A new project that may come to Coffee County in the near future checks all the boxes that signal a progressive and growing community. Economic development? Check. Job creation? Check. Supporting agriculture? Check. Expanding a major local industry? Check. Diversity? Check. And reducing and possibly getting rid of a thorn in every local government’s side? Check again.
If you haven’t heard about this, you will in the coming weeks. A North Carolina company is purchasing 1,000 acres property in southern Coffee County with the plan to bring 60 chicken houses to that tract of land.
Yep. 60 chicken houses.
You haven’t heard about this at the county level and you probably won’t because the property is already zoned for agriculture. If it wasn’t zoned correctly, it would have to go before the planning commission then the county commission, and that would generate some publicity along the way. However, right now the county won’t be involved from a zoning standpoint and has no egg-spectations of doing so.
As you can imagine, the neighboring landowners are not very happy about this. There aren’t enough hen-kerchiefs in the county to dry their tears. After all, who wants 60 chicken houses in their backyard? Nobody. They are mobilizing in an attempt to get the project stopped. The process of putting in chicken houses is fairly simple — once the property in question is zone correctly, all that is required is a $200 per house permit and a 200-foot buffer between the chicken houses and the neighboring property line. Eight or 10 chicken houses are one thing. 60? That’s another matter. It’s causing quite an eggs-istential crisis on the south end of the county.
At the moment, it is unclear exactly what the county can do or if they even need to do anything. The Satilla River borders the property to the south and a little to the west so there are some environmental and wetlands hurdles to jump. The tract in question isn’t particularly fertile so it’s not really appropriate for any type of row crops. About all you can do with it is hunt on it. Or, apparently, build 60 chicken houses on it.
If the project goes through, the plan is to have five farms on the property with 12 chicken houses on each farm. Employees who will oversee the farms will be brought in by the parent company and will stay on property. It appears that 120 workers of Vietnamese descent will move to Coffee County and oversee the daily operations.
At the moment, there is no firm timeline for the completion of this project. No property has been sold and no permits have been applied for. It does appear that there has at least been a gentleman’s agreement regarding sale of the tract.
The news is mixed. There will certainly be a fowl stench from the houses. But there’s the big peck-ture to consider. The project would provide a boost to the local poultry industry, which has been depressed since Hurricane Helene came through and leveled or catastrophically damaged upwards of half of the chicken houses in the community. They will also create jobs for local contractors and subcontractors who will help build the houses and, of course, the transportation industry that will service the needs of the houses. It could be a profitable and egg-citing development for these and other associated industries.
There’s also one more outcome of this project that might be positive or negative depending on which side of the issue you’re on. If you bring 120 Vietnamese nationals into a community you’re not going to have nearly as big of a stray dog and cat problem as you had before. All those unwanted dogs and cats will not be unwanted anymore – but for a completely different reason. It gives new meaning to the phrase, “You’re so cute I could just eat you up!” It could alleviate a big cluckin’ problem for the animal control officers.
Stay tuned for more. This is a developing story that has all the people who live on 441 south of Douglas on the edge of their seats. The plot will definitely chicken as the project develops.