DARLINGTON — Thanksgiving might be over, but turkey remained a hot topic during Darlington County Council’s regular meeting Monday night.
Marifaye and Scott Haselden own about 200 acres off Pocket Road, and their proposed turkey facility will occupy about 12 acres of it along Penn Road, located about four miles outside Darlington city limits. They appeared before council Monday to dispute a petition presented at council’s Nov. 17 meeting.
The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control issued a permit for the Haseldens’ proposed factory-type turkey farm in Darlington County about a month ago.
But Dr. Avie Rainwater asked council at its Nov. 17 meeting to follow an ordinance in Edgefield County that allowed residents in one specific area of the county to be responsible for the businesses and farms that inhabit the area, as opposed to a comprehensive zoning plan. He said the petition was signed by “most of the residents of the area” to keep farmers from constructing and operating factory-type farms in the area.
“I don’t see how a group of people with a phobia of turkeys can tell the rest of the community what they can and can’t do with their land,” Marifaye Haselden said Monday. “I just wanted council to be aware that not everyone in the Mechanicsville community is keen on this zoning idea presented by Dr. Avie Rainwater at the Nov. 17 meeting.”
Marifaye alluded to state Right-to-Farm legislation, which prevents local governments from enacting more stringent regulations that those imposed by the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control. She said the legislation doesn’t define factory farms, but does define agriculture operations, which she outlined.
“As you can see, the definition given of an agriculture facility includes many things, including the raising of turkeys and not so traditional farming,” she said. “Times have changed; therefore agriculture must change with it. So I don’t believe that my husband’s family farm should be the reason behind zoning a portion of Mechanicsville.
“If people want to fault my husband and I for trying to make a future for our little girl, then they are the ones with the problem, not us. And they should not take it out on the rest of the landowners in the area.”
The Haseldens’ facility will operate with eight houses that will house about 6,000 turkeys each.
DHEC spokesman Thom Berry said the people living in the surrounding areas had 15 days after the permit was issued to appeal it. After that, DHEC will take 60 days to review the information and make a final determination on the turkey farm.
— Morning News Staff Writer Jamie Durant contributed this this report.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement