Due to an addressing error, several residents in the mobile home park to the west of the proposed slaughterhouse location did not receive their Official Notice of Public Hearing. The Planning Commission will have to host a new hearing to ensure proper due process for those residents.
Carson Valley Meats will have to bring plans for a slaughterhouse on Highway 50 and Detroit Road back to the Carson City Planning Commission. City staff and one of the appellants identified a noticing error last week.
“Noticing” refers to the requirement that the city send an Official Notice of Public Hearing to property owners near developments that are requesting special use permits from the Planning Commission. In the case of the slaughterhouse, letters were mailed to those within 1,000 feet of the project.
However, seven tenants in the mobile home park to the west of the proposed slaughterhouse did not receive their notices due to an addressing error. The city mistakenly mailed notices to 5001 U.S. Hwy. 50 E., instead of 4999 U.S. Hwy. 50 E.
Hope Sullivan, community development director, told the Appeal over the phone that the second Planning Commission meeting will be like a “do-over.”
It’s unlikely that Carson Valley Meats will make any changes to its special use permit application, since the Planning Commission had already approved the application with conditions in September, Sullivan said. The second hearing is a matter of ensuring due process for the nearby property owners.
Previously, the Planning Commission approved Carson Valley Meats’ application with the added conditions that all facilities, including a corral area, be kept indoors.
It also requested that slaughterhouse representatives meet with the Planning Commission one year after the start of operations for a review. Commissioners said they would like to ensure that Carson Valley Meats continues to meet all the conditions of their special use permit.
During public comment at the first hearing, residents had expressed deep concerns with unpleasant noise, odor, insect infestations, pollution, decreasing home values, and other possible side-effects of building a slaughterhouse in the area.
The closest homeowners to the project include a neighborhood across the highway from the project, and the mobile home park to the west.
Residents Maxine Nietz and Doreen Mack, along with the Coalition for Citizens for Peaceful Enjoyment, had all filed individual appeals of the Planning Commission’s decision to approve the slaughterhouse.
The city does not yet have a date set for the new hearing. The soonest that the Planning Commission could hold a public hearing would be Dec. 15.
