After weeks of rumors, rumblings, and speculation, the commercial poultry operation planned for southern Coffee County made its way to the Coffee County commission. At Monday’s regular commission meeting, four individuals spoke to the commission regarding the project.
Here is the background: For the last several years, local businessman David Varnedore has owned a large tract of land on U.S. 441 South near the Coffee/Atkinson county line. The Satilla River borders the property to the south and the tract, which spans 1,000 acres, goes west almost to the Willacoochee Highway. Varnedore has sold the property to an out-of-state entity, which plans to build a large-scale poultry operation on the tract. The numbers that have been discussed, although nothing has been confirmed or denied on the record, is that the new owner(s) plan to build 60 chicken houses (five farms with 12 houses to each) and bring in as many as 120 people from out of state (and possibly out of country) to operate the farm.
Nearby landowners are concerned about the project and have been engaging in a low-key grassroots campaign to spread awareness about the proposed farm in an effort to prevent it from happening.
Monday morning, that low-key campaign became a little more out in the open when opponents of the project went on the record at the commission meeting.
Four individuals – neighbors Frank Pridemore, Laura Curtis, and Becky Temple, as well as Satilla Riverkeeper Shannon Gregory – addressed commissioners. Pridemore asked the commission several questions regarding permitting, traffic, housing, and the process involved in bringing such a project to the area.
Gregory addressed the environmental concerns as they relate to the nearby Satilla River. “It’s a bad idea to build these chicken houses . . . It’s a really, really bad idea,” she said.
Curtis and her mother, Temple, live on property that adjoins the proposed farm. They discussed potential health issues that they feel would result if the houses were built as well as loss of property value and traffic concerns. “This isn’t in the best interest of citizens. It benefits big business,” said Temple.
Pridemore spoke first; following his remarks, county attorney Tony Rowell addressed a few of his questions. He stated that the property is zoned Agriculture so there is no zoning issue for the county to get involved with. Rowell also stated that there would be some building permits and developmental standards for the buildings on the property that the county would have to monitor. If the new owners did plan to put housing on the property, the county would have some measure of involvement in that as well. But as far as it coming before the commission for approval or rejection – that isn’t a part of the process. “It’s a private project,” he said. “On-site housing would come through us. EPD issues would go through the state and traffic is a DOT issue.”
“As Mr. Rowell alluded to a while ago, we have certain areas that are brought to us and that’s what we address,” said commission chairman Johnny Wayne Jowers after everyone had spoken.
Tuesday morning, a group of neighbors and nearby landowners gathered at Carver Baptist Church to further discuss the farm. DouglasNow was in attendance and has a video from that meeting. It was a different group of people who spoke at Carver; however, their concerns were basically the same. A video of the Carver meeting is embedded at the end of this story.
After the chicken house discussion, the commission moved forward with the meeting. Commissioners approved the following items:
• A change order for the Jacobs Circle project. The change order actually reduces the final price tag of the project by $23,714.93.
• The ISO inspection proposal with Skip Starling of National Fire Service in the amount of $22,000.
• An intergovernmental agreement between Unison Behavioral Health and the city and county regarding the spending of opioid settlement funds.
• The purchase of two pieces of equipment for the Road Department. Yancey Brothers was the low bidder on both machines – a Caterpillar motor grader for $352,814 and a Caterpillar mini-excavator for $188,431.
• A contract with Statewide Surveying for the Hickory Lane street and drainage improvement project. This is for new paving. The contract’s price tag is $53,637.
• A rezoning request from Cindy Pastrana for two acres at 616 Namon Road in order to build two duplexes. And . . .
• A text amendment to the zoning ordinance for manufactured housing permits. The amendment adds a permit to the permits already in effect. It allows for the removal of the mobile home off its property if the mobile home is leaving the county. There are permits in place that address moving a mobile home into the county and moving one within the county. This new amendment addresses moving one out of county and is $25.