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NIMBY strikes again

2K views 37 replies 21 participants last post by  melli 
#1 ·
Tyson wanted to invest over $300mil and create 1600 jobs building a chicken processing plant outside Tonganoxie, KS, near KC. Some of the residents showed up at a meeting and had a hissy so now the zoning board is skeered to vote Yes to zone the property. I guess the good people of Tonganoxie don't eat chicken?
 
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#2 ·
Theres actually lots of things to look at here, start with over a million gallons of water a day used and then has to be cleaned up and returned, Tyson has a poor track record on this.

Increased truck traffic in the area means improved infrastructure usually good but costly. Did the city, county, state give tax concessions to Tysons to move in. Money has to come from somewhere for these improvements.

Depends on what the pay is, processing plants start out employing locals, but when the locals find the work distasteful, the plant is forced to import workers.
 
#16 ·
There is a lot to look at here, and a large part of Tyson's problems stemmed from the lack of transparency that they themselves insisted on. Negotiations with elected officials started in the spring and the public finally got wind of it in SEPT, they even came up with a silly-azz code name “Project Sunset”:

Tyson reportedly first contacted Kansas officials about the proposed 1,600-employee poultry complex in the spring and shortly thereafter began working with local officials, who were required to sign nondisclosure agreements.

The resulting lack of transparency was among several criticisms leveled against the proposal since it was announced Sept. 5 by Gov. Sam Brownback to the surprise even of the area's state lawmakers, who vowed to fight the plan during a town hall meeting Friday attended by more than 2,000 in Tonganoxie's Chieftain Park.
https://www.bizjournals.com/kansasc...yson-foods-puts-tonganoxie-plans-on-hold.html

Chuck
 
#4 ·
I guess it depends on one's perspective. Our county used zoning and other things under their control to creatively keep a huge corporate pig farm from being placed here that nobody wanted but the Governor and Company were trying to dump into our area so they got the tax revenue and we got the mess. IIRC after several rounds it came down to the state couldn't force the county to make the necessary road improvements between the site and the highways or the electrical upgrades. The movement was lead by full-throated conservatives mind you. It wasn't NIMBYism but that farm and its intended location could have really done some environmental damage to the watershed over a good slice of the county where most people are on well water.
 
#9 · (Edited)
The question is: Imported Chicken from who knows where, fed who knows what ? Or local jobs, local food ?? NOW if Fed, State & Municipal governments would "force" companies to do it cleanly, properly and not toxify the surroundings then everyone would be happy, Except of course the greedy corporate CEO's and their ilk who figures everyone should serve them and kowtow to their profit margins... They see people as Serf's & Peasants that should always acquiesce to the Corporate Lords of the realm.
 
#11 ·
You guys always crack my up...on one hand...government is the evil and should keep their hands out of everything...on the other hand everyone wants good(but ridiculous cheap) food...but if no one controls the companies, they WILL NOT make good food because you don't make big money...
And to be honest...i don't touch US chicken(or any other industrial processed meat if i can help it), due to lack of food safety control's, low standards and, forced Chlorine wash(because that is cheaper than just keeping the birds and production area well maintained/clean) and horrible living circumstances for the birds, cows, pigs...so i buy local and have on birds
So if Tyson would try to open up a facility close to here, i would have the first burning barricade up before they even signed the land purchase contract.
Cause they are known for bad bird processing, lack of environmental protection and bad employee safety and wage
Call me old school, liberal or just lousy immigrant (legally 5 years here from Germany), but NIMBY is not the worst...work and money are not the most important thing...not that they are not important, but healthy living environments for us and our offspring is way more important...
So now you can slaughter me...smile
 
#12 ·
Tyson chose to have this fight. They could have looked at a place already zoned for there intended purpose.

WWW
 
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#18 ·
Near the same general area, the NIMBY's objected to an expansion by Garmin of their HQ.

If Tyson needs the plant, they will get it built somewhere. The Tongies should have negotiated to make the plant the best neighbor it could be instead of driving them off to somewhere else. Either that or give up chicken.

I would bet it was the upper middle class citizens doing the objecting, the ones who already have good jobs. Never mind that the construction jobs and permanent jobs at the plant could have been a boon to someone else.
 
#14 ·
Near my childhood home, a company wanted to buy 5 acres and house 5 million laying hens. They'd buy the corn and soybeans locally, at market prices, make their own feed. A big lagoon to digest the dead and hold wash water. The community is proud that they have no zoning. "No one going to tell me what I can do on my property". The township officials and County officials could not stop it. Just happened, the company relocated to IN.
 
