Petition signatures verified

September 16, 2009

By JoAn Bjarko

The Wellington

Wellington (Colorado) residents who don’t want to live near a poultry processing plant have collected enough signatures to force a new vote by the town board.

According to town administrator Larry Lorentzen, the vote is scheduled for Oct. 13 unless a registered voter in Wellington protests the validity of the referendum petitions by that date.

Lorentzen, who also serves as town clerk, reported that he reviewed petition signatures until he verified 227. The petition carriers needed 178 valid signatures, or 5 percent of 3,535 registered voters, to continue the referendum process.

The petitioners are asking the seven-member elected town board to repeal the ordinance that gives Northern Colorado Poultry conditional approval to build a new plant in Boxelder Business Park on the north edge of Wellington. The board approved the plant with a 4-3 vote on July 28 after a contentious public hearing.

Opponents of the conditional use frequently said in a series of public hearings that they were not opposed to poultry processing, but that they thought the business owners chose the wrong location in Wellington. The new plant would be located about 1,100 feet from the nearest home in Buffalo Creek subdivision and 700 feet from the nearest point in Buffalo Creek Park.

Northern Colorado Poultry has been processing chickens at a smaller plant located a few miles from Nunn in Weld County. Relocating to Wellington would allow the company to expand and use public water and sewer facilities.

Boxelder Business Park is zoned light industrial, which does not specifically allow live-animal processing. The town board, however, can grant conditional approval with a list of requirements that the business owners must follow.

The poultry processing plant has 10 conditions. Among them is an upper processing limit of 1,500 birds a day. Other conditions include the following: Waste hauled away daily. Adequate grease trap. Birds to be put inside when delivered with no outside enclosures for birds. Hours of operation – 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Control of flies. Comply with all town nuisance controls for odor, noise, trash, etc. Town has right to inspect premises.

State law outlines how citizens can use the referendum process to force an elected board to reconsider its vote. If the town board continues to support the processing plant, then the matter goes to an election, which could be held in December at the earliest.

The town board meets on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month. Agendas of upcoming meetings and minutes of previous town board and planning commission meetings are available online at www.townof wellington.com. Coverage of past public hearings is available online at www.thewellington weekly.com under “news.”