ARe-porter
Page 7A
e
By Rkl'm
forsyth@mymcr.net
The Monroe County
Planning & Zoning Board
granted on Monday a
variance to make way for
a slaughter house/cattle
processing facility on Hwy.
42 South.
Maynards Mill Road resi-
dent Joseph Egloff asked the
P & Z board for a condition-
al use variance in agriculture
on 60.18 acres on Hwy. 42
South that formerly housed
the Wilson Dairy. Egloff
said he wants to construct
a processing plant that will
serve the central Georgia
cattlemen's industry. He said
the facility would be the first
U.S. Department of Agricul-
ture-approved, organically-
certified processing plant in
Georgia. He said currently
the closest one like it is in
Kentucky.
Egloffsaid, "This is not
just some hare-brained idea
that I just started."
Egloff said the facility will
be USDA-inspected, and a
monitor would be on site
for all processing. He said
live cattle would be turned
into packaged beef in an
end sad facility, which
he likened in appearance
to a barn. Egloff said the
animal byproduct, or waste,
would be housed in a cool
room (below 43 degrees
Fahrenheit in temperature)
inside the facility and would
be picked up weekly by a
Dublin-based rendering
company.
Egloff also estimated that
the facility would require
10,000 gallons of water per
week, which he said could
be obtained from a private
well formerly used at the
dairy. He said the site would
have a septic tank system
as well as an underground
filtration system.
Egloffsaid he intends to
process 30 head of cattle per
week at maximum capaci
He said by comparison he
currently takes two to three
head per week to Tifton
for processing. He said the
cattle would be delivered to
the site in trailers attached
to pickup trucks as opposed
large tractor-trailers. He
said 90 percent of his meat
is sold to farmers' markets
and restaurants and said he
has no current plan for an
on-site retail store.
"It's not an industrial-
sized, mega facility,', Egloff
said.
Only one other attendee,
Kendall Brown, spoke in
support of Egloff's plan.
Brown, a Hawkinsville
farmer who formerly lived
in Monroe County, said the
facility would benefit small
farmers like himself. Brown
said Egloff's plan is for a
"state-of-the-art" operation.
Brown said many people
don't know that a lot of U.S.-
raised cattle is sold overseas
while the U.S. imports a lot
of its beef from Argentina.
Brown said he would rather
have cattle grown in Georgia
under the state's Georgia-
grown program.
A number of nearby resi-
dents spoke out in opposi-
tion to Egloff's proposed
plan. Barbara Hobbs, who
owns property on Hwy. 42
South adjacent to the pro-
posed operation, said she's
concerned the slaughter
house would hurt her prop-
erty value, while Maynards
Mill Road resident Betty Pe-
terman said she's concerned
about cow trailers pulling
out onto a dangerous stretch
of Hwy. 42 South.
Hwy. 42 South residents
Stephen and Cassandra Cox
said Egloff's long-term plan
includes deer processing and
future retail and said a quiet
country area is not the place
for a manufacturing facility.
Stephen Cox suggested Egl-
off find a place near already
smelly chicken houses and
said a slaughter house is
not what the Wilson family
had in mind when they sold
Egloff the land.
"This is ridiculous;' Ste-
phen Cox scoffed.
Cassandra Cox noted a
dangerous hill near where
Egloff's proposed driveway
entrance would be and said
she's concerned about the
growth potential of the facil-
ity and its impact on future
land uses in the area.
Hwy. 42 South resident
Craig Martin said the facil-
ity, which Egloffintends
to be 7,500 square-feet, is
not compatible with the
residential property around
it and agreed with Hobbs it
would hurt property values.
Montpelier Road residents
Larry and Diane Letson said
they own a losey Road tract
that abuts Egloff's. Diane
Letson said her father, who
owned and operated the
Wilson Dairy, would be
horrified at Egloff's plan
to slaughter cattle instead
of raising it. Larry Letson
also said his brother-in-law
Ricky Wilson, who was not
in attendance, told him the
property was not sold to
Egloffwith the intention of a
slaughter house going there.
Hwy. 42 South resident
Wayne Jones said the
proposed site would put his
own home between a trailer
park and a slaughter house.
Another Hwy. 42 South resi-
dent, Reggie Thackston, said
he moved to the area two
decades ago for its rural na-
ture. Thackston said he has
concerns about air pollution
resulting from the slaughter
house and added that the
environmental impacts are
unknown because there are
so few of them in existence.
Yet another Hwy. 42 South
resident Terry Johnson said
the area is more conducive
to being a residential area
and serves largely as a bed-
room community. Johnson
said a processing plant is
needed in central Georgia
but not necessarily in Mon-
roe County.
When Egloffwas given a
chance to give a rebuttal, he
showed photos of a slaugh-
ter house in Athens located
near a residential area. He
said the'facility would be
visible from Hwy. 42 South
but said it would be 800 feet
from the roadway. He said
there are similar looking
buildings on Maynards Mill
Road and said no run-off
from the facility would flow
into surrounding creeks.
Egloff, who said he already
has commitments to use the
facility from several cattle
farmers in Monroe and
Lamar counties, said he has
consulted on the project
with the USDA, the Uni-
versity of Georgia (UGA)
Animal Science Center,
the UGA Small Business
Development Center and
the Georgia Cattlemen's As-
sociation.
Egloff also tried to refute
Letson's daim that Wilson
did not approve of the usage,
saying he has been discuss-
ing it with Wilson for two
years.
Egloffalso cited the local
economic benefits to the
project, saying he would
employ six to eight persons
with salaries ranging from
$30,000 to $50,000. He esti-
mated he is currently giving
Tift County about $95,000
annually in processing fees
that would instead be spent
within Monroe County if
the facility is built.
When it was revealed at
the end of the discussion
that Egloffhas also bought
from Wilson an additional
100-plus acres directly east
of the proposed facility, it
sparked nearby landowner
James Vaughn, a former
Monroe County commis-
sion chairman, to say he felt
his rights had been violated
because he did not receive
an official notification about
the zoning hearing. Vaughn
said he owns 600 acres due
east of the property Egl-
off recently bought from
Wilson. Monroe County
zoning officer Anita Buice
urged Vaughn to draft a
formal written complaint to
send to the county attomey.
Vaughn's son Ben serves as
the county attomey but was
not present during the Egl-
off hearing. Buice said Ben
Vaughn would likely recuse
himself from James Vaughn's
legal appeal process.
Despite the legal concerns
over Vaughn's complaint,
P & Z member Red Ezelle
motioned to approve
Egloff's variance request
after more than an hour of
discussion. Ezelle's motion
was seconded by Chuck
Benson, and the motion
to approve passed by a 3-1
vote. Michael Brewster was
the lone P & Z member who
opposed the measure while
Jim Rollins abstained.
The Monroe County
Sheriff's Office will be plac-
ing signs in Sex Offenders'
yards warning Citizens not to
Trick-or-Treat at this address.
Should the Sex Offender
choose not to have a sign
placed in then" yard, he or she
will be required to report to
the Monroe County Sheriff's
Office Lobby from 5:00 pm
until 10:00 pm on October
31st.
If the Sex Offender is on
Probation, he or she will
report to their Probation
Officer.
Should any Sex Offender
have any questions, please
contact Sgt. Rhonda Seck-
inger at the Monroe County
Sheriff's Office.
To sponsor a classroom, Call Will at (478) 994-2358
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