By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
The Kuhni animal products rendering plant needs to be
relocated to a new site out of Provo within a short time
period or it may lose the money the state has promised to
help with the relocation.
If construction doesn't start by January, the state
legislature may withdraw the $1.8 million it has
appropriated for the move. In fact, the legislature has
already lowered the figure from the $2 million it first
agreed to provide.
Support on a state level has a time limit. During the
last legislative session, some lawmakers indicated the grant
money should be used for other projects, like education.
"Moving Kuhni's is a burden the entire state should share
because it is the only rendering plant in Utah," said Provo
Mayor Lewis Billings. "The plant recycles grease from
restaurants, animal by-products from the meat industry, and
dead animal carcasses from farms across the state."
Kevin Kuhni, who with his cousin, Hans Kuhni, owns the
plant said that only 5 percent of the animal waste which is
recycled comes from dead animals. The bulk of the recycled
waste is in the form of scraps from butcher shops.
The Juab County Planning Commission approved the
relocation of the to a rural site 19 miles southwest of
Nephi a few blocks west of I-15 and nine miles south of
Levan.
But that does not mean that all is smooth sailing for the
animal products rendering facility, said Hans Kuhni, an
owner of the firm.
"There is still a lot to be done," he said. For one,
state codes must be met and a site plan developed. In
addition, Juab County Commission will still have plenty to
say as conditions are formed and set for the conditional use
permit.
And while Kuhni has one year to complete the permitting
process and apply for a building permit, according to the
conditional-use permit standards set by the county general
plan, the Kuhni's facility will need to be permitted and
approved before then.
The largest construction, said Hans Kuhni, is that if the
company isn't ready to start construction and doesn't have a
building permit by the deadline set by the state
legislature, which was January 2003, the legislature may
withdraw the $1.8 million it set aside.
Kuhni said he wished that the neighbors of the proposed
new facility would realize that the plant would meet or
exceed the standards set for the animal-rendering facility
near Boston that two county commissioners and two county
planning commissioners visited.
He said that Provo council members passed an odor control
ordinance in 1999.
"Since that time, we have put in new controls at the
plant (in Provo) and the smell has virtually disappeared,"
said Hans Kuhni. In fact, the new plant, will be even
better.
"New technology will eliminate odors at the plant," said
Hans Kuhni. "There will be no odor, none."
Nevertheless, in their September meeting, the Levan City
Council unanimously passed a resolution opposing the
relocation of the plant to the Mills site.
At the planning commission voting meeting, held last
week, Mayor Robert Shepherd was disgruntled that the vote
taken by the Levan council had no effect on the vote.
"With new technology, the concerns we would have at East
Bay are virtually eliminated," Utah County Commissioner Gary
Herbert said.
The Kuhni's need for moving is a lack of space on the
land where they are currently located. Any expansion would
be impossible.
Herbert said that building a new building should improve,
even more, the quality of air control. "It's easier to build
a new plant than to retrofit an existing one."
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