Darlington County residents who live near Darlington city limits approached the county planning commission at it regular meeting Tuesday in support of instating zoning regulations in opposition to a proposed factory-style turkey farm.
“I always thought that when I had a family, I would make a home on Pocket Road,” Brian Bagwell, a resident of Pocket Road, said. “It’s an absolutely beautiful area and we feel like with this confined turkey farm, that (the beauty and quality of life) is in jeopardy. Is there any type of zoning we can put in the area to prevent that type of farming?”
The farm residents are concerned about is Scott Haselden’s proposed turkey farm, which is set to be located on Penn Road, about four miles outside Darlington city limits.
The residents near the proposed site said they were concerned about the farm devaluing their property, the smell and health hazards from the factory farming technique.
McLeod Heath Center is located less than three miles away from the proposed site.
Hank Lyles lives on Charleston Way and made comments about a study he’d researched that says dry manure, which turkey manure is a form of, can travel as many as three miles in the air.
He said the radius of downtown Darlington is three miles from the proposed site.
“You’re telling me that with this farm, on any given day at the right time, you could walk out the courthouse and smell that manure,” he said. “If y’all zone, you can protect Darlington.”
Haselden’s proposed farm would consist of eight houses that would store 6,000 turkeys in each, which would come out to 48,000 turkeys on the property at any time.
Commission members took in residents’ comments as information. The commission stated its concern was that rushing to pass zoning would weaken the validity of zoning.
“We understand your concerns,” commission member Larry Gant said. “There is also a lot of opposition to zoning in this county, and people get real serious when you’re talking about telling them what they can and can’t do on their land.”
Because the turkey permit has to go through the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, the county has no power in the permit granting process. The only power the county would have would be to instate a zoning ordinance making the area residential.
In that case, the planning department would have to draft an ordinance and hold a public hearing on it. It would then have to be approved by the commission, and then go through three readings and a public hearing with Darlington County Council before it was legally approved. Darlington County currently has no zoning regulations.
In other news, the Darlington County Planning Commission discussed land use with Charlie Compton, board member of the National Association of County Planners and Lexington County planning director, about the process of how to update land use and how to go about instating zoning regulations.
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