UPDATE: Kilroy, Stivers scrap over chicken farm controversy

MARYSVILLE - Chickens brought both candidates for the 15th Congressional district to Union County yesterday to participate in a community meeting to discuss the impact of a 6-million chicken farm pending approval.

Hi-Q Egg Products wants to build an egg farm in York Township, a rural area of Union County, which borders Franklin County in the Congressional district. In a demonstration of grassroots politics, about 350 residents came to the meeting to ask questions of Hi-Q officials, with more than a few heckles too.

They and the 1,600 who've signed a petition to stop the farm from receiving its building permit claim chicken waste will create air and water pollution. The waste is stored on-site for an indeterminate period of time and then sold, usually as fertilizer.

However, Hi-Q said the farm would bring 75 jobs and an estimated $300,000 in annual property-tax revenue.

Into the breach between vocal outrage and economic promise, went state Sen. Steve Stivers (R-Columbus) and Franklin Co. Commissioner Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Columbus). Both stayed for the four-hour event and talked to attendees, though neither is totally for or against the facility.

Kilroy said she's worried about chicken waste and other pollutants contaminating Franklin County's water source and as commissioner will introduce a resolution next week that would join "our neighbors in expressing concern" regarding potential contamination from the egg farm.

Kilroy then pivoted to criticize Stivers for cosponsoring legislation that originated in the state House and was passed by the state Senate that she stripped localities of their authority to regulate construction.

"One of my other concerns, frankly, is the House bill that was passed in 2003 that took away authority from local county commissioners, took away the zoning regulations.... That was passed by the general assembly and signed into law by Taft," Kilroy said.

Kilroy said Stivers and the legislation's supporters didn't have local residents' concerns in mind.

"I think that anybody who read that legislation knew what was coming: more factory farms," she said. "This is a problem when you're looking out for corporate special interests not the people in the community here."

Stivers' Senate office said House Bill 152 passed the Senate unanimously, 32 to 0. Stivers himself said local authorities had their power reduced in 2000 (before he was in the legislature), not in the 2003 legislation.

"Every Democrat voted for it. Every Republican voted for it," Stivers said. "That's not to say that everything in that bill or any bill is perfect, but all I can tell you is that if it was really as controversial as my opponent is trying to make it sound like, probably every senator wouldn't have voted for it - Republican and Democrat."

Stivers said he sat down with the Northwest Neighborhood Association that's opposed to the egg farm and the Farm Bureau that supports the farm, to strike a compromise. Stivers is working on legislation that he intends to introduce before leaving his Senate seat in January that would give county commissioners and engineers more say over infrastructure preparations before the state can grant a construction permit.

UPDATE: The Kilroy campaign e-mailed PolitickerOH.com to say Kilroy is opposed to the Hi-Q egg farm. However, last night Kilroy was directly asked by PolitickerOH.com if she had a position, one way or the other, on the farm. Kilroy responded:

"Well I have real concerns about the concentration of 8 million chickens in the three-square mile area. I have concerns about the impact on the watershed, I have concerns for the people who live here -- the impact on the air quality, the quality of life, their property values," Kilroy said, adding that concerned citizens should have remedies to deal with the construction of the farm.