By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER
Ohio Correspondent

WEST MANSFIELD, Ohio — Hi-Q Egg Products has dropped its plans to build a six-million chicken egg farm in Union County, an attorney for the company said.
That news followed a decision by Ohio Department of Agriculture Director (ODA) James Zehringer to deny the Iowa-based company a permit to build and run the farm near West Mansfield. State law requires an official response from a local government official before an application can be approved. Union County commissioners were not satisfied with the road study that Hi-Q presented to them, said Charles Hall, one of those commissioners.

Around 2007 Hi-Q brought property in the northwestern part of the county in an area that already had egg and pullet farms in the area, Hall said. Hi-Q wanted a permit from the ODA to build a facility that would house around 6-8 million birds. The facility would crack eggs and ship out liquid eggs.

“They presented us their plan of building the facility,” Hall said. “We requested information as far as vehicles entering and leaving the farm for construction, and then what it would mean on a regular daily basis.”

The estimated weekly truck traffic would be 311 semis at 50,000 pounds per load, Hall said. The engineer’s office and the township trustees in that area put together a request for Hi-Q to do road improvements to facilitate the traffic. Hi-Q submitted a road study, but the commissioners were not satisfied because it didn’t address many of the issues the commissioners had.

When the permitting document was written, it stated the county commissioners and Hi-Q had come to an agreement on the infrastructure. “We could not sign that because we did not come to an agreement,” Hall said.
“Since we did not sign it, evidently the permit was not complete. The suit was filed and Hi-Q felt they were not treated fairly.

“We tried to work with them. Everything they’ve done, basically, was to stonewall us on all of it.”

Hi-Q testified at the ODA hearing. Jeff Stauch, Union County engineer, testified on behalf of the county.

“I’ve concluded that the Department of Agriculture has no other viable option but to deny the West Mansfield permits due to an incomplete application,” said Zehringer.

Hi-Q’s attorney, Kevin Braig, said the company won’t appeal. “We feel that we have made all the arguments that we could make,” he said. “We’re willing to accept and respect his decision.”

Environmental groups saw the issue as a test case for Zehringer, appointed by Gov. John Kasich in January. Zehringer owned a 300,000-chicken operation in western Ohio until he transferred ownership to a relative in January 2010.
Vickie Askins, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Environmental Stewardship Alliance, said she’s concerned a bill in the Ohio General Assembly would eliminate local governments’ ability to keep large livestock farms from being built. The proposal would give county and township officials 75 days to give final recommendations to the state. If they don’t, a permit application could still move forward.
Andy Ware, ODA spokesperson, said the agency supports the bill.