LEON COUNTY, TX (KRHD) — Leon County residents organize to fight commercial chicken house project coming to their neighborhood
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Residents in eastern Leon County are organizing to fight plans for commercial chicken houses in their neighborhood, raising concerns about traffic, air quality, property values and quality of life.
Two weeks ago, residents discovered that land was being cleared for a commercial project in their community. Mike Meade, who lives just down the road from the development, met the new land owner and learned the scope of the plans.
"And that's when I was talking with him and he told me that he has 3 chicken barns coming up. They can hold anywhere from 20,000 to 50,000, and that means we're looking at roughly 100 to 120,000 chickens in the 70 acres," Meade said.
A group of neighbors held a meeting to organize and share information about the commercial chicken houses. I asked some of those neighbors about their concerns.
Troy Chapman summed up what many residents are feeling.
"A lot of retirees up here just to live the peaceful quiet life and this is gonna just destroy it, right?" Chapman said.
Traffic is among the top concerns for residents, who say the rural roads in the area are not equipped to handle large commercial trucks.
"Everybody that's traveled rural roads knows how narrow they are. There's not room for 18 wheelers and cars, much less our road," Chapman said.
Qwalene Nix echoed those worries and said children in the neighborhood could be put at risk.
"I can't stand the fact that there'll be way too many trucks, big ones, and we have a lot of young kids in our areas," Nix said.
Mike Pace raised concerns about trees that would need to be removed to accommodate the operation.
"They're gonna have to trim the trees or cut some massive, uh, pine trees down to get in there," Pace said.
Some neighbors are also concerned about smell and air pollution. Pace said the health impact could be significant for him and his wife.
"Uh, my wife and I both have COPD, so if we get that, that north wind, it's, it's going to be devastating for us," Pace said.
Nix also raised concerns about what the air quality could mean for her daily life.
"They've told us the air is going to be polluted and it may be to the point where I can't breathe very well or I have to stay in the house the whole time," Nix said.
Others noted how the project will affect property values — and that this is not something they expected to deal with.
"You know, we found a beautiful place. We're gonna retire, finish our lives there, and now this comes in," Pace said.
I reached out to Wayne Sanderson Farms for a comment but have not received a response yet. This story will be updated if anything new develops.
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