The Amity Township Board of Supervisors unanimously granted conditional approval on March 15 to the land development plans for a turkey farm business at 6359 Boyertown Pike, Douglassville.
Supervisor Richard L. Gokey was absent from the meeting.
Construction won’t begin until land owner Barry Shirey and his engineer, Brian Boyer, Boyer Engineering, LLC, Douglassville, submit to the township the municipal improvements agreement, financial security agreement, storm water management plan, and the driveway easement plan.
Shirey plans to build two, 700 by 63-foot, wood-frame, metal roof and siding, dirt floor turkey houses, for 37,840 birds.
He will also build a 40 by 15 by six foot high composter, with a concrete apron, which will hold 900 tons of manure, must be built according to all EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) guidelines.
High-intensity buffers will be installed by a registered landscaper on all sides of the turkey houses to provide additional odor management.
The township’s conditions for location of the turkey farm on Shirey’s 75.68 acre property include that each turkey house must have ventilation fans that are directed downward and to the southeast.
Operational generators must be installed in each turkey house in the event of a power outage.
The board included another 20 conditions that will protect the health, safety, and welfare of residents.
Their conditions were taken from approximately six different witnesses that testified during the five conditional use hearings (over five months) regarding best management practices for soil, water, manure, composting, and odor management.