By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
Juab County Planning Commission members determined to
table a request by Kuhni and Sons, an animal rendering
facility located in Utah County, to re locate to Juab County
while some of the members study the request.
At the beginning of the meeting, Jim McWilliams, planning
commission chair, told the gathering of 85 interested
citizens that those who signed up to speak would be heard
but all would be limited to 2 minutes each.
Planning Commission members each took some time at the
end of the public meeting to discuss their individual
thoughts before deciding to postpone making a decision on
the matter.
Board members did, however, agree to meet with the owners
of the facility at a special board meeting to be set and
then held after being advertised in the legal notice section
of The Times-News.
On Thursday, Sept. 12, the planning commission met in
their regularly scheduled meeting where they carefully met
the agenda outline by first discussing other items of
business, then hearing a report of the board members who had
visited an animal rendering facility in Boston, and then
waiting until 8 p.m., the time posted in legal notices, to
hold a public hearing on the request of Kuhni owners for a
conditional use permit.
"In 1937, when our grandfather immigrated from
Switzerland, he bought swamp land, not to be away from
neighbors but because it was all he could afford," said Hans
Kuhni, one of the owners.
He said the reason the company was moving was not that
Provo wanted them gone, but that they had out-grown the
facility near East Bay where they were presently
located.
The company was land-locked and needed more acreage which
they could not purchase where they are.
"The state legislature saw our business to be such a
need, that they were willing to provide some funding to help
with the relocation," he said.
Residents of Nephi and Levan voiced many concerns
regarding the proposed plant during the public hearing
including odor, wildlife, wetlands, environment, property
values and concerns about the local aquifer.
Some residents, in remarks opposing the relocation of
Kuhni's to a site 9 miles south of Levan near Mills at the
extreme south of the county, had some misinformation about
the amount of money the state legislature is providing the
animal rendering service if they move.
One of those, Joyce Justet, Levan, thought the company
was receiving $7 million. However, that figure, from all
sources, is more in the neighborhood of $5.8 million.
The Utah State Legislature appropriated $2 million but
then reduced the figure to $1.8 million. The rest will come
from Provo City ($2.3 million), East Bay businesses
($400,000) and Kuhni ($1.3 million).
She also charged that no one had contacted government
agencies, which should be, in her opinion, involved in the
decision-making process.
Her sister, Janet Peterson, who is not a resident of Juab
County, said she was concerned about the wetlands area at
the proposed site. A member of the Audubon Society, she
said: "If we can stop Legacy Highway, we can do something
about Kuhni's building in a wetland."
Sandra Mangelson, postmistress in Levan, said she had
objections to a lagoon planned for the wastewater of the
plant.
In addition, she had objections to the way the clean air
of the community was being compromised by industry--trucks
carrying gypsum and coal, the gypsum mine, a large-scale
dairy, a coal yard.
"I just built a new home in Levan with a big front porch
and, in my old age, I want to take my walker out there and
sit on my porch," she said.
Juab government officials have been discussing, with
Kuhni plant owners, a site two miles south of Nephi and held
a public meeting on that site. Now another site is being
targeted about 19 miles southwest of Nephi, west of
Interstate 15, near Mills on property currently owned by
Jerald Hall.
Tom Park told those attending the meeting that he
recently drove to Kuhni's and went right up to the front
gate because he was concerned and had heard about the smell.
"Odor did not appear to be a problem," he said.
Blaine Malquist, a chemist and a high school teacher,
said he had some concerns about the chlorine which will be
used at Kuhni's, about problems which may be encountered
when the plant temporarily shuts down, as all do, for some
system failure, and about the lower-income people the
facility may attract.
"I really would have liked to see a vote taken (for the
issue to be taken to the citizens on a ballot)," he
said.
Bob Shepherd, mayor of Levan, presented a petition to the
planning commission containing 226 signatures, not all from
Levan, of those who did not want the plant located near
Mills.
He said, as a livestock producer, he understood the
importance of an animal rendering facility and knew a good
site needed to be found, however, he had concerns about the
Mills site.
For one, he said,the water table and the sever drought
the area was experiencing were considerations. "This year,
the wells are all pulling air," he said.
He thought the previous location, near Nephi, was a
better site.
Russell Mangelson, board member, said he was not
concerned about locating the plant at the Mills location
after visiting the Boston site. He was building a new home
in Levan and was comfortable with Kuhni being nine miles
from Levan.
"The water that boils off is steam, and steam is pure
water," he said. As for high water needs, that wasn't so.
The facility uses two gallons a minute, and a hose at a
house uses more.
"In Boston, there were geese 200-feet from the site,"
said Mangelson.
However, board members decided they would like a detailed
site plan for both the proposed facility so they could see
how much of the land would be used and where the lagoons
would be located.
In addition, they requested that Kuhni's come to the next
meeting prepared to tell board members which location of the
two proposed in Juab County would really serve Kuhni's needs
best.
After the meeting, Nephi resident Bob Weeks said the
plant would be an economic boost to Juab County.
"I think it would be wonderful," Weeks said. "I'm tired
of my taxes going up every year. Kuhni's would be a good tax
base for the county."
Wm. Boyd Howarth, county commission chair, said residents
needed to understand the conditional use permitting process.
Once the conditional use is granted, he said, the state
agencies take over and Kuhni's must meet all those strict
criteria.
"If Kuhni's cannot meet those criteria, they will not get
the necessary approval and they will not get a building
permit from Juab County," he said.
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