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County postpones decision on slaughterhouse zoning change
BY JAMES JACENICH • STAFF WRITER
MONTEREY - The Highland County Planning Commission sent back to the board of supervisors and Monterey town council a proposed change to the zoning ordinance adding slaughterhouses as a conditional use in general agriculture (A-2) and light industrial (M-1) zones. The decision followed a joint public hearing by all three bodies Jan. 24. Supervisors and a town councilman disagreed over whether a 200-foot setback from a residential use in the proposed change should be increased, decreased or remain the same.
The change would have removed slaughterhouses as a conditional use from business districts while making them conditional uses in general agriculture and light industrial zones.
Supervisor Jerry Rexrode opined that no setback should be required. He preferred to leave it up to the governing body to decide on a case-by-case basis what distance, if any, would be appropriate.
County attorney Melissa Dowd said 200 feet might not be enough, and that 1,000 feet might be more appropriate.
Town councilman Francis Fenn said a 200-foot setback might not be enough if the slaughterhouse were built in an agricultural lot next to the school or in an industrial lot behind his house.
The proposed zoning change came about as a result of a conversation zoning official Jim Whitelaw had with Highland Center executive director Betty Mitchell, who was exploring areas zoned for slaughterhouses. Whitelaw discovered that Highland County could not accommodate a slaughterhouse, even if one were proposed in the county. He said the law allows slaughterhouses by conditional use only in business districts (B-2). Whitelaw suggested the law be changed because it was "inappropriate" to have a slaughterhouse in a business district. Business districts are predominately in the town of Monterey, and villages of Blue Grass and McDowell.
The location of a regional agricultural center - which might contain a slaughterhouse - and if and when a proposal is finally made by a non-governmental steering committee of farmers and potential investors - could be anywhere within a four-county region comprising Highland, Bath, Pendleton and Pocahontas counties. The center steering committee doesn't have a design for a facility yet and is nowhere near selecting a site, said Mitchell.
Extension agent Rodney Leech said, "It makes sense to put a slaughterhouse out of the business district and put it in A-2 and M-1 sites. If and when (an ag center is proposed), it will be good to have this hurdle taken care of." Leech is an advisor to the center steering committee, as well as Highland's extension agent.
"I'm not speaking for nor against (the slaughterhouse amendment)," said Fenn. "If we approved (the change), that means they could build one on (an agricultural zone) on the tract of land next to the high school."
Only if the governing body approved the conditional use, Whitelaw noted.
And only if it met the 200-feet setback requirement, Dowd added.
Dowd said, "It might make sense extending the setback to 1,000 feet. We have lots of A-2 in Highland County. I would suggest that 200 feet is not a magic number. I'm not saying 1,000 feet is a magic number either."
Supervisor Robin Sullenberger said he did not clearly understand the setback as drafted. He drew a diagram on the blackboard showing an agricultural lot with a slaughterhouse in the middle and a residential use adjoining. Was the proposed setback from property lines or was it the distance from buildings, he asked. The proposal said, "slaughterhouses shall be located not less than 200 feet from any lot line of a residential use."
The language of the change also suggested to Sullenberger and other officials at the hearing that a house could be hundreds of feet from a lot line, yet the 200-foot setback from the lot line for the slaughterhouse would still apply.
"You have certain criteria to look at - if it is to be in the town ... is it compatible in the neighborhood?" said Dowd.
"If you put in (distance from a) building, is the setback from the footprint of the building or from the property line?" Sullenberger asked.
"It's from the lot line of the residential use," said Dowd.
"There's a difference between a lot line and a property line," Rexrode asserted. "You would have to change it to building line. Two hundred feet from a lot line is a long way if you set the building on a 200-acre lot."
The confusion over the terms "lot line," "building" and "residential use" continued. Even the word "property" created confusion when considered in the context of the proposal. Even "common sense" wasn't so clear a concept when it came to deciding such zoning issues.
"Property line is the same as a lot line," Dowd said.
"I think setbacks should be addressed depending on the situation," said Rexrode.
"It's a common-sense issue. Do you see this board or any board siting a slaughterhouse in the town of Monterey?" said planning chairman Doug Gutshall.
