Neighbor fights 8,000 pig CAFO in Marshall County
Jon Rettinger is upset about what’s going in across the street from him. His neighbor’s plan to build an 8,000 pig confinement operation got the green light from a Marshall County official, and Rettinger is fighting back:
In the formal paperwork, Rettinger’s attorney, Stephen Snyder of Warsaw, presented the board, Rettinger states Booker’s issuance of the building permit violates the Marshall County zoning ordinance.
The proposed hog operation is adjacent to and directly across the road from Rettinger’s property at 6322 E. 14th Road in Bourbon. In Rettinger’s written appeal, he also claims the use for which Laidig obtained the permit violates five sections of the ordinance, specifically: General performance standards, health and safety requirements, waste disposal restrictions, intensive livestock operation regulations and storm water sediment controls.
For those reasons, Rettinger states, he “will be directly injured and irreparably harmed by construction and operation” of the swine feeding facility. He is asking the BZA to revoke the permit based on “failure to comply” with the zoning ordinance.
Link.
The BZA will hear the appeal on April 11 at 7:30 p.m. This move follows the earlier public meeting on the CAFO, and the County’s consideration of proposed regulations for CAFO’s. As the regulations have not passed at this point, my guess is that there will be no cause to uphold the challenge to the issuance of the building permit.
The CAFO is being constructed on land owned by Matt Laidig, with is being assisted by Livestock Engineering Solutions Inc. of Greenwood, Indiana, the firm formed by Michael A. Veenhuizen, former extension engineer from Ohio State U.
