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Friday, January 04, 2008

Environment - "Delaware County CAFO proposal too restrictive, say farmers" [Updated]

Recall this Dec. 28th ILB entry about a proposed Randolph County zoning ordinance that would create a new "intensive agricultural district " that would occupy 75.88 % of the county. Contrast it with this lengthy story today in the Muncie Star Press, reported by Seth Slabaugh, about Delaware County, that begins:

MUNCIE -- Delaware County's agricultural community on Thursday night condemned a proposal to amend the county zoning ordinance to regulate concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs).

Farmer Joe Russell, a member of county council, said the draft amendment would make Delaware County the most restrictive county in the state for CAFOs.

He addressed the city-county planning commission at a public hearing in city hall’s auditorium, which holds 261 people. Because of a large turnout, the hearing was moved to city hall from the county building’s commissioners courtroom, which holds fewer than 100 people.

“Agriculture is under attack,” Russell said. “The confidence and trust in farmers is no longer there. It seems like we’re being attacked quite a bit.”

He claimed the proposed regulations were so strict that there would be no place in Delaware County in which new CAFOs, also known as industrial livestock farms, could be built.

“This is the end of opportunities for the next generation of farmers,” Russell said. * * *

Commission member Deane Rundell, a landscape architect, originally chaired the committee but left the panel because of an illness in his family. He was replaced by commission member Lance Lillie, who said he missed the early committee meetings and joined the group late.

“My contention is, this is a matter the state should handle,” Lillie said of CAFO regulations.

[Updated] In another story from Saturday, Jan. 5, the Star-Press reports:
A former IDEM official encouraged the Muncie-Delaware County Planning Commission on Thursday night to adopt an ordinance regulating concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs).

Bowden Quinn was the environmental liaison for the Indiana Department of Environmental Management from August 2005 through March of 2007.

In that role, he dealt with people who protested that CAFOs were a threat to their health, safety and property values because of increased traffic and odors.
"In response to those fears, IDEM always answered, 'That is not our responsibility,' " Quinn said. IDEM's responsibility when it comes to CAFOs is limited to protecting waters of the state.

Currently employed as the conservation organizer for the Hoosier chapter of the Sierra Club, Quinn told planning commission members that CAFO issues like impact on property values, odors, traffic and quality of life were the responsibility of local officials.

"With all due respect, I don't think you should leave this issue to the state," Quinn said during a public hearing on the proposed ordinance. "With all due respect, this is your responsibility."

He called the draft ordinance "a good first step" that "needs to be refined." He suggested adopting graduated setbacks or distance requirements between CAFOs and rural housing based on the size of the CAFO.

"You can't have one size fits all," he said. A hog operation housing 6,000 swine needs to be sited farther away from neighbors than one containing 600 pigs, Quinn said.

Commission member Lance Lillie, who works at a plant that makes concrete, was appointed by commission president Dave Howell, a farmer, to chair the committee that drafted the ordinance.

At the hearing, Lillie said Delaware County didn't need a CAFO ordinance. "My contention is, this is a matter the state should handle," Lillie said.

But state officials, including those at the Indiana Land Resources Council and the Indiana State Department of Agriculture, have said land use should be controlled at the local level, noted Julie Alexander, a CAFO critic. State officials have said they do not want to pre-empt local land-use regulations, she added.

"This is exactly what you're supposed to be doing," Alexander told commission members, referring to the CAFO ordinance.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 4, 2008 03:40 PM
Posted to Environment