Poultry Proposal Goes to Stephens Co. Planning Commission Tonight

The Stephens County Planning Commission will consider making a recommendation on plans to add poultry houses to a Freeman Creek Road property in Stephens County at its meeting tonight.

A property owner at 140 Freeman Creek Road has submitted a re-zoning and variance request to switch the 107-acre tract from Agricultural Residential to Agriculture Intensive to put broiler houses on the property and have them 150 feet from the property line.

The plans were first submitted in December and originally it was thought that the plans fell within the existing permitted uses for the property in its current Agricultural Residential zoning, particularly since the property used to have four active broiler houses.

However, Stephens County Administrator Phyllis Ayers says the property owner’s plans are to build poultry houses longer and wider than what used to be on the property, as well as add two more houses than what were on the property previously.

As a result, Ayers says the issue must come before the Planning Commission.

The plans for poultry houses on the land are concerning a number of residents in that area who say, if approved, the change would allow the property to become a “mega poultry farm.”

Those residents say that the odors were unbearable from the previous poultry houses and they do not want to deal with that again.

The Stephens County Planning Commission meets tonight at 7 p.m. in the historic Stephens County Courthouse in downtown Toccoa.

Whatever recommendation the Planning Commission makes on the matter then goes to the Stephens County Commission, who will make a final determination.