Residents have scheduled a rally this Sunday to raise concerns about a chicken processing plant they fear is going to be built near their homes.
The “Save the River Rally” is scheduled for 3 p.m. at N.C. 97 and Tar River Church Road, also known as Cliftonville Road.
“The Nash County commissioners are playing chicken with our future,” the filer for the event reads. “We need your help to stop Sanderson Farms.”
Residents who live in Southern Nash County and Wilson County are joining forces to express their concerns about a Sanderson Farms processing plant being built at the southeast quadrant of N.C. 97 and Interstate 95.
On Nov. 1, the Nash County Board of Commissioners voted 4-3 to rezone 150 acres at the site to a general industrial sector that would allow more than 195 uses, including a poultry processing plant.
Sanderson Farms, which is in the process of developing a poultry processing facility in Kinston, is looking for a site for another plant. Company officials have said the Nash County site is a finalist for the $96 million plant that would employ 1,100, but sites in Wayne County also are being evaluated.
In the flier for the rally, residents raise numerous concerns about the plant being built in Southern Nash County.
“The promised jobs pay far less than our average weekly wage,” the flier reads. “The affected area contains thousands of residences who will be affected by odor. The plant is not in keeping with the Nash County Land Development Plan. Local crops could be affected by dangerous pathogens.”
It also raises concerns about chicken houses that will sprout up to supply the plant.
“Our property values will be damaged, and our wells could be contaminated,” the flier reads.
Bob Billingsley, the development director for Sanderson Farms who has been the point man for the project with Nash County officials, could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Robbie Davis, the chairman of the Nash County Board of Commissioners, also could not be reached.
Davis has promised residents another chance to speak about the project when proposed incentives are brought forth.
Residents also are collecting money for a possible legal fight, said Kevin Bright, who lives three miles east of the proposed plant site in the Carter Grove subdivision on N.C. 97.
“All our homeowners associations are trying to go together and put as much funding together as possible,” he said.
Bright said he is retired from the Navy and moved here from Jacksonville, Fla., thinking it was a beautiful, serene area that wasn’t too far from Raleigh. A chicken processing plant in the neighborhood would ruin the ambiance, he said.
He said the Nash County commissioners who support this project don’t have to live near it.
“From information I could find, none of the planning board members or the commissioners live within 10 miles of the proposed site, so that is the concern: It’s not in their backyard,” he said.
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The Wilson City Council story disappeared....
Wonder what's up with that, wink wink wink.
Anyway for those of you that have not heard, here's the jist:
The Wilson City Council voted unanimously last night to allocate up to One Million Dollars from the general fund specifically to fight the proposed slaughter house in southern Nash County near the county line and the Tar River. Mayor Rose vowed to do "whatever it takes" to stop the project. They know it would adversely affect the quality of life for Wilson and Wilson County residents. They further decreed they would SHUT OFF Rocky Mount and Nash County's access to their Buckhorn Reservoir (hello...remember 2007 when the Tar River was 6 feet wide) if the short sighted ill concieved plans to locate a slaughter house on the county line go forward. Not surprising since our learned County Commisioners forgot to tell Wilson they plan to use their water to operate the slaughter house during dry times. However they are thoughtful enough to plan to pump the ten million gallons per week of GROUND UP CHICKEN GUT WASTE WATER into Wilson's Protected Use Water Shed. It's the same water the NCC have promised to sell Sanderson for $1.81 per thousand gallons, much less than the bare cost of treatment. Three guesses who's going to make up the difference in water plant operating costs. Add in 500 chicken houses in the surrounding area for good measure. Oh yea and give them over 4 miilion dollars of Nash County tax money just to sweeten the deal.
THANK YOU WILSON helping us battle these short sighted politicians as they try to set Nash County on Self Destruct!!!
This will be a great
This will be a great opportunity for concerned citizens in both counties to get informed about how devastating this is going to be for continued growth in our area and our future. We need to recruit good jobs for our people. Not minimum wage jobs that are going to endanger our water supply and quality of life!
This is going to have an impact on the entire area, not just on Hwy. 97.
Save the Tar River!
Those guys couldn't be reached for comment because they're too busy wining and dining each other. What good is Davis' promise to let residents speak? We saw how that went at the rezoning hearing. We need to vote Davis and his buddies out of office!
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