York County planning panel recommends approvals, places cap and conditions on Christman game-farm permits

The York County Planning Commission on an unspecified May date recommended approval of three conditional-use permit requests for multiple properties owned or operated by the Christman family, and placed a cap on existing bird capacity while requiring any future expansion to go through the permit process.

The commission voted to recommend approval of a permit for “Terry’s” (described at the hearing as exceeding 300 animal units because of cattle on site) so long as the applicant meets required setbacks; recommended approval for a Dean’s site contingent on Class II setbacks from an existing hog facility; and recommended a limited approval for the larger breeder/hatchery operation with an existing-capacity cap and a requirement that any additions trigger a new permit review and county approval.

Why it matters: neighbors described years of expansion without prior permitting for some facilities, while other applicants said they have complied with permitting. Commissioners said inconsistent enforcement created unfairness between neighbors and called for clearer county follow-up. The panel framed its votes as recommendations to the county commissioners (the zoning commission does not itself grant final county permits for projects above the administrative threshold).

The public-comment period opened with neighbors raising concerns about unpermitted buildings and cumulative scale. Zach McGowan, who identified himself as a resident of Cool Junction, said the Christman operation has grown “without meaningful oversight or proper zoning procedures” and called the situation “not just frustrating. It's fundamentally unfair.” A neighbor, Kathy Kristen, said she had pheasant pens herself and that she had not noticed problems with smell or noise and called the owner honest.

At the hearing, planning staff (Nathan) summarized the status: several permits for the Christman properties have been processed, with three that either already were approved or were below the 300-animal-unit threshold and did not need the commission's review; three larger facilities were before the commission that evening. Consultant Travis Kasperson said the breeder/hatchery operation had been on-site since about 2012 and that most expansions were built away from residences; he provided two site maps showing conditions in 2012 and current layouts and said the operation remained in the same animal-unit class (1,001–2,500 animal units) even after additions.

Commissioners and staff discussed numeric details during the hearing. Speakers described the hatchery as having 13 incubators with a peak eggs-in-incubator capacity of about 280,000 eggs at one time (eggs, not hatched chicks). Participants and staff referenced animal-unit classes and the county zoning resolution dated to 2012 as the controlling regulation for setbacks and classification. Setback distances discussed in the hearing included a 0.375-mile (about 1,980 feet) north-south separation for certain Class II calculations and an east-west quarter-mile/660-foot rule for other measurements; a specific distance referenced for one open pen expansion was about 1,920 feet from the nearest dwelling and staff read a measured distance of roughly 1,495 feet from one location to another during the discussion.

The commission's motions and roll-call recommendations recorded at the meeting were: - Terry’s site: Motion to recommend approval provided required setbacks are met. Roll call: Heine (yes), Gruber (yes), Grishfeld (yes), Purdue (yes). Outcome: recommended approval to the county commissioners. (No additional conditions beyond setbacks and applicable late-fee remediation were recorded at the hearing.) - Main breeder/hatchery site: Motion to recommend an existing-capacity cap at the site where it currently stands and require a new permit application for any expansion; the recommendation included placing the existing number as a cap and requiring any increases to be separately permitted. Roll call: Gruber (yes), other commissioners recorded in favor; outcome: recommended approval with a cap and permit requirement for additions. - Dean’s site: Motion to recommend approval if Class II setbacks from the existing hog/swine facility are met (quarter-mile/other class setbacks as applicable). Roll call: unanimous among attending commissioners; outcome: recommended approval conditioned on meeting Class II setbacks.

Commissioners also debated enforcement and county processes. One commissioner said the county had allowed some unpermitted work to continue for years and urged county divisions (zoning, building, assessor) and the county attorney to coordinate so similar lapses would not recur. Planning staff clarified that a game farm requires zoning approval regardless of size, and that operations surpassing the administrative 300-animal-unit threshold are reviewed by the commission. Staff also noted that if a permit were issued and later found noncompliant, the zoning administrator could pursue revocation and, where warranted, criminal enforcement.

Quotations used in this article are taken from the public transcript of the hearing and are attributed to speakers recorded at the meeting. The commission’s recommendations are advisory to the county board; the transcript records recommendations and roll-call votes but not final county-commission approvals (those outcomes were not in the transcript).