Heather Augustyn, Post-Tribune Freelance Reporter
A group proposing a controversial hog farm in Morgan Township explained its plan in a public setting Wednesday.
To a packed room, members of the Porter County Development Review Committee heard the first public details and asked questions regarding the proposed construction of the hog farm on Smoke Road in Morgan Township.
After an hour-long presentation, members of the committee questioned Michael Veenhuizen, engineer with Livestock Solutions of Greenwood, representing Robert Sands and his family who are seeking a rezoning request for the concentrated animal feeding operation, or CAFO.
The Sands seek to construct two buildings on a 40-acre parcel that will house a total of 5,600 hogs in a "ween to finish" production with underground concrete tanks to store manure for application on the nearby 240 acres of land using an injection method of application, said Veenhuizen.
At the end of the discussion, however, Robert Thompson, the county's planning director, asked Veenhuizen if the source of the CAFO's water would be a well, to which he replied yes.
"Just so you know, one of the requirements of the high-impact use zoning is that the source of the water and sewer needs to be city utilities," said Thompson.
"Oh, so the City of Valparaiso would like to bring water and sewer to us?" asked Veenhuizen, and Thompson said Veenhuizen would need to talk to the city regarding such requests.
The property is three miles away from city limits, and 2 1/2 miles away from the nearest water and sewer, according to Susan Gustafson, database administrator for the City of Valparaiso.
After the meeting, Veenhuizen said he would likely be seeking a variance on the rule because there would be no opportunity to bring the water from Valparaiso to the CAFO.
Thompson possessed a copy of the zoning ordinance that stated high-impact zoning use requires both a sanitary sewer connection to the city, as well as a water utility connection.
Other questions of disposal of dead hogs (composting versus incineration), drainage, traffic, groundwater and soil monitoring, and odor were also addressed by the committee.
Veenhuizen told the committee that the underground concrete manure storage facilities would be "8-foot pits" designed with slats to remove manure and urine from the hog floor and the pits would be drained once a year.
He also discussed the possibility of transporting the slurry, which he said would be 10 percent to 12 percent solids, across existing roadways via culverts for land application, as well as models of odor, dust and gas transmission.
Veenhuizen said that according to models from Purdue University, there would be a 99 percent odor-free boundary a half mile from the CAFO.
While the audience was not allowed to speak during the hearing, there was occasional laughter and when the discussion turned to odor, one woman was seen holding her face in her hands.
Outside, however, protesters shouted, "It's not a farm, it's a factory" to people leaving the meeting.
MS4 County Coordinator Rich Hudson notified Veenhuizen of an illicit discharge ordinance adopted last year that regulated runoff into the Kankakee River and he said that any runoff after an application of the manure, especially during a rain event, would be in violation of the county ordinance.
Veenhuizen requested a copy of the ordinance.