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SAVE OUR PEACE AND QUIET
We are greatly concerned with a re-zoning application from A2
to A1 in order to build a hog confinement-feeding operation in the
Vesta and Palmetto area of Oglethorpe County. We are taxpaying
property owners who have lived on our property in Palmetto for
26 years. Our property is located 2.5 miles from the proposed hog
operation. Palmetto is a rural community and 14 families live here.
There are four houses that have been built within the last year or
are currently under construction. People are buying land and build
ing houses here because of the peace and quiet and beauty of the
area. The hog operation threatens all of that. Vesta is a similar
community a few miles north of Palmetto. The current uses for the
land in both areas are for pasturing livestock, growing row crops,
orchards or trees for timber. We are concerned witn the negative
effects of the industrial components of such a large intensive op
eration interfering with the clirrent agricultural uses of the area.
We are very concerned with the tremendous risk to the envi
ronment that this type of operation poses. It is well-documented
that it is just a matter of time before an excessively heavy rainfall
(tropical storm or hurricane) could cause flooding of the holding
lagoon or the area where waste is spread on the land. As a result,
polluted storm water will enter Macks Creek (located only 900 feet
away) or the Long Creek flood-plain (located less than 500 feet
away) and possibly the Broad River and Clarks Hill Reservoir. It is
also possible that during the cleaning out of the lagoon, damage
could be done to the lining and groundwater can become contami
nated. This would contaminate adjacent wells. The property owner
lives in Atlanta. The application does not indicate that there will
be anyone living on the property that the hogs will be produced
on. Things can easily go wrong with such a complicated operation.
Damage could be done before anyone even knows about it.
In the EPA documentation provided with the rezoning applica
tion, it points out that if the waste gets washed into the creeks,
at a minimum fish will die and disease and possible death to hu
mans can result from contact with the pathogens contained in the
hog waste that would be produced. The waste produced would be
the equivalent amount of untreated waste that a town the size of
Lexington creates.
All roads leading to the location of the proposed operation are
unpaved. There will be a very adverse affect to the road surface
by the many trucks needed to transport the large amounts of hogs
and feed to the location of the operation. The planning commis-'
sion does not know which roads will be used to access the prop
erty. Whichever road or roads are used will suffer a decline.
Adjacent property owners will be affected severely. If property
owners ever intend to sell their property after such a facility is
built, the new owners cannot object to any of the noise, odors,
dust and any other effects created by the operation. Their property
values are sure to be reduced by the close proximity to the hog
operation. If the adjacent property owner ever intends to live on
their property, they will have to live with the hog operation as a
neighbor and cannot object even if he increases the number of
hogs that are housed there. Once the zoning is changed, all oppor
tunity for public opinion to influence our commissioners is lost.
We feel the above concerns make the intended hog operation
incompatible with the current use of other properties in the area.
It is a threat to the environment, the quality of life, and property
values we currently enjoy.
We live in a community that is zoned A2. The Oglethorpe
County zoning ordinance states: “Areas within the A2 General
Agricultural District are not intended to be used for intensive ag
ricultural facilities and uses that are restricted to the Ai Intensive
Agriculture District. The regulations for this district are designed
to protrct prime farmlands, promote viable agricultural usage, and
to entourage the maintenance of the general rural character." We
who live in this area do not feel someone from Atlanta should be
allowed to negatively impact our area with an intensive agricul
tural spot re-zoning.
We live in a community that is pristine. We who live here arc-
dedicated to keeping it that way. All we are asking is that we keep
our section of the county the way the county is described on the
Oglethorpe County website: "The varied landscape of Oglethorpe
County is composed of pine forests, natural woodlands, pastures,
and small rural communities connected by well-maintained county
roads. The large expanses of open rolling fields and wooded acre
age, punctuated with fine old homes, make this county a beautiful
and inviting place to live."
Please help us protect our beloved and, at present, pristine
community. We want this area *o remain a beautiful area to live
in, raise a family in, and be proud of. If you are interested in how
the Board of Commissioners interprets and enforces the zoning
ordinance then find out what happened at the public hearing on
Monday. Auq. 7. The Board of Commissioners will vote to approve
or deny the re-zoning on Aug. 14.
Richard & Patricia Kelly prkelly@nelscape com
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