By Gregg Hoffmann
WisBusiness.com
VIROQUA – By the narrowest of margins, the Vernon County Board passed a livestock siting license ordinance, 15-14, Tuesday, but voted overwhelmingly, 23-6, against a six-month moratorium on large scale farming development.
The siting ordinance places restrictions on farm operations of more than 500-animal units and conforms with “about 95 percent” of the state law, according to county corporation counsel Greg Lunde.
The moratorium would have given county officials six months to further study the environmental impact of a proposed 2,400 unit hog confined animal feeding operation near Retreat and of other large scale farm operations.
For the past several weeks, Vernon County had become a focal point for environmentalists, small farmers and large agriculture representatives statewide because of the two proposals. Supporters of the moratorium argued the county needed more time to study the potential harmful impact of large farming and also said the issue became a matter of state vs. local control.
“It has always been our contention that AB 868 (the state law) is undemocratic, illegal and needs to be challenged,” John Peck, executive director of Family Farm Defenders, based in Madison, wrote in a letter to the County Board. “It is beyond the authority of the state of Wisconsin to take away the right of local control in order to deregulate industrial agriculture and ultimately endanger the health and safety of local people.”
Peck referred to the state law as “the factory farm green light” bill. The law passed at the state level in 2004.
Several environmentalists and smaller organic farmers echoed Peck’s sentiments while urging the county supervisors to vote for the moratorium. “Don’t buckle under to threats of lawsuits and outside corporate interests,” said Mike Koppa, who identified himself as a citizen of the county. Many supporters of the moratorium contend that the hog industry has targeted Vernon County has a place to grow and as many as eight large scale hog operations could enter the county if the Retreat operation is approved.
But, attorney David Abt, who also runs a large farm in the county, said a moratorium would not be legal and that Vernon County was “being watched all over the state.” He said lawsuits would most certainly be filed over a moratorium.
Representatives of the Wisconsin Pork Association and Wisconsin Dairy Business Association urged supervisors to vote down a moratorium and instead adopt a siting ordinance that substantially conformed to the state law.
Lunde said he thought the draft of the moratorium ordinance was “legally defensible,” but expressed concerns about Vernon County becoming a “test case” for challenging the state law because it has no zoning.
“This is of statewide interest, with a whole range of issues involved — state vs. local control, the right to farm, many others,” Lunde said, adding that the costs of litigation could be steep and that the lack of zoning in the county could jeopardize its case.
Any restrictions stricter than the state law would have to show a clear threat to “public health and safety,” according to Lunde.
After an hour of citizen input, and a rather lengthy discussion by county supervisors cast their votes in favor of a siting ordinance and against the moratorium.
Earlier in the day, the County Board voted to form a land use committee to study comprehensive planning in the county, considered a first step toward zoning.
