HOPE — Just hours after an application to allow a new confined feeding operation for swine in northeast Bartholomew County was filed, an opponent was voicing concerns to the Hope Town Council.
Scott Templeton, whose farm property lies in both Bartholomew and Decatur County, is requesting a conditional use permit from the Bartholomew County Board of Zoning Appeals for the construction of a swine facility at 20530 West County Road 700N, about two miles east of Hope at the Decatur County line.
While permission from the BZA is required to build such a facility on the 137 acres of farmland zoned Agricultural Preferred, no such permission is required from the Hope Town Council. But opponent John O’Halloran of Columbus told council members he still wanted to ask them to consider whether the CFO fits in the long-term direction they have for their community.
O’Halloran was a frequent critic of confined feeding operations in 2016 as Bartholomew County was making final decisions on operating rules for such businesses. During those meetings, O’Halloran spoke as a representative of the Bartholomew County Residents Alliance.
Eight other CFOs already operate in the Hope area, which O’Halloran said represents the largest concentration of large-scale livestock operations in Bartholomew County.
For more on this story, see Saturday’s Republic.
