
PLANNING COMMISSION
APPROVES SPECIAL USE PERMIT The Juab County
Planning and Zoning commission approved the special
use permit for the Kuhni's project at the Mill's
Interchange sight. The project will face additional
state and local permits before a building permit
will be issued. Above, several people came to the
meeting with signs with their concerns.
By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
There was an affirmative vote by the Juab County Planning
Commission to grant Kuhni's the conditional use permit the
Utah County-based company was seeking to build a animal
rendering facility in Juab County between Mills and Levan
and fronting I-15.
At the conclusion of the meeting, Glenn Greenhalgh,
county planning commission director, who does not have a
vote, explained that there were three steps Kuhni's must
take before they can begin building.
"The first step was to obtain the conditional use permit,
which they did tonight," said Greenhalgh. "The planning
commission still needs to establish the conditions of that
permit."
Once those conditions are established, other agencies
must sign off on the proposal. For one, he said, the health
department will be called upon to establish that public
health codes are met.
Other state agencies must confirm that building codes and
other issues are addressed and satisfied.
"Then Kuhni's will need to apply for a building permit,"
said Greenhalgh. As part of that process, another public
hearing will be held where public input will be taken.
Not as many people attended the public meeting held by
the Juab County Planning Commission on Monday--40 as
compared to the 85 interested citizens who showed up at a
public hearing held a week ago--and the meeting was short,
lasting only 10 minutes.
Jim McWilliams, planning commission chair, said the
meeting was not being held to take public comment but to
have members of the planning commission vote on the
proposal.
"We went to the proposed site today (at 5 p.m.)," said
McWilliams. He said the visit satisfied him that the
property proposed for the siting was not in a wetlands.
In addition, McWilliams said that representatives, of
which he was one, visited a large animal rendering facility
near Boston where state-of-the-art equipment prevented there
being an unpleasant odor attached to the processing
facility.
That had been one of his concerns before the trip, he
said.
McWilliams also refused to take comment from the floor.
That had been done at the public hearing, he said.
Robert Steele, county commissioner who sits on the
planning commission as a non-voting member, said he had
investigated the water table concerns some citizens had
voiced at the public hearing.
"The water basin will not be effected," he said. "There
will be no effect. Period."
Steele said the well water for the land is already being
used there and so the water table should not be adversely
affected.
Kuhni's will use 20-acre feet of water per year, he said.
"That is just enough water to raise five acres of
alfalfa."
"Last meeting I was concerned about the location proposed
as the site," said Planning Commission member Paul
McPherson. "After visiting the site, I agree with the place
it is proposed to be built."
Russ Mangelson, commission member who will soon build in
Levan, said he supported granting Kuhni's a conditional use
permit.
Only Wallace Ballow disagreed with the proposed Mills
site. Ballow said he thought the planning commission had
been going to review some site plans at the meeting.
"We are having a meeting to take a vote," said
McWilliams.
Ballow said that only two sites--one just south of Nephi
and the Mills/Levan site had been considered. "I can think
of several other places in the county where Kuhni's could be
built," he said.
He did not have confidence in the state and federal
regulations being enforced because the Bateman Dairy had
built their holding pond according to state code and it was
not as effective as it should be in controlling odor.
"We have to specify in the conditional use permit what we
will let them do," he said. A bad smell and health concerns
would have a negative effect on the county.
Nevertheless, Ballow was the lone negative vote on the
commission. One commission member, Art Cornish from Eureka,
had car trouble on the way to the meeting and called to tell
the others he would not be in attendance.
McWilliams, as chair, was called upon to cast a vote so
the quorum would be complete.
McWilliams, as chair, and Mangelson, McPherson, Ballow,
and Cornish sit on the commission as voting members.
Following the affirmative vote, Don Martin spoke up and
asked the commission if they had ever heard of a class
action suit.
"I feel that it is unfortunate that there is so much
emotion and bad feeling," said Hans Kuhni, one of the owners
of the company. "The planning commission has been very good
at turning over the rocks and making informed
decisions."
When the plant is ready for a building permit, there will
no longer be issues, he said. There will not be odors and
the concerns of residents will have been addressed.
There is still a great deal for owners to do in the next
few weeks--detailed site plan will be drawn, waste water
permits will need to be obtained, and the conditions of the
permit will be set by the planning commission.
Some citizens attending the meeting thought the
conditional use permit would now come before the county
commissioners for a vote. However, that will not happen.
According to Juab County Code, 12-1-304
"The
Planning Commission is specifically given authority to
approve conditional use permits as provided herein."
Some county residents did not think they had been heard
and were unhappy with the results of the meeting. They
stopped in the hallway, gathered in clusters, and discussed
their views.
"That was the fastest public meeting I have ever seen,"
said Graham Misbach. The meeting, which took less than 10
minutes from start to finish, he said, was of great
importance to many people in the county.
Sherm Peterson, who is a retired Juab County Road
Department Superintendent, said the area proposed for the
construction of the new Kuhni plant was a wetland.
"It is boggy down under there," he said. "That is one of
the reasons the freeway is unstable in that location."
All three Juab County Commissioners--Wm. Boyd Howarth,
Joseph Bernini, and Robert Steele--were in attendance at the
public meeting.
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