70 attendees, 18 speakers at hearing for ordinance changes regarding Prestage plant

After taking care of other county business, the Wright supervisors readjourned to the courtroom to accommodate the more than 70 visitors who attended the readings for Ordinances 51 and 50, which would re-zone the southeast quarter of section 21 of Troy Township as Industrial to allow for future development of Prestage Foods’ pork processing plant and tweak regulations to allow any building height in rural areas provided it does not interfere with an airport.

“Agricultural zoning doesn’t have a lot of rules and regulations,” said Sandy McGrath, planning and zoning director. “Industrial was a better option and a better fit.” She added later in the meeting that a processing plant could probably be built legally on land zoned for agriculture, but industrial-zoned land had more protections in place.

Eighteen total visitors spoke, and though each were allowed only two minutes to talk, they brought up several concerns and reasons to oppose the project. Some commenters weren’t necessarily opposed to some industry being at the location south of Eagle Grove, but didn’t like the idea of a pork processing plant. The most cited reasons were environmental health and quality of life.

Based on a quick show of hands initiated by one of the attendees, a little over half of the 70-some visitors were against the ordinance changes to accommodate the plant, and slightly under half were for it.

For the opinions of speakers both for and against the plant, see the June 21 edition of the Monitor.