Special Use Permit for Controversial Gage County Swine Facility Denied

By Gordon Hopkins A special use permit for a controversial CAFO (concentrated animal feeding operation) near Liberty failed to garner enough votes and was denied. The vote was held at a meeting of the Gage County Supervisors on the morning of Wednesday, November 1, 2023. While the vote was a tie, three for and three against, with one abstention, in this instance the county's zoning rules require a minimum of five votes. County Attorney Roger Harris explained the reason.“Zoning rule 6.2 layout a situation in which we have 20 percent of the adjoining landowners, they file a protest, which they have done in this case,” said Harris. “So that kicks in that provision.” The Island Grove Summit Swine CAFO was intended to hold an estimated 6,200 animals in section 25 of Island Grove Township, just north of Liberty and near the Gage-Pawnee County line. While the swine operation would belong to Summit Pork of Alden, Iowa, the animals would actually have been provided by Fairbury-based Livingston Enterprises Inc. (LEI). The land belongs to Otto Farms, which intended to use the liquid hog manure from the CAFO, injected as fertilizer on farm grounds. Earlier this year, Gage County Supervisors approved another similar swine operation, this one near Hanover, along South 82nd Road, between Pickrell and Adams. The supervisor who abstained, Chairperson Erich Tiemann, was advised by the county attorney to recuse himself due to a potential conflict of interest. “Prior to discussion on this, we sent a form up to the Accountability and Disclosure Commission. If you have potential financial interests, positive or negative to yourself or immediate family, you may have conflict of interest,” explained Tiemann. “Since I did a little bit of work on that Hanover project that I may have conflict on this project.”

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