"It may be a common sense issue, but if I were in Mr. Fenn's property, I'd have to have a whole lot of faith in the planning commission they wouldn't put it next to him," said Dowd.
On the other hand, Dowd reasoned, common sense is a factor in deciding conditional use applications. "You have to consider the effect on the neighborhood, the need for the use, and the character of the existing neighborhood and effect on property values," said Dowd. "You are to some extent bound by common sense. We have developed piece by piece in a lot of ways our zoning here as the town has grown."
Resident Roy Gutshall said, "As bad as Highland County needs employment and Highland County needs a tax base, you should make whatever changes necessary to let any industry in Highland County." He added a person should be able to build a residence anywhere they wanted to on their property.
"I'm not satisfied with the 200 feet," said Rexrode. "I would like to see common sense used. There are different situations. Two hundred feet is a long way depending on where you are at. If you have a residential use that somebody only lives in once a year ... I'd just as soon eliminate it totally. You've already got setbacks. You've got to have faith in your zoning board to look at this ... There are instances where you need to increase, there are instances where you need to shorten it. The town could put conditions on it if they want a 1,000 feet setback; they don't have to go by what the county does."
"Not everybody has the same degree of common sense," said Fenn. "You wouldn't want a small chemical plant 200 feet from your house or necessarily from your property line. You ought to change it to put some reasonable distance other than 200 foot. I've been around chemical plants (and other kinds of plants). This slaughterhouse is going to have to have a disposal pit. How far do you want a disposal pit from your house? I think you should change (the ordinance) to extend the distance."
"It's a balance - a (slaughterhouse) is potentially noisy and smelly, something that's going to have to have disposal of some kind. It's a balance," said Dowd.
"We heard a resolution approved by the board of supervisors, now I'm hearing something different," said plan- ning commission vice chairman Jim Cobb.
"If there is a substantive change, we need to go back and redraft and have another public hearing," said Dowd. "It doesn't appear the board of supervisors is of a consensus."
"We are all trying to reach the same end here," said Sullenberger. "We are trying to make this as flexible as possible without infringing on an adjacent residential property. I don't know how you plug an exact number in there. We don't want to ask you to pass something that we don't feel comfortable with."
Dowd said a leech field could be closer than 200 feet. Waste disposal could be closer than 200 feet. "It's from any structure - a pen is a structure, a fence is a structure. An underground field is not a structure," she said.
Fenn said the slaughterhouse should be set back from wells to avoid possible contamination.
Tom Hevener, board of zoning appeals member, said that decision was up to the health department. But Fenn disagreed, "It's not, it's the county's responsibility." However, the county's poultry ordinance says setbacks from a well is the responsibility of the health department, Dowd said.
"Just by the nature of it, a slaughterhouse has to have its own sewage system of a certain size," said town councilman Sam Shell. "Is there a plan for how large of an area it takes in? Does that in itself designate what size of property you need?"
"It depends on the size of slaughterhouse," said Leech. "If it is a small operation, there is holding tanks for a certain amount of it, and the drain field is no different from a residential drain field. It's regulated by DEQ, EPA both."
Leech, when asked, said he had no size of building (footprint) in mind. When pressed for an example, he said a 40- by 60-foot facility could serve the region, processing as many as 18 head of cattle per week. He said a facility in Highland would be "very small." A 200 head a week facility "wouldn't be economically feasible in this area," he said.
"Maybe we should back up and look at this with the guidance of the planning commission," said Rexrode. "We've had a lot of public input; there's concern about setbacks. After a public hearing, sometimes that's what you want to do. Maybe we need a work session to discuss this."
"One thing Jim (Whitelaw) and I can do is check around, see what Augusta County does, (look at) small slaughterhouses," said Dowd. "West Virginia doesn't have zoning so it doesn't help to go in that direction. Let's look at Rockingham County."
"The reason for input obviously is to make sure you don't overstep or make decisions without considering all the ramifications ... We want to make this as flexible as we can without imposing undue problems on anyone," said Sullenberger.
The planning commission returned the proposed change to the board of supervisors, planning commission and town council and suggested they hold a work session.
The board of supervisors voted to "move forward with haste to set a work session." Town council followed suit. No date has been set as of press time this week.
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