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Cato refused county permit Edgefielddaily.com web posted July 7, 2005 Rodney Cato applied for a permit for his chicken farm outside of Trenton near the Courtney Road and Trenton Lakes area and was refused by the building department. According to reports, Mr. Cato requested a letter from Howard Gibson, Director of Building and Planning, stating the reason he was refused and who instructed the refusal of the permit. The County has invoked the Pending Ordinance Doctrine which the county says prevents staff from issuing permits for nonconforming uses once an ordinance restricting the use has received and passed a first reading. In the documents obtained by Edgefield Daily.com Administrator Wayne Adams states there were, “no outstanding applications,” regarding any CAFO at this time. Mr. Cato had been going through the process and had full intentions of applying for a county permit after the DHEC permit was granted. In interviews with Edgefield Daily.com on the Sweetwater Road zoning Mr. Gibson informed us of the chicken farm in Trenton that was in the works. Mr. Gibson has no choice but to follow the instructions of his superiors and deny the permit. The DHEC permit has been filed against and the matter is to be heard by an Administrative Law Judge. A date for the hearing has not been set due to backlogs in the court system right now. Nadine Horne, a resident of the Courtney Road area, said previously the hearing has been “fast tracked” due to high profile people getting involved. The basis of their claim is against DHEC, not Mr. Cato, in which they claim false statements on the application are grounds for denying the permit DHEC is set to grant. As we reported earlier Rodney Cato has said he has met all the requirements for the permit and all application processes were followed and approved over the more than fifteen month process. That process is a long and arduous undertaking that requires a great deal of investment fellow chicken and produce farmer Raymond Cook told Edgefield Daily.com last week. By the doctrine cited, the county will claim Mr. Cato has no “vested rights” unless a county permit had already been granted according to the newly passed Vested Rights Ordinance by the county council; which was the basis for the special called meeting in which the new zoning ordinances were inserted restricting Mr. Cato. Some say that move could end up being a costly one for the county. Passing legislation designed to stop a single person is capricious and could be grounds for a challenge. In the documents obtained the Administrator states, “the impetus for this search was citizen complaints that the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control (SC DHEC) has issued permits for poultry houses to locate near residential dwellings’” under the question heading as to why the county is acting on the matter so quickly. We were unable to obtain comments from Mr. Cato for this article and what steps he plans to take in regard to the permit denial is unknown at this time. The Edgefield County Building Department was closed when the report came in. We will continue to follow the issue. Return to Main Page
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