Rome planning board approves revised Chobani site plan after questions on noise, traffic and water

The Rome Planning Board voted unanimously on Nov. 18 to approve a revised site plan for Chobani LLC’s dairy-processing facility at 150 Perimeter Road West, accepting technical studies and mitigation measures after more than two hours of presentation and public comment.

Kevin McAuliffe, an attorney for Chobani, told the board the amended plan moves some functions onto a leased portion of the county golf course to create “more of a campus feeling” and to resolve FAA sight-line constraints. “We’ve negotiated with the county to lease a portion of the golf course,” McAuliffe said during his presentation, describing two buildings connected by a pedestrian ‘‘connective corridor’’ and a separate fruit-processing building.

The revised layout increases the facility’s footprint from roughly 1.8 million square feet under the June approval to about 2.1 million square feet and adds a non-manufacturing gateway center that McAuliffe said could contain a daycare, cafeteria and visitor space. He said the plan does not increase manufacturing capacity over what was previously approved.

County and project engineers presented three mitigation packages: an earthen berm…