CAFO’s Trouble Randolph County
The proposed zoning ordinance in Randolph County that would permit the installation of CAFO’s in much of the county continues to be bogged down. The county commissioners rejected the last proposed ordinance, and now the planning commission is working to get another proposed ordinance to the commissioners:
Resending the same ordinance back to county commissioners was one of the few options on the table for planning commission members. Anything else basically results in the planning commission drafting a new ordinance and sending it to county commissioners for review. This ping-pong approach continues until county commissioners approve something. Hanging in the balance is a countywide moratorium that halts the expansion of CAFOs and CFOs (confined feeding operations) in Randolph County. County commissioners approved the moratorium Jan. 7 and said it won’t be lifted until seven issues (water, agriculture parks, housing, odor, manure, setbacks and monitoring) are researched and resolved. The planning commission put Cathy Flatter, its executive director, in the lead role of addressing those issues with county commissioners.
Randolph CAFO ordinance at an impasse (Star Press).
The Star Press also has an article out today that should please many concerned citizens in Randolph County: For years folks have been concerned about that fact that Randolph County Commissioner Ron Chalfant, or people in his immediate family, were allegedly seeking to install a CAFO in Randolph County at the same time the commissioners were deciding the issue of appropriate CAFO regulation. Now the issue gets some press: Randolph commissioner accused of conflict of interest:
Bob McCoy, a Winchester city councilman and new member of the commission, said he was addressing the concerns of many when he asked whether a building permit for a hog barn with Ron Chalfant’s name on it suggested Chalfant has a conflict of interest. A request for a building permit for a finishing barn was filed May 30, 2007. It lists Chalfant as owner, but notes in the margin that it will be transferred to his son, Aaron Chalfant, 24, an agriculture economics student at Purdue University.
Commissioner Chalfant says that the project has always been his son’s and has no connection to the family grain business. His son will raise hogs for Maxwell Farms.
