Chicken farm has Blair Township residents aflutter

Supervisors deny waivers as proposed venture in Blair Twp. met with opposition

About 60 residents of the Penn Farms area overflowed the Blair Township meeting room Tuesday, all of them in opposition to an egg farm proposed for an area south of Hollidaysburg near the top of Catfish Ridge, to the right of Route 36 from the perspective of a southbound motorist -- and upslope from their homes.

At the urging of many attendees, the township supervisors unanimously denied all of the several waivers that developer Roman Musser of Martinsburg had requested, which will force Musser to amend his proposed plan in order to comply with the township's subdivision and land development ordinance (SALDO).

It's unclear how much complying with all those provisions he'd asked to be waived would add to the project's cost, but -- speaking generally -- opponents to development proposals over which governing bodies don't have discretionary denial power have sometimes resorted to urging the elimination of waivers simply to dissuade developers from proceeding, due to the additional cost, township solicitor Patrick Fanelli said after the meeting.

Fanelli and others have made it clear to opponents that if Musser complies with all the SALDO requirements, the township doesn't have the power to deny approval -- and there is no zoning in the municipality.

Among residents' concerns about the project have been odor, runoff, water use, potential devaluation of residential properties and highway hazards.

Musser's farm consultant Bert Nye of Nye Consulting Services of Lancaster County pointed out recently that Musser has volunteered to submit an odor control plan the state would regulate and a manure handling plan that the Blair County Conservation District would regulate; that water use on the property would be the equivalent of just five homes; that stormwater detention plans are robust; and that a wide-mouth driveway, coupled with PennDOT rules and minimal truck traffic for the farm, will not cause a hazard on Route 36.

Musser's waiver requests have included dispensing with a requirement for an evergreen buffer in favor of allowing woods on the property to remain; a swale slope of less than the required 1%, in order to retain water on the property so that it percolates into the soil; dispensing with a survey to mark the four corners of the 153 acre property, given that the active portion of the farm would only be about 11 acres; and dispensing with a possible requirement for a sidewalk.

Denial of those waivers won't ameliorate any of the conditions that the residents consider problematic, according to an official at the meeting.

It doesn't seem likely that the waiver denials would add so much cost as to kill the proposal, Fanelli predicted.

Nye said he will ask Musser how he would like to move forward with the proposal after the supervisors voted to deny the waivers.

On Tuesday, the residents' most pressing concern seemed to be odor.

To get a sense of how a chicken farm smells, Supervisors Chairman Paul Amigh recently visited a free-range operation with 25,000 chickens, he told the group.

Amigh spoke to the farmer while standing in front of the exhaust fan for the barn, he said.

"Unless you stuck your head in there, it (the odor) is not bad," he said.

He also spoke with neighbors, he said, the nearest of whom lived 300 yards away.

None of the neighbors had wanted the farm to be established, Amigh said.

"Now, there are no issues," he said.

Musser's application is for 25,000 chickens, all to be housed continuously in a 47-by-512-foot barn.

But he only plans to keep 20,000 chickens at this point, according to Nye.

Even 25,000 chickens is a relatively small operation, with 80,000 about the average, according to Nye.

A meeting attendee predicted that Musser would add many more than 20,000 chickens, creating a "stench."

Musser could add more chickens, but if he were to propose adding a barn at some point to accommodate them, he would need to submit another land development application to the township, Nye said.

Keeping the manure dry, as Musser plans to do with indoor storage, keeps the smell down, Nye said.

It's also important to keep the exhaust fans clean, he said.

Still, area resident Glenn Brandimarte spoke of an uncle who had a chicken farm that smelled "really bad," he said.

"I think there are things you can do," Brandimarte said.

Reportedly, the addition of evergreen trees to create the buffer could have an odor-absorbing effect, some said.

Musser's voluntary odor control plan might not be as effective as the community would like, as state inspectors might be unwilling to monitor the situation closely or be strict with Musser, suggested resident Regis Nale.

The township, however, could encourage the state to be strict by purchasing an odor meter and asking its code officer to check regularly at the boundary of the farm, Nale said.

If the inspector finds an odor issue, he could bring it to state officials for action, Nale said.

The residents themselves could create such a program, Fanelli said.

Attendees clapped when the supervisors voted to deny the waivers.

"We hear you," Amigh said. "We're sympathetic."

It's possible that the township could approve a land development plan for the farm in December, Fanelli said.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.