 COMPANY
WITHDRAWS LAGOON PERMIT REQUEST
C-T, 09/12/17
Catherine Stortz Ripley (Photo and Article)
The company that sought to construct a 5 million gallon lagoon east of Chillicothe to store wastewater from
food processing plants has withdrawn its application for a conditional use permit. The company gave verbal
notification to former Livingston County Zoning Administrator Mark Shockey early Tuesday morning and followed that
with written notification from Marcus Tilley, the regional environmental manager for Terra Renewal Services,
Inc., early afternoon. This action followed a public hearing conducted by the Livingston County Planning and
Zoning Commission that took place in the circuit courtroom of the courthouse Monday evening. An estimated
75 people attended. After about 90 minutes of discussion, the planning and zoning commission voted to
support a recommendation for the Livingston County Commission to deny the conditional use permit. The
county commission's public hearing was scheduled for Tuesday morning. Although the hearing took place, no
vote was taken because one commissioner - Dave Mapel - was not present due to his attendance at the
funeral of former state Rep. Mike Lair; and because Commissioner Alvin Thompson would be abstaining from
the vote due to a family relationship with Shane Baxter, on whose property the lagoon was proposed. The
discussion was tabled until Tuesday, September 12, pending written notification of the
applicant's withdrawal. When asked how the commission would vote, if the
matter came to a vote, Presiding Commissioner Ed Douglas pointed out the purpose of the
county's planning and zoning commission. "We have the authority to
not take their recommendation, but that is not why we appointed
them," Douglas said. "We appointed them to study it out, make those hard decisions and make a recommendation to
the county commission."
Terra Renewal Services, Inc., of Dardanelle, Ark., had applied for a conditional use permit
to construct a waste storage basin for industrial food residuals for land application as a soil amendment or as an
organic fertilizer. The conditional use permit was up for discussion because the land currently is zoned agriculture.
Although product from the storage lagoon would have agricultural purpose, the lagoon would be a commercial
storage facility and, therefore, require a conditional user permit. The lagoon was planned for privately-owned
property on LIV 261, approximately four miles east of Chillicothe and one mile north of U.S. Highway 36. The basin
would have measured 215 feet wide, by 315 feet long and 20 feet deep. The facility would have been the
company's first lagoon system. The company's other facilities are smaller and enclosed. The lagoon system,
company officials said, would provide greater storage and year-round capacity as opposed to an enclosed
tank. Shockey stated that the county's zoning attorney said that because it would be a storage facility, it
would need to be classified as a solid waste management area, and thus require a conditional use permit.
Monday's public hearing was to hear details
about the request and offer input prior to the county commission
taking a vote. The planning and zoning commission is comprised of one representative from each of the
county's 13 townships. Ten of the 13 members were present Monday evening and all of those in attendance
voted in favor of denying the permit. Shockey opened the hearing
and outlined the format, stating that certain criteria must be met before the committee could recommend approval
of the permit. Things to be taken into consideration, he said, included whether the development would produce dust,
noise, odor, or vibration, whether it could reduce property value or keep people from enjoying their property in the
immediate vicinity. "Those are all things that we came up with as part of the
criteria," Shockey said Tuesday. "I think it was fairly
evident last night by everyone's testimony that folks felt they did not meet that
criteria."
David Beck, chairman of the planning and zoning commission, led Monday
night's hearing and stated that the purpose of the hearing was to obtain details about the proposed project and gather public input. Company representatives, John
Pipkin and Corey Bauer, were in attendance and explained their proposal and answered questions from the
public. The company representatives said the material coming into the lagoon would be, on average, 90
percent water and 10 percent organic solids that come from washing down equipment in meat processing
plants, largely poultry and ham processing plants. The storage basin would have a 12-inch bentonite clay liner
to seal the lagoon and would be completely fenced and have evergreen trees planted around the perimeter to
help block the view and odor. Additional odor control, if needed, they said, could
involve covering the lagoon with a synthetic liner, blowing hay on top of the lagoon, or having a misting system to contain and deodorize
the air. The lagoon would be below grade. Pipkin said that the company did not
anticipate using the entire lagoon capacity. The material would be stored on
site for several months at time and then hauled and used for land application.
"It's the organic matter in the food residuals that gives the
material value as a fertilizer... nitrogen, phosphorous and
potassium," said Pipkin. The company currently does not have a lagoon system; however, it maintains lagoons for chicken processing plants.
The lagoon would be similar to lagoons that are located east of Columbia. The company constructed an enclosed
storage tank in Macon about 10 years ago. During Tuesday's public hearing, Shockey said he had talked with Pipkin
earlier in the morning and relayed his comments about the company wanting to withdraw the application.
"He really did sound concerned that they, as a company, not place this in a location that is going to be
unsuitable," Shockey said. "He indicated that they learned a lot from the meeting last night and that they
appreciated the opportunity to appear and appreciated everyone's attendance and
participation."
Commissioner Douglas stated that existing
ordinances regulate how land is used in the county. "A lot of
counties don't have that," he said. "I think the company
heard enough that they thought there would be counties better suited for them. There are easier places for them to
do that." Surrounding counties, such as Grundy and Linn, do not have county zoning. Shockey stated that the
Livingston County has spent time carefully developing its zoning ordinances.
"We have worked very hard over the last couple years to make
amendments to the zoning order to try to balance the thing out so that we
don't completely trample on people's private property rights while at the same time protect the community against
somebody wanting to do something that is totally
objectionable," he said.
Shockey confirmed that the company had
received approval from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and that the specific plot of land on which
the lagoon was proposed was near a floodplain area, but not actually located in a floodplain. Concerns raised
Monday night by members of the public included potential contamination to drinking water, an underground river
and an aquifer, as well as deterioration of the road and underground water lines due heavy truck traffic going to and
from the site. Concerns of odor control and the potential of increased predators to the area were also raised as
concerns.
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