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Committee approves on‑farm milk bottling plan with three‑year wholesale restriction; retail or outside milk will trigger review
Summary
The committee approved rezoning and a three-year conditional use to allow an on-farm milk bottling operation at Bunker Hill, limited to milk produced on the owner's farm; retail sales or bringing in outside milk would require review and possibly rezoning to commercial.
The committee approved a rezoning and a three-year conditional-use permit to allow an on‑farm milk-bottling operation tied to an existing dairy at Bunker Hill.
Applicant representatives described plans for pasteurization, holding tanks and a small bottling plant; staff noted the county and state regulators (including the Department of Agriculture and DNR) must also review sanitation, wastewater and manure-waste handling plans. The county placed a three-year limit on the wholesale-only conditional use at the township's request; staff said the current plan would allow only milk produced on the owner's farm to be processed and bottled under the conditional use. If the business later brings in outside milk or pursues retail sales, the conditional use would be reviewed and a commercial rezoning would likely be required.
Staff described technical infrastructure in the plans: one- and multi-thousand gallon holding tanks for processing and restroom wastewater, an interconnected tank system for dairy waste management and a septic/holding-tank strategy for restrooms. Applicant representatives said proposed production at startup would be modest — starting with a few runs per week — and that the owner plans to expand herd size toward prior levels (application materials and discussion referenced roughly 95–120 cows depending on farm recovery).
Committee members asked about public-notice and adjacent landowner notification (the county mails notices to owners within the 300-foot statutory radius). Staff confirmed notices were sent and that the township recommended the three-year wholesale restriction. The committee voted to approve the rezoning and conditional use with the stated limits.
Speakers included the landowner's representative and zoning staff. The record shows staff and the applicants discussed DNR and Department of Agriculture requirements and septic/holding-tank plans; the county's action carries ongoing reporting and technical permits from those state agencies.
