Jay County Ready to Act
Thanks to a helpful reader, news that Jay County is ready to move forward on CAFO regulations:
Members of the Jay County Council have decided it’s time for Jay County Commissioners to more closely regulate confined feeding operations in the county.
And recommendations from a comprehensive study of CFOs completed last year seem to be the place to start, council members said Wednesday.
“Commissioners gotta pick this up and run with it,” council member Gerald Kirby said during the council’s monthly meeting.
Several residents of Noble Township who have spoken to commissioners the past two weeks expressing concern about a proposed confined feeding operation in the works to be located on county road 50 North, addressed county council members Wednesday night.
The commissioners, confronted with residents concerned about property values, manure seepage, water contamination, and lack of information about pending operation, decided that now is the time to do something with the results of a comprehensive study on the impact of CAFO’s in Jay County completed last year, but never acted on:
Recommendations of the committee included more local requirements at the start-up of confined feeding operations, local citations for environmental violations, a manure land-use database and a manure management ordinance, and requiring those who purchase or build residential properties in rural areas to read and sign a copy of the Indiana Right to Farm law.
One Commissioner recommended passage of the regulations as a way to avoid a riot as residents spoke out in relation to the passage of a tax abatement:
The meeting’s sometimes heated discussion began when Bob Quadrozzi, executive director of Jay County Development Corporation, presented a recommendation from the Jay County Tax Abatement Advisory Committee to grant a three-year abatement to Rick Dues, 3742 South 300 East. Dues is planning to construct a 92-foot by 154-foot 4,000-head nursery hog operation and is asking the abatement, or phase-in of new taxes, for the buildings, valued at $400,000
Although the residents were concerned, Mr. Quadrozzi assured them that the state Department of Agriculture will be hosting a series of meetings around the state to hear residents concerns with the governor’s plan to double pork production in the state. I know Mr. Quadrozzi does not speak for Any Miller, but his comment make me wonder if Mr. Miller actually said he would be hosting discussions on the plan at the meeting in Winchester on Monday.
I wonder how many new CAFO will be in operation before Mr. Miller comes to hear our concerns.
Read all about it: Council: Act now on livestock farms (The Jay County Commercial Review)
