Miller Poultry’s plans to expand a hatchery in the south side of Goshen, Indiana, moved a step forward when the Goshen Board of Zoning Appeals approved a needed variance.
On May 24, the board met and voted on a use variance that is necessary in order to allow the continued expansion of a nonconforming use, expanding the hatchery. That hatchery has been in place since 1947, according to a report from the Goshen Times. The approved variance would allow up to 36,230 square feet of building space, and it would also allow for additional parking areas.
Rossa Deegan, the city’s assistant planning and zoning administrator, explained to the board that the property is zoned Commercial B-1, but poultry dressing packing and processing facilities are allowed only as conditional uses in the Industrial M-1 and M-2 districts, so any such expansion would require a use variance.
Miller Poultry, according to the WATTPoultry.com Top Companies Database, is a family-owned chicken company based in Orland, Indiana. The operation, as Pine Manor Inc., goes back to 1942. The family began raising turkeys in 1945 and raising broiler chickens in 1974. Miller Poultry produced 3.47 million pounds of ready-to-cook chicken on a weekly basis in 2021, making it the 24th largest poultry company in the United States.
