Hart BOC Passes Poultry House Setback Ordinance

A new ordinance in Hart County that establishes regulations for the distance between poultry houses and other types of buildings and properties is now law.

Last week, the Hart County Commissioners approved the third and final reading of the ordinance after a public hearing in which no one spoke.

The final vote came in at 4-0 with Commissioner Joey Dorsey absent.

Hart County Commissioners and Staff have been working on the ordinance, the first sort of land use law in the County’s history, since April when County Administrator Jon Caime first brought the need for the ordinance to the Board’s attention.

“We’ve been giving out a lot of permits for poultry farms, but we’ve also been getting a lot of complaints,” Caime told the Board. “I know this is very touchy subject and it’s going to be something we need to continue to address. We’re going to continue to have issues with land use in this county until we adopt some sort of land use in Hart County.”

In May farmers and other citizens packed the County Commission meeting room during a called meeting specifically to work out details of the new ordinance.

Some poultry farmers complained the ordinance was putting a crimp in already approved plans for new houses, while Hartwell citizens worried the ordinance didn’t do enough to keep new poultry farms from going up in their backyard.

But work on the ordinance continued and last Tuesday, after about 20 minutes of discussion and some minor wording changes were made, the board voted to approve the ordinance.