Chicken house variance granted

Published 2:24 pm Friday, May 6, 2016

CAIRO, Ga. — At its regular monthly meeting Thursday, the Grady County Board of Commissioners approved a variance request for chicken houses built over setback requirements in northern Grady County and enacted a 60-day moratorium on construction of more chicken houses.

By a 4-0 vote, the commissioners approved the variance requested by Nghe Van Phan for eight chicken houses recently constructed on his County Line Road property that infringe as much as eight feet over a 250-foot setback from the neighboring property line. The commissioners OK’d a moratorium on  additional chicken houses until the county can review its ordinance and consider measures to strengthen it with additional setback requirements.

Commissioners LaFaye Copeland, T.D. David, Ray Prince and Commission Chairman Charles Norton listened to the complaints and concerns of residents living near chicken houses, then quickly voted to grant the controversial variance. Commission Vice Chairman Elwyn Childs was absent.

According to County Administrator Carlos Tobar, there was not much discussion between the commissioners on the variance before the vote. David simply commented he though it was “impractical” to require Phan to relocate his eight chicken houses.

During the moratorium, the commissioner’s and Tobar’s office will consider several recommendations made by Tall Timbers Planning Coordinator Neil Fleckenstein, including the following: Requiring dry manure stack houses for dry composting of poultry manure generated on the site of commercial chicken houses; setback requirements for chicken houses and dry manure stack houses of 250 feet from 100-year flood zones; a setback for chicken houses and dry manure stack houses of 100 feet from wells to prevent contamination of drinking water; and, require a vegetative buffer around chicken houses.

Tobar said the BOC should also consider requiring an additional survey of foundation forms before concrete is poured to make sure the chicken houses will meet setback requirements.

Addressing concerns of Gloria Smith, whose property adjoins a poultry production facility on Spence Road, Tobar said it is already in the chicken house ordinance that exhaust fans should be directed away from neighboring residences when possible. He also said that property owners next to chicken house facilities are allowed to build on their property within the setback requirements if they sign a waiver.

He said chicken incinerators are not included in the current ordinance. Tobar also said the number of chicken houses allowed on one piece of property is controlled by setback requirements, meaning a poultry producer can build as many chicken houses as the owner wants on his property as long as the houses are within the setback requirements. Chicken houses also cannot be built on fewer than five acres.

“The commissioners approved the 60-day moratorium to strengthen Grady County’s (chicken house) ordinance with additional requirements,” Tobar said.

“This gives the commissioners and me time to go through all the ordinances of other counties and determine what works for Grady County,” he continued.

Tobar said he expects the commissioners to have any new setback requirements in hand, hopefully, by May 17. He said his office would then set a date for a public hearing by June 7. Following the 45-day notification period, a public hearing would be held around Aug. 16, with a commission vote following soon thereafter.

Existing chicken houses would not be affected by any new setback requirements, according to Tobar. He also said there are no applications for new chicken houses in Grady County at this time.