Company seeks variance for Claremont slaughterhouse operation

CLAREMONT — An application for a variance for a slaughterhouse operation at a pork processing facility on Sullivan Street adjacent to the airport will be discussed for the third time at the Zoning Board of Adjustment meeting on Monday.

At the last meeting, several residents spoke in opposition to Granite State Packing’s plan to slaughter and process 250 pigs a week — 24 to 25 trucks weekly — at its facility. Presently, the animals are slaughtered at a plant in North Haverhill and trucked to Claremont.

According to the application on file in the Planning and Zoning Department, Granite State would conduct all slaughtering inside the existing 16,600-square-foot building, which was the former home of North Country Smokehouse and had been vacant for five years before Granite State Packing opened in the beginning of 2023. It is located in the Industrial I district. Slaughtering took place at the location in the mid 1900s but an ordinance passed by a previous city council prohibited slaughtering without a variance.

According to the minutes of the Nov. 4th ZBA meeting, Granite State Packing plans to demolish and rebuild a section of the plant to make it more suitable for the proposed operation.

Peter Colman of Granite State Packing told the ZBA in November that the company has 10 employees and processes 75 pigs a week or 6,000 pounds. If the variance is granted and a site plan approved by the Planning Board, Colman said they would be able to process between 15,000 and 20,000 pounds a week and add 25 employees. The application also states that the company received a $1.6 million Department of Agriculture grant and would use the money to expand the plant for a slaughter operation. Colman said they are regulated by the government and when slaughtering is taking place, a government official must be on site or else the operation cannot proceed. The animals would be killed by electric shock, Colman told the ZBA.

After the conclusion of the November meeting, the ZBA asked to see engineered plans for waste treatment and a professional’s opinion that waste can be treated without adverse impacts to the sewer infrastructure and added burden to taxpayers. The board also wanted assurances that employees would not bypass filtration methods. Colman told the board they would be in compliance with all waste regulations and City Planner Austin Ford said the technical review committee would look at the waste treatment plans during the site plan review, if the application gets to that phase.

At the November meeting, residents opposed the variance said it would not benefit the city and was contrary to a city ordinance that prohibited slaughterhouses in I-1 zone without a variance.

Resident Norma Limoges, who lives less than a mile from the plant, cited concerns about truck traffic, waste, escaping pigs, loud noise from “terrified pigs,” individual farmers transporting pigs, attraction of wild animals from the surrounding woods and a potential decline in surrounding property values.

Limoges also drew a parallel to the ongoing efforts by the owner of the recycling facility on Industrial Boulevard, Acuity Management, to obtain a variance to receive construction and demolition material. Rejected by the ZBA, Acuity is currently seeking to have its Department of Environmental Services permit amended for C&D. In September, the city council approved an ordinance prohibiting construction and demolition at recycling facilities, though the new ordinance is not enforceable against Acuity’s existing application. Acuity and Granite State are about a mile apart.

Reading from the ordinance, Limoges said it specifically prohibits “all uses of land, building, structures or industrial processes that may be noxious by reason of production or emission in to the air, water, both surface and ground, of dust smoke, refuse matter, odor, gas fumes, noise, water pollution or similar substances.”

“For sure, all of the city’s governance viewed Acuity as an enemy to the environment with its traffic, noise, pollution, hazardous waste, and the creation of an overall endangerment to the public. I believe there is a similarity between the two,” Limoges said about Granite State’s application, adding that giving Granite State a variance would give Acuity’s attorneys a stronger argument for its proposed operation.

The specific criteria that must be met for a variance, were also reviewed by Limoges, including public interest and spirit of the ordinance.

“Is there a demonstrated need for Claremont to have a slaughterhouse or is this simply a business expansion for the benefits of the business owners,” Limoges asked. “How does this benefit all the people of Claremont?”

Limoges said the “spirit of the ordinance” criteria is not met by allowing a slaughterhouse and ignores the work of previous boards and councils that carefully considered the current regulations and heard input from residents, attorneys, department heads and the regional planning commission.

“That assures me that all of these bodies of government, to include the public, acted in good faith, reasoning and in the very best interest of the city when they adopted the I-1 zone with its limitations. It was not an irrational decision,” Limoges said. “I sincerely trust that this board will uphold the zoning law as established by a previous administration and more importantly, cast a vote that will benefit all of Claremont’s residents.”

The ZBA also asked for inspection of the current design of the facility to be sure there is sufficient capacity for the slaughterhouse expansion; a professional opinion on the possible impact on surrounding property values;

Attempts to reach Colman for this story were unsuccessful. Monday’s meeting begins at 7 p.m. in city hall.

Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com