The Greene County zoning commission and the board of supervisors both held public hearings Monday morning that resulted in giving NEW Cooperative the go-ahead to build an anhydrous ammonia storage facility on Highway 4 south of 310th St in Franklin Township. Changing the zoning of the site from agricultural to industrial was needed.
According to NEW Cooperative director of operations Frank Huseman, the 6-acre site will have three 30,000 gallon anhydrous storage tanks; a fourth may be added at a later time. There is now a 60 X 120-foot pole barn at the site. A concrete floor will be poured and the building will be used to store seed and chemicals. Two bulk chemical tanks will be inside the building. Huseman said there would be total containment at the site.
The site more than exceeds all state required distances from residences and the road. A gated fence will be erected across the front (east side) of the property. There will be 24-hour surveillance cameras and a fulltime employee onsite during regular working hours, year-round.
All residents within two miles of the site were notified by mail of the public hearings. Chuck Offenburger is one of those residents. He questioned Huseman about the safety of the site. Huseman responded that anhydrous needs to be “treated with respect,” and that it does have an odor. He said any major release of anhydrous would be dispersed in a radius of 500 to 600 feet. Under normal business, there would be a whiff of ammonia smell within 100 feet. The occupied residence nearest the site is almost 3,200 feet away.
“I think it’s a good idea to have it out of town. I like it in the country,” zoning commission member Brian Hunter said.
The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship has jurisdiction over such facilities and will issue the final approval.
NEW Cooperative’s home office is in Fort Dodge. The company has 25 other locations. “This is an opportunity for us to expand our market, to expand our footprint in the ag industry,” Huseman told the zoning commission.
Signage will identify the site as NEW Cooperative – Cooper location.
The plant is the seventh in Greene County. Three are located in towns. West Central stores anhydrous at its Jefferson location, FC has a site in Churdan and Heartland Cooperative stores anhydrous in Rippey. Rural locations are a West Central site east of Paton and FC sites south of Paton on Highway 144 and east of Farlin on Highway 4.
