The Montgomery County Plan Commission held off Wednesday on recommending a confined feeding operation section in the zoning ordinance after more than two hours of debate over how the industrial farms should be governed.
A dozen people spoke about the proposed amendment during a Thanksgiving-eve public hearing at the Montgomery County Courthouse. Public health experts and environmentalists raised concerns about the risk of contamination and disease from manure as farmers defended confinement farms as a long-term investment in rural communities.
“This type of agricultural development is what we want in the county,” said Owen Coon, a sixth-generation Wingate farmer. “It’s something that strengthens our way of life, it’s something we’ve been doing for a long time and… it is a safe alternative.”
The proposed amendment, which a citizen study committee presented to the commission last month, sets siting restrictions on new confined feeding operations and establishes a procedure for approving building permits.
Facilities must be located in an agricultural zoning district on at least 40 acres of land, according to the proposal.
Under those requirements, Coon, 21, said it would be difficult for young farmers to secure enough land and money if they choose to start a confined operation. He said the restrictions could drive younger ag professioanls away from the community.
“The average age of a farmer is 58 years old, getting to 60. I think you need people like me, so I think some of… the proposed changes to the ordinances are just going to hurt more than anything,” Coon said.
“And if you would like to walk up to me, and shake my hand, and look me in the eye and say I can’t come back and farm because it smells bad, I ask you to do it.”
An Indianapolis-based citizen coalition advocating for tighter regulations on industrial farms presented the commission with a list of proposed changes to the amendment.
The Downstream Project, a group affiliated with the nonprofit Citizens Action Coalition Education Fund, called for stricter setbacks from neighboring properties and odor abatement measures, which were removed from the original amendment after the study committee determined they would be difficult to enforcement.
The group also recommended incentives for applicants to notify more neighbors, allowing public hearings on proposed confinement farms and enforcing the regulations on prospective operators who’ve already applied for permits.
“We think that adopting a strong CAFO zoning ordinance is the best way to honor the guidelines, intentions and public opinions laid out in the Montgomery County Comprehensive Plan,” Downstream Project assistant director Margo Tucker said. She used the acronym for concentrated animal feeding operations, a larger form of industrial farming.
Plan commissioners signaled they would recommend requiring operators to build farther away from homes, subdivisions, schools and businesses.
During a lengthy discussion, members debated increasing the minimum setbacks to a half-mile from those properties, up from the quarter of a mile currently on the table.
That drew concerns about creating additional burdens on operators trying to find land for a facility.
Kelly Shannon, who served on the 13-member study committee appointed by the Plan Commission, urged the board to draw out the increased setbacks before voting on the amendment.
“I have no desire to build a confined feeding operation but I have a huge desire to support farming in Montgomery County. Don’t take that away,” Shannon said.
The distance requirements would be measured from foundation-to-foundation. Plan commissioner Mark Davidson said the setbacks should be based on property lines instead.
“I don’t think it’s one person’s right to trespass on another person’s property,” Davidson said, “and when I see setbacks to a person’s foundation as opposed to their property line, I have a problem with that because… it limits what [the person] can do on his own property and that’s just an unfair thing in my mind.”
The board also discussed clarifying a provision that prohibits a residence from being constructed within a quarter of a mile of a confinement farm unless the home is owned by the operator, constructed on the same parcel of land as the farm or has received a variance from zoning rules.
The commission tabled the amendment until its next meeting at 4 p.m. Dec. 20 at the courthouse. The amendment then goes to the Montgomery County Commissioners for a final vote.
