Port of Friday Harbor open
to pioneer packing plant on airport property
posted 02/20/01
Noting a proposed processing facility would help islanders become more self-sufficient, Port of Friday Harbor commissioners are considering leasing five acres south of the Friday Harbor Airport for the San Juan County Food Processing Center.
"You’ve convinced me it’s worth exploring…. If the port can support agriculture in this county we’ll do that," said Port Commission Chairman Greg Hertel during the Feb. 14 port meeting.
"I’m supportive," Port Commissioner Brian Calvert said. He noted the time is perfect the processing, which will lower the number of trucks paying soon-to-be rising ferry fees.
Port Director Steve Simpson said the processing center is the highest priority for economic development in the county. "It’s one way the Economic Development Council and the county could keep agriculture on the islands," Simpson said. He also noted locating the facility elsewhere in the county might be difficult under land-use laws.
Offering his personal view, Simpson said the facility would keep business in the islands and would provide "a more humane" way to process animals.
Members of the cooperative attempting to site a $600,000 processing facility in San Juan County are seeking a long-term arrangement with "a landowner who will be a partner as well as a landlord," according to Bruce Dunlop’s letter to the port. They are looking at the port and other sites after a planned site on Lopez Island did not pan out.
"We believe our project may fit in with the economic development objectives of the Port District," Dunlop wrote.
The cooperative proposes slaughtering animals at farms, using a mobile slaughtering unit. Whole carcasses would then be taken to the center, where it would be further cut, packaged, refrigerated or frozen.
Although they indicated support for exploring a lease with the coop, port commissioners questioned organizers Dunlop and Bruce Gregory about several issues. Hertel asked if the center would be "economically viable."
Fees paid by coop members would fund the center and success depends on the number of island farmers who take their livestock there. "Without a sufficient volume of animals, the project isn’t sustainable," Dunlop responded.
He estimated 1,200 lambs, 200 cows, 75 hogs or a combination of those numbers each year would be needed to make the venture break even. Farmers have committed one-third of the number of animals to make it workable and a membership campaign is underway.
"There are plenty of animals to make this fly," Dunlop said.
He explained the coop doesn’t want to send island livestock to large operations on the mainland. "Animals don’t need to be finished in feed lots," Dunlop said.
"We want to avoid a feed lot," Hertel said.
"It’s just a cut-and-wrap facility," Gregory said.
However, if the USDA does not approve the coop’s mobile slaughtering unit -- the first of its type in the nation -- the coop believes it’s prudent to have a contingency slaughtering plan, Dunlop said. That might mean slaughtering at the processing center. And under such a scenario, Dunlop estimates the center might need to temporarily pen 12 steers or 30 lambs at the site.
Calvert asked how manure would be handled if live animals were penned at the facility. Dunlop said it would be cleaned up regularly. "Getting rid of manure in this county is not a problem," he said.
Unintended butchering of sea gulls and other birds concerned Airport Manager Pat Mayo. He asked if the facility would attract birds, a major safety hazard at airports. Dunlop said most of the byproducts will be stored in a freezer until picked up by a rendering company. "It (waste) has to be contained," Dunlop added.
Commissioner Charlie Nash asked how wastewater would be treated. Dunlop explained most liquid waste would remain at farms, where the animals would be slaughtered. He expects the rest of the waste would likely be treated as graywater, but the actual design of a wastewater system would depend on soils at the site.
"We’re not interested in creating more messes," Gregory said.
Islanders will be able to comment about the plant during county conditional-use permit and a USDA environmental assessment hearings.
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