At their meeting tonight, Sackville Town Council will consider second and third readings of bylaw and plan amendments that would make way for an abattoir to operate at 72 Crescent Street in Sackville.
The controversial proposal from cattle farmer Chris Pierce of Frosty Hollow would see half of the building at 72 Crescent Street converted to an abattoir. Pierce says that in addition to slaughtering and processing animals for local farmers, he hopes to open a retail butcher shop at the site.
Opposition to the proposal has been slowly growing since planner Lori Bickford first brought the bylaw changes to council’s attention back in September, 2020.
On Friday, Sackville resident Jean Pascal Lavoie submitted a petition expressing opposition to the proposed location for the abattoir to the town.
101 people signed the petition, 23 of whom live with a half-kilometre of the site.
The petition expresses concern over a lack of transparency about the scale of the proposed abattoir, environmental impacts, smell and a potential decrease in property values around the proposed site.
Lavoie says he is not opposed to an abattoir within town limits. “We do want, for matters of food security and for local development, to see an abattoir in the region,” says Lavoie. “Where our position lies is that this is a semi-densely populated area. It’s within proximity of residential areas. And every principle, every study that you read on the subject would recommend this is not good practice.”
The three bylaw and plan amendments in question came up for first reading at town council’s December meeting. Four councillors voted in favour of the changes: Councillors Shawn Mesheau, Bill Evans, Andrew Black, and Allison Butcher. Two voted against: Councillors Mike Tower and Bruce Phinney.
At that meeting councillor Michael Tower asked planner Lori Bickford about why the abattoir was being considered for the industrial park instead of on agricultural land.
Bickford said the impact and types of uses expected in the abattoir were more in line with an industrial area. She also said that in the definitions of the zoning bylaw, it stated that abbatoirs were not considered an agricultural use.
Of course, abattoirs are not a permitted use anywhere in Sackville’s zoning bylaw, as it currently stands. That’s why one of the three proposed amendments that council will consider tonight is the addition of a new “intensive resource” zone to the zoning bylaw.
A second proposed change will amend the town’s municipal plan to allow this new “intensive resource” zone to be permitted in the industrial/business park designation in the plan, but nowhere else.
Chris Pierce says he consulted planner Lori Bickford early on in the process, when he was considering locations for his proposed abattoir.
“I spoke to Lori a few times there as we were curious on some locations,” says Pierce. “It has to be zoned industrial, and there’s not very much in town that is zoned industrial.”
Pierce says that he has met with one of the province’s inspectors for abattoirs. He has also spoken with others involved in abattoirs, though not with owners.
Pierce has been tight-lipped about the number of cattle he plans to slaughter and process at the proposed Crescent Street abattoir. The proposed development agreement with the town of Sackville (one of the amendments to be considered for approval tonight) also does not specify a number, though a report from Lori Bickford to the Southeast Planning Review and Adjustment committee says that, “approximately 15 head of cattle a week is proposed to be slaughtered and processed at the operation.”
In one interview in September, 2020, Pierce said that his eventual goal was to be the size of Memramcook abattoir Boudreau Meats, which reportedly slaughters about 50 animals per week.
At the time, the owner of 72 Crescent Street, Richard Baughan, said he expected Pierce’s operation to be a small one, at least in the beginning. Baughan said he expected one or two animals per day to be killed and butchered in the facility.
When asked recently about the planned size of his operation, Pierce says he has a number in mind, “but I’d rather not say right now, because everybody is all up in arms.”
Pierce feels that the abattoir will not be as disruptive to the area as some are concerned it may be.
“It should look the same today as it does if we’re in full production,” says Pierce. “There should be nothing outside. It should be just a few cars, with people working there.”
“It’s just going to be a local butcher shop, it’s not going to be a Hub Meat Packers,” he says.
Pierce says he is planning to store blood waste in a “certified tank” that would be buried on site, so as to avoid having to do an influent-effluent study that would be required in order to use the town’s wastewater system.
He says that the “specified risk material”, which includes heads and spinal cords of cattle, will be collected and trucked away by someone licensed to transport and dispose of the material in the province.
Pierce currently runs a cow-calf operation in Frosty Hollow, where he keeps upwards of 100 animals at any one time. His farm produces calves for sale. In addition, he works full time with the town’s public works department. Pierce says he doesn’t think running an abattoir will change his work situation elsewhere as of now, but, “it all depends.”
Former Sackville Mayor Pat Estabrooks is also calling on town council not to approve the rezoning that would allow for the abattoir. Estabrooks told Warktimes the planning commission did not do due diligence when it only advised those living within 100 metres of the proposed site.
Estabrooks says that council should not approve changes until residents on Crescent Street, Beal Heights and Charles Street have had their say.
Jean-Pascal Lavoie says that he feels alternative locations are available in Sackville. “You can take land that is not within proximity of residential areas and council would not have any objections,” he says.
Lavoie also says that according to the people he’s spoken to, the costs of running a licensed abattoir will be prohibitively high. That, in addition to Pierce’s September comments regarding his goal to grow as large as Boudreau Meats, are a cause for concern, he says, because it means the town could be under future pressure to allow the abattoir to expand, to make it more financially viable.
“It creates a precedent,” says Lavoie, and opens up town council to the argument that if it does not support expansion, it is not supporting its own local businesses.
Lavoie and others also express concern about the capacity for the town to enforce regulations around the site. “They’re already over capacity, as far as how they can maintain regulations,” says Lavoie. “We can see multiple areas in town where we have one bylaw officer who does not have sufficient powers, who does not have the manpower and capacity to enforce regulations.”
Council meets tonight at 7pm. Check the links here to either watch or participate in the meeting.
Links to proposed amendments:
The proposed amendment to include an “intensive resource” zone in Sackville’s zoning bylaw. (PDF file)
Related stories:
Changes to allow for abattoir pass first reading at town council, December 16, 2020, Erica Butler
Council to consider abattoir on Crescent Street, September 9, 2020, Erica Butler
