MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) - Residents and officials are uneasy about a proposed farm slated to house 98,000 chickens that will likely be approved with little oversight from Cerro Gordo County.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is reviewing a manure management plan for the proposed Wharam Creek Poultry facility, the Globe Gazette (https://bit.ly/2mjzb9g ) reported. The farm is slated to be just 2,000 birds shy of regulation requirements for large animal feeding confinements in Iowa, so it would face less strict regulations and less county input.
“It’s really somewhat problematic for counties when you have a facility that’s this size, because there’s very little input that they have if it’s built,” said Adam Shaffer of the Iowa DNR’s Mason City office.
Among county officials’ concerns is that the application indicates owner Adam Pope doesn’t plan to incorporate the chicken waste into the field surface. Pope said he does plan to work the manure into the ground.
“The manure is only going to be removed from the building once a year and applied to the field ground, and then it will be incorporated within 24 hours or less,” he said.
County officials said they fear that even if Pope incorporates the waste, the odor could affect residents, businesses or public spaces in the area. Officials are also concerned about runoff into a nearby creek, said John Robbins, an assistant administrative officer for Cerro Gordo County Planning and Zoning.
Pope said there are grassy areas between the field and the creek and a pasture, to reduce runoff into the water.
Shaffer said he’ll send the company a letter with permission to build if the facility meets all the requirements.
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Information from: Globe Gazette, https://www.globegazette.com/
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