MINEOLA, Iowa (AP) — Neighboring residents and other people opposed to the construction of a chicken confinement facility in western Iowa filled a meeting at a church and roundly criticized the plan as better suited to an industrial park.
The opponents’ concerns aired at St. John Lutheran Church in Mineola on Monday included the potential smell, the impact on the water table and the affect on local roads.
Eight barns would be built on a property that sits about a mile north of Mineola, and plans are to raise 200,000 or more chickens there every eight weeks.
Last week the Pottawattamie County supervisors voted to recommend that the Iowa Department of Natural Resources deny approval. The plan already has been rated 40 points above the required minimum on what’s called the master matrix, which is used to evaluate the siting of confinement feeding operations. The state decision could be appealed.
“I’m not anti-agriculture, but there are industrial sites that are better suited to this type of operation,” said Mark Hanwright, whose home is 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) from the proposed facility.
“This is industry; this isn’t farming,” said Scott Belt, one of the four Pottawattamie County supervisors who voted against the proposal.
