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 web posted September 6, 2007 TRENTON – The on again, off again, and now on again controversy over a chicken farm in the Lake Trenton area has become an issue once again as Trenton business owner Rodney Cato’s 2004 application for a permit to place a chicken farm near the area was approved by the Department of Health and Environmental Control this April. Lake Trenton residents, who pushed to have zoning placed on the area to prevent the chicken farm in 2005, won a small battle when the regulations were imposed. They may have won that battle, but the war is not over. Rodney Cato, who spoke exclusively to EdgefieldDaily.com, said he is not willing to reveal his future plans concerning the chicken farm stating his plans are “none of their business,” concerning those opposing his operation in the recently zoned area. When the issue began in 2005 Nadine Horne, who was later appointed as a sitting member of the County Planning Commission after successfully pushing the zoning of Lake Trenton, stated in a Letter to the Editor on July 6, 2005 that “Zoning has been our priority,” when she led the cause to stop the chicken farm. Horne refused, then and now, to address an article by The Citizen News that proclaimed that the residents of Lake Trenton posed a greater threat to local well water contamination by their own septic tanks than the chicken farm. In April of 2006 the issue of the zoning was plagued with problems during its passage, including a letter from then County Administrator Wayne Adams. The letter, dated June 28, 2005, that was obtained by EdgefieldDaily.com and addressed to Planning Commission members, the County Council and the County Attorney, Administrator Adams states the “impetus” of the research used to create the ordinances was, “poultry houses to locate near residential dwellings” in the Lake Trenton subdivision and Courtney Road area. County Administrator John Pettigrew said he expected the county to refuse Mr. Cato a local permit for his chicken farm in spite of the DHEC approval. Pettigrew stated the decision was “an administrative decision” and he deferred additional questions to Zoning Administrator Guy Mueller who was unavailable for comment on Wednesday. Edgefield Building and Planning Director Mike Reed said he was unfamiliar with the situation and declined to comment other than to say, “I don’t have all the details” in the matter. EdgefieldDaily.com asked Administrator Pettigrew about the letter from former Administrator Adams stating the zoning was directed at stopping Mr. Cato’s farm and what implications that letter may have if Mr. Cato decided to sue over zoning being implemented to specifically affect him. “You might want to burn that letter,” Mr. Pettigrew joked. According to past Planning Commission meetings it has been repeatedly stated that the county cannot impose stricter regulations on farming operations than those imposed by the state. A move by Ms. Horne and other Lake Trenton residents to define a CAFO (Confined Animal Feeding Operation) in the zoning ordinance failed due to the county being unable to supersede state definitions. Mr. Cato said he is currently evaluating his options and declined, on the record, to reveal what his future actions would be concerning the county, the zoning, and the chicken farm operation. For all
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