Poultry plant shuts down
By JoAn Bjarko
North Forty News
A poultry processing plant that has wanted to relocate to a controversial
site in Wellington has stopped operations in Nunn.
The closure of Northern Colorado Poultry leaves Colorado with no USDA-approved
processing facility that can take poultry from local growers. It also leaves
people in Wellington wondering whether a processing plant will be built
in town, no matter the outcome of a citizen-initiated referendum to stop
it.
Should the situation continue to change, a new proposal could be presented
to the town planning commission at its monthly meeting on Oct. 5. An agenda
will be posted in advance of the meeting on the town's web site at www.townofwellington.com.
In early September, Wellington town administrator Larry Lorentzen verified
that residents who oppose construction of a slaughtering facility in Boxelder
Business Park had enough signatures on a referendum petition to force a
revote by the Wellington Town Board. That meeting has tentatively been
set for Oct. 13 at 7:30 p.m. in the Leeper Center.
The board approved Northern Colorado Poultry's building plan with a 4-3
vote on July 28 after a contentious public hearing. If the board upholds
that decision, Wellington voters would be asked to decide in a special
election whether the business park on the north side of town is an appropriate
location.
Boxelder Business Park is zoned light industrial, which does not specifically
allow live-animal processing. The town board, however, granted conditional
approval with a list of requirements that the business owners must follow.
With Northern Colorado Poultry's future in turmoil, there's opportunity
for someone else to bring a poultry plant to Wellington.
Weld County resident Penny Henker, the previous owner of Northern Colorado
Poultry, called the situation a "legal mess." She completed sale of the
business to Bill Beilhartz of Wellington, Brad Holley of Denver and Dave
Bravdica of Wheatridge in February this year. None of the men returned
phone calls from the North Forty News. Under both ownerships, the Nunn
processing plant had been leased.
Henker said she enjoyed owning the business, but she was working two full-time
jobs and "one of them had to go." She also thought that Wellington would
be a good location for a new plant because the USDA wants it to be on a
public water system.
Connor Murphy of Grant Family Farms in Wellington said with the Nunn plant's
closure in mid-September, Salina, Kan., would be the closest USDA-inspected
place to get the farm's chickens processed.
"A federally inspected plant is needed in northern Colorado," Murphy said
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