When many rural municipalities wrote their land-use bylaws, none predicted the kind of massive agricultural operations that are coming before councillors for approval.
So far, each building proposal has been handled individually and rural municipalities are playing catch-up as they try to accommodate a new business without harming the environment or angering the neighbors.
“As each one comes along, like any business you have to adapt it and see if it fits,” said Pat James, reeve of the County of Mountain View north of Calgary.
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Like most Alberta municipalities, the County of Mountain View relies on the provincial manure handling code of practice written by government officials and livestock organizations.The code of practice for handling manure has played a large part in its building approval process for new intensive livestock operations like cattle feedyards or hog farms.
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“We feel the code of practice may not be specific to each issue but the code of practice certainly goes a long way in addressing and helping alleviate those problems as they might arise,” James said.
The county also sends each proposed development to Alberta Agriculture for review, said Tony Martens in charge of development proposals at the county office.
Most recently Pig Improvement Canada sent applications to the county for development. While its first application to build a facility for 4,250 sows was turned down, it has returned with two more proposals which were heard March 19.
One proposal is for four nursery barns which would house 3,500 young pigs in each building. The second is a finishing operation where PIC want to build two barns to hold 3,500 finisher hogs each.
“People have concerns about an operation of that size going in,” said Martens.
Pig Improvement Canada has taken its first proposal for the farrow to finish operation to the Alberta court of appeal.
