Commission settles on setbacks

In November, Jay County Plan Commission favored four levels of setbacks for confined feeding operations.
A month later, it decided three levels were necessary.
At its meeting Thursday, with confined feeding operators present, the commission voted in favor of a two-level system nearly identical to what a study committee presented in October.
Matt Minnich, whose family owns Minnich Poultry, questioned the purpose of the tier system, noting that no matter the size of an operation, it smells the same when he drives past.
“We just thought that bigger operations should be set back further,” plan commission member Mike Rockwell told him. “A small turkey barn should be treated differently than a complex.”
Plan commission member Eric Pursifull agreed with Minnich that at confined feeding numbers, a few thousand more animals doesn’t smell worse, and the tier system is “creating a lot of headache.”
To Minnich, the system felt like more than a headache.
“We have to build complexes that are a million-plus birds,” in order to stay relevant in the industry, he said. “What this commission is proposing is saying, ‘We don’t want you in Jay County.’ A year ago, a little over, I thought this commission wisely shot down the idea of a moratorium. What this commission is proposing today is the same difference as a moratorium on new construction.”
The setbacks didn’t seem that limiting to plan commission member Shane Houck, who has said that even with them, those who want to build large operations will find ways to get enough land. He also suggested the board of zoning appeals as a tool for operators to get the job done.
Minnich questioned why setbacks would need to be increased now when new technology reduces smell, flies and other factors that could make living next to an operation undesirable.
“The technology has adapted to the 750 feet,” he said.
The commission compromised on a two tier-system, with Houck suggesting three tiers but with a shorter distance for the largest one, and Pursifull noting that he thought one setback level would be sufficient.
Houck motioned the option of adopting the study committee’s original recommendations, but that failed on a tie-breaking vote by commission president Jim Zimmerman, who agreed with Pursifull, Brad Daniels and Larry Temple that the committee’s hog number was too low.
It should be doubled from 4,400 to 8,800 to be in line with numbers companies expect their producers to have, Pursifull said.
The commission voted 5-1 in favor of those numbers, with Paula Confer dissenting.
Cattle were not addressed in the recommendation, and the commission determined that 500 would be in line with the other numbers.
These numbers will be included in a draft for public comment before the Plan Commission votes again on a confined feeding ordinance to be voted on by the county commissioners.
In other business, the plan commission:
•Unanimously voted in favor of using the same setbacks for satellite manure storage that the Indiana Department of Environmental Management requires.
Those rules, which address storage of at least one million gallons or 5,000 cubic yards of manure at a location other than a confined feeding operation, include setbacks of a half mile from residences, 1,000 feet from property lines, 2 miles from Portland and 1 from Bryant, Dunkirk, Pennville, Redkey and Salamonia.