HUMBOLDT Members of the Planning Commission voted unanimously 6-0 with Mark Criger absent to recommend rezoning the land where Moons Market once operated from general commercial to heavy industrial, class 2.
With that done, the members donned their Board of Zoning Appeals hats and voted unanimously to give Scott and Amy Welch a special use permit for a slaughter operation, to be in conjunction with a new grocery.
We need an edge to be successful, Scott Welch said, with him being able to slaughter his cattle and then sell it.
Humboldt City Council will consider the zoning change at its Dec. 9 meeting. The zoning board has authority to give the special use permit without council review.
A small group of Humboldt residents attended the session. Two spoke out in less than robust opposition to a slaughterhouse being a part of the store.
I appreciate us getting a grocery store, but I think a slaughterhouse will lower property values, said Jean Ranabarger.
Ranabarger also fears flies, noise and smell, from the operation and mentioned the inherent health concerns of such an operation.
Joe Works, a commissioner, said he had similar concerns.
Im very concerned about the quality of life in Humboldt, Works said, although, I think with a small number of animals being slaughtered one day a week community life wont be adversely affected.
Its unfortunate that the ordinance says slaughterhouse, said City Administrator Cole Herder, with its negative connotation. It would be better to say butcher shop, which is what it will be officially.
WELCH DETAILED what he and Amy plan for the slaughter operation.
A holding pen measuring no more than 20-by-20 feet will be at the southeast corner of the store building, and will be shielded from public view by a wooden fence. The pen also will have a roof to keep the animals and whatever waste they produce protected from inclement weather.
With an anticipated five or six animals arriving any one day, each will be dispatched and slaughtered in about 30 minutes, with the next one then being ushered in. The work schedule will start at 7 a.m. and be completed no later than noon.
Any waste that does accumulate will be washed into a drain. Herder assured the drain would empty into the citys sanitary sewer and be processed at the plant at the southwest corner of town.
Entrails and other animal parts not deemed edible will be placed in an enclosed trailer and removed soon after slaughtering is finished to the Welchs home south of Moran, and then disposed at the Allen County Landfill.
