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Commission approves Booth Creek PUD allowing small-scale beef processing on McCall Road
Summary
City commissioners approved ordinance 7825 to rezone a portion of a McCall Road property to a planned unit development for Booth Creek, which includes a small-scale ("craft") harvesting and processing operation. The applicant said the plant would start modestly and take steps to contain odors, noise and waste.
The Manhattan City Commission voted 5–0 on May 19 to approve ordinance 7825, rezoning part of a McCall Road parcel to a Planned Unit Development (PUD) to accommodate the Booth Creek headquarters and a meat processing component.
Stephanie Peters, the city planner, told commissioners that the PUD would allow a range of commercial and light industrial uses and that the preliminary plan — the zoning action before the commission — includes specific conditions for any meat‑packing use, including soundproofing, a prohibition on outside holding of animals and environmental controls. "There also can be no outside holding of animals or animals outside of the building at any given time," Peters said during the presentation.
Applicant David Dreiling described Booth Creek's vertically integrated Wagyu operation and said the proposed processing facility is being designed to process up to "40 head per day," though initial operations at the Manhattan site would be far smaller. "Even though we're designing the space for 40 head per day, our current production is limited to 20 per week," Dreiling told the commission, adding that the company expects to start with one harvest day per week and to haul blood and other byproducts offsite to licensed processors.
City utilities staff raised pretreatment and sanitary‑sewer concerns: Randy DeWitt, director of public utilities, said the city will evaluate the facility as a potential significant industrial user and enforce pretreatment or other controls for prohibited discharges such as blood, paunch, manure and high‑strength waste. "After we review that survey, we'll make a determination of what their impact would be on our system," DeWitt said, describing the permitting and monitoring steps the city would require.
Commissioners questioned truck routing, street impacts, flies and odor. Peters told the commission that expansion beyond the PUD boundary or a building footprint increase greater than 10% would require an amendment and further review by the planning board. Supporters including the Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce and local business representatives said the project would bring jobs and local investment; city staff and the applicant cited an expected local investment and a target of roughly 50–80 jobs over two years.
The planning board had recommended approval. With the regulatory conditions and the city's pretreatment process on the record, the commission approved the ordinance and asked staff to notify the commission about the project's opening schedule and next milestones.
