Albemarle residents are pressuring the Board of Supervisors to adopt stricter regulations for large-scale poultry operations in the county.
Anyone who wants to set up a large-scale poultry operation in Virginia has to get a permit from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to demonstrate how heavy amounts of waste will be prevented from getting into the watershed.
A growing number of voices in Albemarle are calling on county officials to adopt a higher standard of regulation for any future applications that may be filed. Several appeared before the Albemarle Board of Supervisors on July 15.
“Large volumes of animal waste contaminate groundwater with nitrates and antibiotic-resistant bacteria,” said Deirdre Casey Kerrigan, a physician and vice chair of the Scottsville Planning Commission. “Nitrate-contaminated drinking water has been associated with an increased risk of colorectal and gastric cancers.”
Kerrigan and others urged Albemarle to follow dozens of other Virginia localities that have rules above and beyond the DEQ’s. That would include larger buffer zones and setbacks to protect groundwater, given that most of the county relies on wells.
Scottsville District Supervisor Mike Pruitt said he felt Albemarle might be vulnerable to such operations and the county should listen to concerns and direct staff to study an ordinance.
“I don’t think it’s an inherently evil use, but I do worry that we are not providing the level of oversight that comparable agricultural communities are,” Pruitt said.
Pruitt suggested the work could be done as part of the ongoing modernization of the zoning code.
Samuel Miller District Supervisor Fred Missel said he wanted to expedite review. Rivanna District Supervisor Bea LaPisto-Kirtley said she supported the study for an ordinance but she was concerned that overregulation might hurt small-scale farmers.
“There’s miscommunication, frankly. I don’t know who’s right or who’s wrong, but I do know that a lot of people are following the DEQ requirements, state requirements,” LaPisto-Kirtley said.
Supervisor Ann Mallek of the Samuel Miller District also sought quick preparation of an ordinance. She said Albemarle is becoming attractive to large-scale poultry farms because of the lack of tighter regulations.
“We also need to not be the place with the fewest requirements for business here,” Mallek said.
Supervisor Ned Gallaway said he would not vote on a motion that was not on the agenda because it would delay staff working on some other issue.
“I don’t want to be making the decision without understanding what it does because it’s not like it doesn’t have an impact on other things that are in motion already and I want to understand that.”
County Executive Jeffrey Richardson said staff would have to study an ordinance tailored for Albemarle and could not just copy those from other areas.
“There would have to be other things shifted because our Community Development Department is tasked with a lot of work,” Richardson said.
Deputy County Executive Ann Wall said there are currently 12 other “resolutions of intent” to direct staff to update county code with many of those caused by order of the General Assembly. There is a possibility of hiring a consultant to do work on the topic of confined animal feeding operations.
Pruitt said there is a sense of urgency.
“There is a sense of fear and anxiety that is quite intense in parts of the southern districts that I know [Missel] has also been hearing about,” Pruitt said.
A resolution of intent will be on the agenda of the supervisors’ next meeting on August 5, as well as a discussion of how studying animal feed operations might affect other aspects of the planning department’s work plan.
