The chairman of the Banks County Board of Commissioners has assured the city of Commerce that an egg production plant near Gillsville will not adversely affect the city reservoir.
At Monday night’s Commerce City Council work session, Mayor Charles L. Hardy Jr. read a letter from Gene Hart responding to a letter the city sent Hart in June. At that time, water and sewer manager Bryan Harbin reported that the Country Charm Egg Distributors plant under construction posed a threat to the reservoir.
Harbin reported that the contractor grading the site had violated the required stream buffer and that the Environmental Protection Division “had turned its head” on enforcement of soil erosion and sedimentation regulations.
Not so, responded Hart.
The Banks County chairman reported that the 100-foot buffer on both sides of a tributary to the Grove River (which feeds the city reservoir) are intact, that no impervious surface will be closer than 150 feet of the tributary, and that no septic tanks or septic tank drain fields are in the setback area along the tributary.
Hart also pointed out that the company’s development plan calls for no poultry houses within 2,400 feet of the Grove River and that a large sedimentation basin will drain runoff and trap sediment during construction.
“We continue to discuss and monitor this operation in cooperation with the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, the Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission and the president of Country Charm, Mr. Brent Booker,” the letter concluded. “All entities are working together to ensure that this facility meets state and local requirements. By coordinating with all applicable agencies and entities, we feel there is no threat to the quality of water in the Grove River Reservoir.”
The project will comprise 12 poultry houses, each holding 96,000 layers. Back at the June city council work session, Harbin had expressed concern not about poultry wastes, but about the residue from washing the eggs.
There was no discussion of the matter after Hardy read the letter.
