Chobani presents revised Rome site plan; residents raise noise, odor and traffic concerns

Chobani representatives updated the City of Rome Planning Board in July 2025 on a reconfigured site plan for a dairy processing complex at 139 Perimeter Road that now covers just over 2 million square feet and will include a 130-foot warehouse, a processing building, automated storage and retrieval (ASRS) warehousing and on-site wastewater pretreatment.

The presentation matters because the project — which company representatives said will operate 24 hours and handle roughly 3,000,000 gallons per day of water/wastewater at full production — would alter local traffic patterns, require utility upgrades and create potential noise and odor impacts for nearby neighborhoods.

Chobani’s civil engineer said the project layout changed after an FAA review flagged the original warehouse height as an obstruction. Moving the tall warehouse component to a separate golf-course parcel leased from the county removed the FAA sight-line issue, the presenter said. The revised plan keeps the warehouse height at 130 feet; silos are expected to reach about 100 feet before aircraft beacons are added.

Project components described at the meeting include a production/processing facility (roughly 60 feet tall), ASRS warehousing on the golf-course parcel, a utility building, a driver/transportation center, an on-site wastewater pretreatment plant, and a gateway building (phase 2) with office and employee amenities. Chobani’s civil engineer said the site plan now shows about 1,001 parking spaces, and…