Plans for an 80,000-hog barn in central Alberta have been dealt a major
blow.
The Alberta Court of Appeal overturned a decision that would have
allowed Taiwan Sugar to build a $41 million hog barn complex south of
Hardisty.
Lana Love, with the Flagstaff Family Farm Promotional Society that
opposed the project, said the almost three-year fight to keep the barn
out of the community was worth the time and money.
“We’re sure glad we did it. It was a big undertaking. There were times
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we weren’t sure it was going to go, but we’re really glad we did it,”
said Love, adding the group was successful because of solid community
support.
“We had people in the county backing the group mentally and
financially.”
It cost the group $120,000 in legal fees to battle the project through
the local development appeal board hearings to the Alberta Court of
Appeal. Legal fees were raised through donations and fundraising.
The Alberta Court of Appeal decision overturns a local County of
Flagstaff development appeal board decision that granted Taiwan Sugar a
development permit for hog barns in two of the five locations needed
for the 14-barn project.
The appeal board directed the development officer to issue residential
permits to Barry and Lana Love and to Paul Alderdice.
With the two residential building permits granted, Taiwan Sugar does
not have the required minimum distance separation between the barns and
nearby homes for the project to go ahead.
“They can’t move the barn site anywhere on that quarter of land to
achieve the minimum distance. I would think it’s a dead deal,” said
Love.
In April of 2000 the Love and Alderdice families each applied to the
county for a single family residential permit on their land. That same
month, Taiwan Sugar’s Canadian representatives DGH Engineering of
Winnipeg applied for a development permit for project.
DGH had made simultaneous applications in the southern Alberta County
of Forty Mile and in the County of Flagstaff. Opposition and an
unreceptive county in the south forced the company to its location in
east-central Alberta.
Two days of development appeal board hearings were held in the County
of Flagstaff. Few of those attending wanted hundreds of hogs for
neighbours.
During the hearings Danny Huang, an official with Taiwan Sugar, said
the company was shocked at the negative reception.
He said the Alberta government had invited the multinational company to
invest in the province, even paying for half the cost of a study to
find the most suitable location for the hog operation.
Some local municipal officials invited the company to the area, which
is rich with water and feed grain.
After the Development Appeal Board granted permits to Taiwan Sugar, the
Flagstaff Family Farm Promotional Society appealed to the Alberta Court
of Appeal in November 2001, which announced its decision Dec. 9.
Taiwan Sugar has two avenues of appeal. It can take the decision to the
Supreme Court or reapply for the hog barn to the Natural Resources
Conservation Board, which took over siting and regulations of Alberta
hog barns at the beginning of the year.
Representatives of DGH Engineering did not return phone calls.
Love said even though the fight was long and expensive, she recommends
a similar approach for other communities opposed to large scale
development.
“I just think it’s worth fighting for. You can’t just sit back and let
big corporations come in and push you off your land. It’s so wrong
they’re allowed to do that in the first place. People should be
encouraged to just fight this thing with everything they’ve got.”
