FC Commissioners approve conditional use permits for two poultry farms

The Franklin County Board of Commissioners approved two requests by property owners for poultry houses and tabled another request for educational/transitional housing at the January meeting.

Aubrey Lunsford requested permission to build a poultry farm consisting of four houses on Shackleford Road.

County Manager Beth Thomas said the recommendation from the Planning Commission was for approval with certain conditions. Lunsford must maintain a 75 feet evergreen vegetative buffer on the northern property line, a 75 feet vegetative buffer along the western property line and a minimal single line of vegetative buffer on the eastern border along the roadway of Shackleford Road.

Thomas said Lunsford was aware of and has agreed to the conditions.

The vote was unanimous to approve the request.

Paul and Casey Pham requested permission to remove four current poultry houses and replace them with five poultry houses. The conditional use request also contains a variance as the proposal has the poultry houses coming 41 feet over the required setback.

The Pham’s provided a notarized letter from the neighbor stating approval for granting the variance.

Thomas said the recommendation from the Planning Commission and staff is for approval with the condition to add or maintain a vegetative buffer along the western property line to provide a buffer for an existing mobile home and reduce the side yard poultry setback by 41 feet.

Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the conditional use permit.

New Beginnings also requested a conditional use permit and variance for educational/transitional housing. New Beginnings currently operates with a legal non-conforming use because they were in operation prior to zoning implementation.

Thomas said when reviewing this application, the septic tank information was missing. This information is needed because of the volume of the dormitories and the importance of how the waste will be handled. The recommendation from the Planning Commission was to table until additional information concerning the septic is received. Thomas said her recommendation is for the Board of Commissioners to send back to the Planning Commission for their recommendation after the additional information is received from New Beginnings.

Commissioner Franklin questioned how long it will take to get the additional information on the septic system and Thomas said the weather has played a part in the delay but someone was at their location today.