‘Not personal’: West Lampeter residents continue to raise issue with proposed raw pet food business | Local News

As discussion reaches the five-month mark, some West Lampeter Township residents have raised concerns that a proposed raw pet food business could be an eyesore for neighboring households.

Amish farmer Chris Glick, who owns BJ’s Raw Pet Food, wants to expand his operations with an 11,000-square-foot facility down the street from his current property on Millport Road. The proposal has spurred a lengthy review of Glick’s application by the township zoning hearing board as residents who live near the undeveloped property worry the expansion would bring noise, traffic, odors and water contamination.

BJ’s Raw Pet Food grinds animal meat to be packaged for purchase, mainly through online orders. Glick’s current facility at 1518 Millport Road, which is 8,000 square feet, houses a storefront, freezer storage and equipment to grind the meat. The grinding machinery would be moved to the new facility, which would also hold expanded freezer space as Glick says his business becomes more popular.

At a Tuesday night zoning board meeting in the West Hempfield Township municipal building, Woodcrest Drive residents Sharon and Kenneth Henry pushed back on Glick’s proposal because of their concerns about how the new facility would impact them. Their house overlooks the area of the proposed expansion.

If the state of a rental property currently on the land is indicative of what the new facility would be like, Kenneth Henry said, that’s an issue. It’s not kept “nice and neat,” he said.

“I have a problem with looking at that,” Kenneth said. “I’m worried about stormwater runoff. I’m worried about having a big earthmoving piece of equipment parked in the back where you can look at, like there is up by the existing barns at that property, and piles of reused wood. I’m worried about the noise.”

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Kenneth said a buffer of trees separates his house from Glick’s property, though the farmland can still be seen easily through the leaves. The Henrys said they regularly sit on a porch swing in their backyard, which overlooks Glick’s property.

Susan Bucknum, an attorney representing Glick, noted the proposal calls for the creation of a new buffer of trees. Kenneth Henry later responded that it would likely take years for the trees to become tall enough to screen the view from his property.

In April, Sharon Henry toured Glick’s current facility at 1518 Millport Road to better understand how his business works. She said she was concerned when she saw four trailers parked on the property, questioning whether Glick would frequently park large equipment at the new property that would become part of the view from her property.

Sharon Henry said she also took note of several loud air compressors at Glick’s property. She predicts the sound will carry over to her home with a new facility, as will any contaminants from Glick’s property that could impact Mill Creek, which separates her land from Glick’s.

“My concern about this business is not personal,” she said.

Glick has said he plans to replicate his current wastewater treatment process at the new facility. The wastewater, which contains some meat particles, is stored in a holding tank and then used to irrigate Glick’s fields.

The land for proposed expansion is currently zoned residential, so Kenneth Henry said he’d rather see a housing development built in place of a business. Glick needs to receive a special exception from the township to operate an agricultural facility of the proposed size on the land.

One person spoke in support of Glick’s business out of a crowd of roughly 30 people at Tuesday’s meeting. Pat Wert, who lives next to Glick’s current property, said she hasn’t had any problems with noise or smell since BJ’s Raw Pet Food began operation for several years.

“People are very misinformed about what goes on at 1518 (Millport Road),” Wert said. “The farm smelled worse when he was a dairy farmer, and there was more noise there when it was a dairy farm.”

Discussion on the proposed expansion will continue at the zoning board’s next meeting at 6 p.m. Sept. 10 in the township municipal building at 852 Village Road. Matthew Creme, the board’s solicitor, said the anticipated date for a final decision on the property is Nov. 12.

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