#15 ·
Love it when some of these NIMBY people get just what the deserve. A few years back there was a petition going around my area to stop a chicken barn from going up. Golden Plump was looking for another spot to raise chickens at. Well the petition stalled the action from Golden Plump long enough that 1/4 of a mile from me if it had gone up Golden Plump pulled out. The reason for the petition was a guy on the next county road over did not want the traffic going by his place. LOL
Well so much for raising chicken there.
Guess what did get built in place of the chicken barns? A Hog rating facility~! LOL Yes that is correct the place has 2500 sows. Talk about traffic coming and going past that sour puss . I laugh now~!!!
This place is so large that if combined under one roof it would Cover just over 5 acres of land. Cute. So large is the place I could only get one of the buildings and I was taking it from the road. LOL
 

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#21 ·
Where I live an application for a 40,000 pig farm was put in, it has no close neighbours but it was denied on the first round, it did get approval on the second. It's here because wages are cheap and there is an existing abatoir in the town that has enough capacity to deal with it. The exact same people who complained about the farm were the ones complaining that the abatoir was going to shut. You cannot have your cake and eat it. We've already lost the chicken processing plant, that's now mainly done out of the country, so live chickens are shipped hundreds of miles to be killed and processed and then shipped back, no one local gets any money from that, the government gets nothing, but some nimby gets a better smell on the house they bought knowing it was close to a processing plant.
In the UK townies have moved out to the country and then tried to take farmers to court over late night noise, and slurry spreading! Farming is noisy and dirty whatever type it is.
 
#22 ·
Why does farming need to be noisy and dirty? For the most part it's the factory farming aspects that turn farmers into bad neighbors. My neighbor has a couple dozen hogs considering where he keeps them they are never a nuisance to me. But if a factory farm. came in and put in thousands and thousands of hogs within a few feet of the property lines it would be totally different experience. There are several butchers within a few miles of me. They are not a nuisance their operational seem to be confined to their own properties. Could they butcher 1 million chickens a week and still be those same good neighbors?
 
#23 ·
It isn't farming so much as the rural environment. Open fields create dust, timber creates debris, roads aren't always paved or maintained and become muddy and rough. My neighbor a mile down the road dries corn in bins near his house every fall. Drives his neighbor nuts having to listen to the fans every morning before he goes to work and at night when he gets home.
I roto tilled my garden up this week. Dust wafting for at least a 1/4 mile that I could see. I can hose down an acre of dirt for the morning before I start or try to be mindful of wind direction and pick a good day. That same neighbor wouldn't care. As said about some, he moved to the country for peace and quiet.
 
#26 ·
As another member within "spittin distance" of the controversy, IIRC the news reported 15 to 20 other Kansas communities asking them build it in their town. 1600 jobs, growing their chickens in a 50 mile radius of the plant. There would be problems to be addressed but that should be something for Brownback and his Ag secretary to ensure were addressed. Can't be any worse than corporate hog farms. As i heard one hog farmer say,"smells like money to me". I say that about cow manure.
 
#28 ·
and LGD that barks all night.
Why just pick on factory farms? The place that built your truck puts out a lot of noise and odors. I think truck factories should be limited to 10 trucks a week. You with me? That race track is a noisy dusty mess every Friday night, why not keep the track wet and muffler the cars?
The Or-Ida French fry factory had a few settling lagoons for the waste water and spoiled potatoes. Could smell that for miles. Should we limit food processors to 100 pounds of fries a day?
Wow to a certain degree makes a lot of difference where the factory is I'd say yes you have good ideas.
 
#29 ·
QUOTE="haypoint, post: 7937984, member: 23518"]and LGD that barks all night.
Why just pick on factory farms? The place that built your truck puts out a lot of noise and odors. I think truck factories should be limited to 10 trucks a week. You with me? That race track is a noisy dusty mess every Friday night, why not keep the track wet and muffler the cars?
The Or-Ida French fry factory had a few settling lagoons for the waste water and spoiled potatoes. Could smell that for miles. Should we limit food processors to 100 pounds of fries a day?[/QUOTE]

I can't agree with you I've been to many truck factors they are noisy but they're not particularly smelly :). They seem to put a lot of effort into mitigating the effects they have on their neighbors. Factory farms on the other hand seem to be almost the opposite. The truth is I don't care if the truck factory or the potato factory makes 1 billion of whatever their product is as long as they keep their effects to them selves. Do you think that the company that makes 1 million of something should get special treatment over the guy that makes 10?
 
#31 ·
If it comes to your back yard you did a very poor job of picking where to live. If it's in the general area where you just have to drive by it in your coming and goings, get over it. People need protein and jobs. Don't be selfish just because you don't like the thought of it, which I think has happened in the white collar commuter colony of the area where they wanted to build the plant.
 
#32 ·
I don't think it's really NMB situation when an intruder comes to an area completely inappropriate. City people shouldn't get upset when I huge building is built that generates lots of traffic and noise. But it is appropriate for a city person to be upset when the neighbor moves 30 hogs on their lot. In the country the situation is reversed. I guess the question is is the facility processing 1 million chickens a week and country enterprise or a city Enterprize. Or is it still completely inappropriate no matter where it goes because it doesn't keep two itself?
 
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