Nooksack rejects chicken hatchery

Mark Reimers
Tribune reporter

  NOOKSACK -- The Nooksack City Council has voted unanimously to deny Abbotsford B.C.-based Rock Creek Farms a conditional use permit to build a chicken hatchery on South Pass Road.
  Monday’s decision came after only a short discussion initiated by councilman Tom Jones that focused on the fact that the nine acres on the southeast corner of South Pass Road and Highway 9 are zoned for commercial use.
  “This would be a zoning change (to agriculture) by way of a conditional use application,” Jones said.
  Councilwoman Rena Guerin agreed.
  “No matter how young it is, a chicken is a chicken,” Guerin said.
  Over a dozen residents from the Sumas River Estates Homeowners Association were on hand, ready to argue the point if the council had indicated it would allow the chicken hatchery to be built.
  The Sumas River Estates is located to the north, across South Pass Road. Members of the homeowners association had been vocal since the chicken hatchery was proposed in August.   
For association board member Rod Bruland, it came down to the issue of allowing an agricultural facility to build in a commercial zone.
  “I don’t know how they could consider putting it in,” Bruland said. “You can dress it up any way you like to make it look commercial, but it’s still an agricultural operation,” Bruland said.
  Other concerns cited by the association were more easily addressed by representatives of the chicken hatchery, such as smell and cleanliness. However, Bruland said he wasn’t clear on how the hatchery would be policed to make sure it kept its promises.
  Bruland said the association is not against a commercial business being opened on the property.
  E-mail Mark Reimers at reporter@lyndentribune.com.