Powell Butte homeowners appeal hemp oil extraction plant choice

8 homes file appeal versus preparing commission’s conditional permit approval

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Multiple Powell Butte neighbors have united to appeal the approval of a hemp oil extraction center near their homes.

In mid-January, the Criminal County Preparation Commission gave a conditional use permit for the brand-new center, which would be an outgrowth of a current hemp growing operation. In early February, eight different homes jointly submitted an appeal pointing out numerous points of error.

A brand-new center proposed

The Crook County Preparation Department received an application from Stanley Shephard, owner of Central Oregon Processing LLC, for the extraction center on Oct.31 As mandated by state statute, the planning department gave 20 days of innovative notice of an upcoming public hearing on the project to all next-door neighbors within 750 feet of the proposed center and issued a public notification about the hearing in the newspaper.

” Prior to the hearing, the preparation commission did a website visit. We saw those exact same next-door neighbors, and they invited their next-door neighbors,” stated county Planning Director Ann Beier. “So we had more than 20 individuals at the website go to in addition to the planning commission. On these big tasks, we attempt to do that so that people all hear and see the exact same things. I believe that was really valuable for both the planning commission and the next-door neighbors.”

What the planning commission found out throughout its Dec. 11 public hearing is that the neighbors are not pleased with the proposal, raising concerns about everything from home contamination and security to traffic impact and hours of operation.

” They were extremely in opposition to the proposal,” Beier stated.

Hemp signs up with the crop list

According to Beier, hemp is a reasonably brand-new agricultural option in Oregon, which was spurred by a 2017 Department of Farming decision to take part in a pilot task.

” That permitted individuals to grow commercial hemp in the state of Oregon as a legal farm crop,” she discussed. “So that is the background under which we look at hemp. It’s a recognized farm crop just like hay or mint.”

Beier added that when individuals grow crops, processing the collected products generally follows, and processing can take numerous forms. She stated farmers have actually likewise run mint distilleries that draw out the oil from the plant.

County Coordinator Katie McDonald stated that in land usage, there are three ways to get approval for a processing center on farm ground. Running a center that is less than 2,500 square feet can be approved without conditions, therefore can a center of as much as 10,000 square feet, offered a minimum of 25%of the product processed is grown on-site.

The third alternative, which is booked for any center bigger than 10,000 square feet, involves conditional use requirements and is viewed as a business use in combination with farm use. The proposed facility, which would utilize an old hay shed, has to do with 17,000 square feet.

” The proposal is to utilize the existing structure and place the initial processing devices under that structure,” McDonald said.

Resistance from the next-door neighbors

After fielding considerable testament at the initial planning commission hearing on the proposed job, the commission picked to leave the record open and accept additional composed testament from the public and use the candidate a chance for written defense.

Several next-door neighbors made the most of the opportunity, and the planning department received multiple, often prolonged, written files laying out why they are opposed to the project. Concerns varied from the impact to regional traffic and sound to the hours of operation and security of the center.

Authorized with conditions

When the planning commission fulfilled in mid-January to ponder, it entered the session with some recommended conditions from the county planning personnel. They recommended that the applicant be required to get extra authorizations from the Crook County building official, sanitarian and fire marshal, in addition to the Oregon Department of Farming and the State of Oregon Fire Marshal. Another suggested condition would need the candidate to provide a copy of the yearly production report sent to the Department of Agriculture to the County Community Development Department. The planning personnel suggested the commission need hours of operation be kept between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and recommended requirements for brand-new lighting to be downcast and protected. Personnel additionally suggested that the commission need use of a 2nd gain access to, pending approval from the county roadway master, and limit sound generated by the operation to 70 decibels at the east and west border of the center.

The planning commission moved on with many of the advised conditions, while making some adjustments. For example, it required permitting from Oregon Department of Environmental Quality in addition to other companies, and it limited the hours of operation to 10- hour shifts in between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. The commission also increased the noise limitation to 75 decibels.

Appealing the decision

The 8 houses appealing the planning commission choice are all represented by Lisa Andrach of Bryant Emerson, LLP, a law practice based in Redmond. In an appeal statement, she pointed out various errors that challenge numerous aspects of the approval.

Relating to appropriate public notice, Andrach mentioned that the 160- acre parcel in the application belongs to a larger 915- acre farming residential or commercial property. Next-door neighbors within 750 feet of the whole residential or commercial property ought to have been informed, not simply those within that distance of the 160- acre parcel.

Andrach went on to state that there is no evidence in the record to support that the candidate will process the needed 25%of farm crops at the facility. She includes that the proposed 17,000- square-foot processing facility goes beyond the 10,000- square-foot statutory optimum allowed.

Andrach also determined that a number of findings the approval is based upon are inadequate. She mentioned that the findings fail to deal with the opposition testimony or evidence and do not describe why the applicant’s evidence surpasses it. She added that the decision needs to resolve such raised concerns as traffic, sound, contamination, public safety, security, size and location.

Andrach also challenged hemp oil extraction as a farm usage in the appeal statement. She declared that the county’s findings do not deal with any proof in the record that supports industrial activity as “essential” to the practice of farming. She said there is no significant proof or analysis in the findings that show the processing plant is not an “commercial usage” that needs to be cited in a commercial zone.

According to Criminal County code, the appellate body for the appeal will be the Scoundrel County Court, “unless the county court orders the appeal be sent out directly to the Oregon Land Usage Board of Appeals as the decision by the county.”