Poultry processing wins town approval

August 5, 2009

By JoAn Bjarko
The Wellington

 

Wellington (Colorado) will have a poultry processing plant before the end of the year if construction goes according to plan.

On July 28, the Wellington Town Board voted 4-3 to approve Northern Colorado Poultry’s conditional use request to build a 4,200-square-foot processing plant and retail store in Boxelder Business Park on the north side of town. The company currently has a much smaller plant outside of Nunn in Weld County.

The decision came at the conclusion of a heated public hearing that drew a crowd of more than 130 and lasted one and one-half hours.
Most of the plant’s opponents live in Buffalo Creek Subdivision, where the closest home is about 1,100 feet from the future plant. Buffalo Creek Park is 700 feet away.

Support mostly came from other Wellington business owners interested in adding to the economic vitality of the community.

The Wellington Planning Commission voted 3-2 on July 13 to recommend approval of the project, attaching a list of conditions that must be met for the businesses to operate in Wellington. The town board adopted the same conditions, which include an upper limit of processing 1,500 birds a day and requiring slaughtering waste to be hauled away daily. Birds may not be kept outside. Operating hours will be limited to 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Boxelder Business Park, which has been vacant until this year, is zoned light industrial. Northern Colorado Poultry was required to get conditional use approval because live animal processing is not listed specifically as an allowed use in that zone.

Company co-owner Bill Beilhartz, making his fourth presentation to a Wellington board or commission, said a majority of the birds are grown by Wellington area farmers. They arrive at the plant in horse trailers and pickups, he said, and drivers could access the plant by the graveled County Road 66 on the north rather than using Washington Avenue south of the business park.

Beilhartz also said the plant is monitored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and cannot process poultry without an inspector on the premises.

Connor Murphy, representing Grant Family Farms of Wellington, said that having a local USDA-approved plant allows the farm to sell to a local market. The addition of locally raised poultry has allowed Grant’s community supported agriculture program to grow in a slow economy, Murphy said.

Numerous Buffalo Creek residents testified that they feared increased traffic on Washington Avenue would present a danger to children walking and riding bicycles to Eyestone Elementary School and Wellington Middle School.

The opponents gave the board petitions with 442 signatures from the Buffalo Creek, Three Silos and Wellington Pointe subdivisions.

Buffalo Creek resident Fred Condos urged the board to develop a clear vision of what kind of businesses should be located in close proximity to Wellington’s residential neighborhoods.

“Like it or not, this is a slaughterhouse for animals,” Condos said. “…Also recognize there are new values and interests moving into the community, as you anticipated.”

“We don’t want it there; there’s a lot of other places it could be,” said resident Richard Ross.

Longtime farmer Richard Seaworth, who now lives in town, noted that a community assessment three years ago concluded that Wellington needs to attract value-added agriculture.

“The reason it has to be here is that we have water and sewer to take care of it,” Seaworth said.

Buffalo Creek resident Sarah Mayfield said she supported the business park location. “I see this plant as increasing the town’s ability and my ability to become more self-sufficient,” she said.

Community members also debated whether a nearby chicken processing plant would cause residential property values to fall. Residents brought in studies that concluded nearby agricultural facilities can cause values to drop more than 6 percent.

Wellington real estate broker Lou Kinzli insisted, however, that the processing plant will be too small to have an impact.

“In my opinion, it isn’t going to change any value,” he said.

Mayor Larry Noel, who also serves on the town planning commission and voted in favor of the processing plant, in past weeks has taken the brunt of criticism that the board is not listening to town residents. He used the public hearing to respond:

“If you think I’m against you, you’re wrong,” Noel said. “…If you don’t like the way I vote, April’s coming — vote me out.”

Along with Noel, town trustees Mike Steely, David Noe and Jack Brinkhoff voted to let Northern Colorado Poultry build in the business park. Trustees Travis Stevens, Travis Vieira and Mishie Daknis voted against the conditional use request.

Boxelder Business Park developer Jim Pieper is working with Derrel Baker of Kustom Structures to build the facility. Baker said it is scheduled to be ready for occupancy around Dec. 10.