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Public Meeting Held for Proposed Limits on Large Chicken Houses

elizabeth prata
/
creative commons

The public weighed in on a proposal for a separate zoning category in Worcester County that would include a limit of 8 chicken houses on a parcel and a 200 foot setback from surrounding property.

In addition the plan would require a vegetative buffer zone.

The Salisbury Daily Times reports that the meeting was hosted by the Assateague Coastal Trust which has been critical of the development of large chicken operations.

Some argued that the 200 foot setback was not enough while Carol Morrison, a former Perdue Contract farmer, said that she was concerned about the large operations describing them as “an industrial process”.  

But the Daily Times reports that not all in Snow Hill where the meeting took place are convinced.

City Council member Mike Pruitt told the paper that he was concerned the limits for the chicken houses would force them to spread out around the county creating a greater problem.

Worcester is one of the highest poultry producing counties in the state with 13 million chickens on 105 farms according to a USDA survey conducted in 2012.

Don Rush is the News Director at Delmarva Public Media. An award-winning journalist, Don reports major local issues of the day, from sea level rise, to urban development, to the changing demographics of Delmarva.