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Senate committee hears hours of debate on model zoning, odor‑footprint tool for large animal operations
Summary
Senator Paul Thomas asked the Senate Agriculture and Veterans Affairs Committee Tuesday to adopt a task‑force update to the state's model zoning ordinance for animal feeding operations that reduces some setbacks and lets counties and townships use a new odor‑footprint modeling tool to set project‑specific separation distances.
Senator Paul Thomas, sponsor of Senate Bill 2174, told the Senate Agriculture and Veterans Affairs Committee the bill updates the state's model zoning ordinance and reflects 18 months of task‑force work with county, township, agriculture and departmental representatives. "They met multiple times throughout the interim and the product that's before you is what the consensus of that committee came up with," he said.
The bill reduces some statutory setback distances for animal feeding operations (AFOs) for smaller operations, creates a graduated scale for larger operations, and authorizes political subdivisions to use a data‑driven odor footprint tool to set project‑specific setbacks. Commissioner Doug Goehring, whose office convened the task force, described the tool as the…
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