Carson Valley Meats is proposing a slaughterhouse in the industrial zone along Highway 50. Some of the closest residents to the parcel include a mobile home community to the west of the lot, and a neighborhood along E. Nye Lane, roughly northwest of the lot, across the highway.
A proposal for a meat processing plant that was rejected in Douglas County nearly two years ago will go before the Carson City Planning Commission on Wednesday.
Carson Valley Meats’ Carson City proposal is similar to the one sought in Centerville on the former Storke Dairy.
“We’ve heard over and over that northern Nevada ranchers and producers are in need of a processing facility, and we’ve received a lot of community support for what we’re trying to do,” Carson Valley Meats owner Karin Sinclair in a statement issued on Thursday. “We’re excited to have found a location that meets all standards of approval for Carson City planning and community development with regard to water, sewer, traffic and drainage among other conditions the county has set forth.”
According to Carson City the proposal is located on a 4.43-acre parcel along Highway 50 at Detroit Road, a short distance west of the intersection with Deer Run Road.
The currently empty site would see the construction of a 5,000-square-foot building and a 5,600 square-foot corral to hold cows, goats, lamb and pigs awaiting slaughter.
No more than 60 animals per week would go through the facility, which would also offer processing for wild game. The plant would include a small retail outlet offering pre-packaged meat for sale.
The site is allowed under the zoning with a special use permit.
In addition to the permit, the plant must be approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection and the Nevada Department of Agriculture.
Sinclair purchased the 58-acre Storke Dairy in Centerville in 2019 and sought a permit to operate a small meat processing plant. The site wasn’t served by either water or sewer.
Residents raised concerns that the plant’s proposal for a specially engineered septic system might contaminate the ground water.
A meat processing plant is permitted on agriculturally zoned land in Douglas County with a special use permit. Douglas planning commissioners are charged with determining whether a site is appropriate for a requested use. In the case of the Centerville proposal, Douglas County planning commissioners split on the issue in September 2019, ultimately voting for a denial in order to allow Sinclair to appeal the decision to county commissioners.
On Nov. 13, 2019, Douglas County commissioners conducted a public hearing where an estimated 400 people turned out. Eighty testified on both sides of the issue and after hours of public comment, commissioners voted 5-0 against approving the permit.
Douglas County Commission Chairman John Engels said the county was never opposed to the idea of a meat processing plant.
“We were never against this operation,” he said on Saturday. “We were against the location at Centerville and Highway 88, which is a serious flood zone next to the Carson River.”
Sinclair sued the county and a year after the hearing a judge ruled commissioners were within their rights to deny the permit.
In July, Douglas County planning commissioners approved a permit for a similar plant located off Buckeye Road on land owned by Park Ranch Holdings.
Carson City’s Growth Management and Planning Commission meets 5 p.m. Wednesday at the Carson City Community Center, 851 E. William St.
