BLOOMFIELD, IOWA -- A possible new Confined Animal Feeding Operation meets opposition in the city of Bloomfield.
On Monday, the Davis County board of supervisors held a public meeting to hear concerns about a proposed facility. More than 30 people packed the courtroom to speak with county officials.
Bloomfield resident Garry Klicker says the smell is just on concern.
“It’s obvious we have too many in Davis County already,” said Klicker. “By industry count it’s 135 buildings. That’s approximately one for every four square-miles. In Davis County, that’s way too many. Everyone in the county’s affected. Everybody gets the smell one time or another.”
KTVO spoke with county supervisor Matt Greiner. He says the board will vote in two weeks whether to go ahead with plans for the CAFO. Greiner added that he and the other supervisors will take all points into consideration. If the supervisors approve the measure, the next step would be the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
But some residents aren’t just worried about the smell. They’re concerned about the cost of repairing roads driven frequently by delivery trucks.
"The roads get destroyed year after year, said Klicker. “The county themselves said there was $10 million worth of damage a couple years ago. Most of that was due to those hog trucks having to make it in and out of those confinements every week”
One telling part of the meeting came from a resident of Jefferson County. They try to keep CAFO’s out of the county because of the negative connotation. The gentleman said they keep these types of facilities out of Jefferson by claiming the county will turn into Washington or Davis counties. According to Klicker, that's a problem.
“That tells you where Davis County, what Davis County’s reputation is. They know fully well how much manure is spread in Davis County, how many confinement buildings there are here. They know it’s way too many and they use that as a way of stopping them in Jefferson County.
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