Ruling would allow chicken hatchery among rural Whatcom County housing

JARED PABEN - THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

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A Canadian poultry company may install a chicken hatchery on rural residential land without special permission because it's outright allowed under zoning, the county hearing examiner ruled.

But county planners worry the decision could set a harmful precedent: It means the hatchery would also be allowed in unincorporated urban residential areas and in areas of Lummi Island and Point Roberts.

"By using this opinion that the hearing examiner has, that would allow this same type of operation to exist in the more urban zones," said Tyler Schroeder, a planning supervisor at the county planning department.

"Clearly the intent of the code would not have contemplated an 11,600-square-foot chicken hatchery in urban residential zones, along Lake Whatcom in Rural Residential zones or anywhere on Lummi Island," he wrote in a staff report.

The decision on Thursday, Jan. 22, hands a victory to Abbotsford, B.C.-based Rock Creek Farms, which wants to install an 11,600-square-foot hatchery on nearly 10 acres along Everson-Goshen Road, between East Smith and East Hemmi roads.

Planners said zoning wouldn't allow the operation because it's too intensive for the rural area. They urged Faber Brothers Construction, which is working for Rock Creek Farms, to apply for a conditional-use permit, which requires approval by the hearing examiner.

Through that type of permit, the company could be forced to comply with special conditions in designing, building and operating the hatchery to ensure it doesn't harm neighboring properties' rural character, planners wrote in a staff report.

Faber Brothers said zoning outright allowed the operation, which would produce 150,000 chicks per week but is actually on the small side in terms of hatcheries. The property, previously owned by egg-product maker National Food Corp., used to have poultry production on site.

Henry Klos, pre-construction manager at Faber Brothers, couldn't be reached for comment Thursday afternoon.

Rock Creek Farms was rebuked in the conditional-use process before and doesn't want to do it again. Last year, the Nooksack City Council rejected the company's permit request to build the hatchery in that town on commercially zoned land.

Schroeder said staff hasn't decided yet whether to appeal the decision to the County Council. They have 10 business days to do so.