by the state Legislature in 1999 to address open space protection, farm land preservation, urban sprawl, downtown redevelopment, forest preservation, and planning and zoning.

The move mystified Ball State University urban planning professor Eric Kelly, a member of the council, which was soon planning to submit a smart growth proposal to Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman.

Andy Miller, a Weaver Popcorn Co. executive whom Daniels appointed as assistant commissioner of agriculture, asked Kelly and the seven other members of the council to submit letters of resignation. Miller also asked the council's paid staff person, Joe Tutterrow, to resign. He plans to do so.

But Kelly said he would not resign. "Just asking doesn't do it," he said. "If he's got a reason, I'll consider it. Asking us to resign without finding out what we've been doing or hope to do is a little strange. I don't understand why they did not call us together to discuss this. They didn't even bother to ask."

During his campaign for governor last year, Daniels said state government had hundreds of boards and commissions of questionable value, and he promised to eliminate those that were ineffective after a thorough review.

See also this ILB entry from March 3, 2005, which discusses farmland preservation and the dissolving of the farmland preservation commission. It includes quotes from the Indianapolis Star, including this:
During the 1990s, Indiana took steps to protect farmland from development. Gov. Frank O'Bannon created the Hoosier Farmland Preservation Task Force in 1997, and its lone recommendation -- to create the Indiana Land Resources Council, which helped local planning agencies craft land use policies -- was enacted two years later.

But Gov. Mitch Daniels dissolved the council about a month ago because the state didn't have the money to run it.

"It was a good start," said Jane Jankowski, Daniels' press secretary, "but what we want to do is create a mechanism that is more cost-efficient and effective, realizing that land use is the number one issue facing farmers in rural communities."

Eric Damian Kelly, professor and acting chairman of the Department of Urban Planning at Ball State University, is a founding member of the council. Having just drafted a growth policy recommendation, Kelly expected to meet with the new administration, but a planned January meeting never happened.

"I thought we were going to make progress," Kelly said, adding that he has not turned in his resignation from the council. "Maybe we still will."

This March 3rd ILB entry also includes a number of links to farmland preservation sites.

An AP story quoted in this April 26, 2005 entry includes this:

The new department [of agriculture] consolidates several agencies and functions into a single entity. Among other things, the department will handle the soil and conservation functions once overseen by the Department of Commerce. Entities such as the State Fair Board and Land Resources Council also now fall under the department's umbrella.
The law creating the Indiana Land Resources Council is, with some changes still on the books, at IC 15-7-9. Rep. Ryan Dvorak had an entry on his blog dated June 21, 2006, noting that Governor Daniels would be "repopulating" the Council within a few months.

The original Indiana Land Resources Council had quite a useful website. Of course, it is gone now. However, through the wonders of the web, you can see it again, as it existed in 2004, by going to this site.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 14, 2007 05:53 PM
Posted to Environment