Nebraska’s Dodge County Board of Supervisors voted against a conditional use permit for a proposed poultry farm that would have grown chickens for the future Lincoln Premium Poultry plant.
The poultry plant, which is under construction in Fremont, Nebraska, will process chicken products to be sold by Costco Wholesale Corporation.
The board on January 16 voted 4-2 against the permit, which would have involved a 10-barn poultry operation near the community of Nickerson, which is north of Fremont. Plans were to house 475,000 broiler chickens there. The land of the proposed site was owned by Lee and Pamela Camenzind, whose son, Case Camenzind would have operated the farm with his wife, reported the Fremont Tribune.
The board heard comments both in favor of and in opposition to the proposed farm.
This is not the first time governmental entities have denied the Camenzind family an opportunity to be part of Lincoln Premium Poultry’s operations. An earlier application for an eight-barn site in Washington County had been voted down by that county’s planning commission.
Also, Costco had earlier identified a property near Nickerson for its original proposed site for the poultry plant. The property of the first proposed site was also owned by the Camenzinds, reported the Tribune. That project was stopped in 2016 when the Nickerson Board of Trustees voted against a land use change that would have made the plant possible. Later that year, the company identified a new site in the Fremont area.
The Lincoln Premium Poultry plant will be part of a complex that also includes a hatchery and feed mill. The plant is expected to begin operations in September, and after about 45 days of being in operation, the facility is expected to process more than 2 million birds a week. The chickens processed there will weigh about 6 pounds, 4 ounces, to provide the specific size, weight and price desired by Costco.
