Chicken farm going back before CPA

| 05/06/2019 | 54 Comments

Cayman News Service(CNS): A controversial application by Toepaz Chicken Farm for a processing factory in East End that was refused planning permission last October is going back before the Central Planning Authority Wednesday after a successful appeal. In March, the Planning Appeals Tribunal remitted the application after it found inadmissible letters were considered by the CPA during the process. The authority refused permission as it found the site wasn’t suitable for the proposed egg processing facility, which will house some 10,000 chickens, as “noise and odours will not be consistent with the character of the surrounding area”.

There are still valid objections to the factory from neighbours in the area of Sunnyfield Road, off the Queen’s Highway, where the proposed site is located. The applicant is expected to be heard at 10:30am but it is not clear if objectors will also be appearing before the CPA, given that their concerns have all been submitted in writing.

The Department of Environment has also raised concerns about the impact on the endangered blue iguana in the reserve nearby.

The local MLA, Arden McLean, has opposed the project and revealed a potential conflict of interest. He has said the plan was supported by the Department of Agriculture but the owner of the proposed project is an employee of that department.

An original application at a different location, made in 2017, was given conditional planning permission by the CPA, based on the need for the farm to find a suitable waste-water management plan to protect the critical East End water lens. But the owners decided to move the site instead. They then made a fresh application to planning, but although the new location is further from the lens, it is now closer to a residential and tourist area.

The new parcel is also undisturbed dry forest and shrubland inhabited by blue iguanas and the land clearing will put the protected species at risk, the DoE said in its submissions to planning.

The DoE has said that if the CPA grants permission, there must be a survey of the iguana population before any mechanical clearing is carried. Among other major concerns is the possibility of 10,000 chickens escaping into the wild in the event of a storm, hurricane or other natural phenomenon, posing a threat to the iguanas and other wildlife.

Since the successful appeal, Toepaz has submitted more information to support the application, but new objections have also been submitted from residents in the 300ft radius calling into question the evidence from Toepaz.

CNS EDITOR’S NOTE: We understand that this application which remains before the CPA was removed from the agenda at Wednesday’s meeting and will be heard on a future date. 

For more information and the details of the application and the objections see the planning agenda here.

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Comments (54)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    This is not Caymanian owned.

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  2. Anonymous says:

    Dirty mother-cluckers.

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  3. But if the proposed owner is a Civil Servant, he has a full-time job already… He won’t have time to run a big egg farm as well, right? Oh, wait…

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    • Anonymous says:

      Oh he certainly will. Look at those running nurseries and attending government courses to do so at a time when they should be doing their Department of Education job.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Gordon it was revealed in the LA by the DG that the owner no longer works for our much improved civil service

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  4. Anonymous says:

    There are already plenty of organic free range chickens and eggs that local farms have already began to sell. This place will only do what every other place that mass produces meat and eggs do – pump them full of hormones and make them live on top of each other in filth. NO THANK YOU.

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  5. Anonymous says:

    Which one came first, the chicken or the farm?

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  6. Bertie : B says:

    why not let them just cross the road ? and nobody ask Why .

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    • Anonymous says:

      1:29 They wait to cross the road until a vehicle is in range, then they take a gamble, playing Chicken LOL

  7. Anonymous says:

    Perhaps a chicken farm is needed and would be beneficial to the island but the location is unsuitable. Has any of you ever been in the down draft of a small chicken coop. Can you then imagine living in the vicinity of a chicken farm housing 10,000 or more chickens, with the awful smell and the incessant squawking. This farm would not only make life very uncomfortable for the neighbours but it will also drive down the value of the land and homes. I hope the CPA does what is right on this horrible idea.

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    • David S says:

      Im reading this report and if this was a project owned. By some rich white goal, govt would bend over for him.lt seems the owner is a local civil servant and therefore he must be stopped according to the gospel of the elitists entitled cabal.Since a local owns the chicken farm, he is harassed, haranged, oppressed, depressed, discouraged, and almost driven to suicide, just because he is an honest native seeking to amass his wealth to care for his family in an honest way. I wouldn’t be surprised if some political vendetta is at play here as the thrust of this confusion and injustice.

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      • Anonymous says:

        the civil servant’s job is to regulate ventures such as these so there was a clear conflict. Its not always some seedy plot by “the man”

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      • Anonymous says:

        Native???

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      • Anonymous says:

        Regular black and brown Caymanians also owe land and homes in the area where they want to put down this farm. Perhaps you should get your facts before commenting. It had nothing to do with colour and all to do with not becoming a nuisance to people already living there and those planning to build on their land in the future.

  8. Anonymous says:

    Great yolk!

  9. Anonymous says:

    east end needs some fresh blood…even if it is chicken blood

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    • Anonymous says:

      We need more than new blood. I’m sorry but need a change from that backstabber. He claimed that 2017 was his sunset years in the LA, now he claiming that he still gonna be running…ah boy.

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  10. Anonymous says:

    How utterly stupid things are in the Cayman Islands. Just wait until all food import stops for unexpected reasons: natural disaster, worldwide epidemic, act of terrorism similar to 9/11, technology failure (internet etc.) etc. etc.
    I would want to see all who protest chicken farm to starve from their own stupidity.
    People in this country forget that they are on a rock in the middle of nowhere and only nine meals away from anarchy.
    Keep you fishing skills sharp and dinghy in good repair if you are against chicken farm

    YOU GOT TOO COMFORTABLE IN YOUR LUXURY MANSIONS WITH A/C, RUNNING WATER AND A GROCERY SORE AROUND THE CORNER. Life can change in the blink of an eye

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    • Anonymous says:

      And indeed it will, The cataclysm will take place in Trump’s seventh year.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Same eedjyats saying “oh we can just patch up that 40 year old cargo dock. we aren’t using it at max capacity YET so we don’t need to upgrade it”

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      • Anonymous says:

        That cargo dock shouldn’t even be located in the center of Georgetown.

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        • Anonymous says:

          1:47pm

          Which Georgetown?

          The one in Guyana or St. Vincent and the Grenadines?

          Certainly Georgetown, Ontario does not need a cargo dock!

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      • Anonymous says:

        your cargo dock will be useless as well as your airport when planes and ships stop coming for whatever reasons. You are 100% dependent on food imports. That itself should keep you awake at night.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Seems as if you are stuck on the dock( excuse the pun) irrelevant here!!

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    • Anonymous says:

      The Cayman Islands is one of the countries that is unable to produce its own food due to water and land limitations and must rely on imported food in order to avoid starvation.

      What is going to happen if food import stops for just one week and air travel suspended? Are you prepared?

      Meantime freshly laid eggs can be left out at room temperature for at least a month.

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      • Anonymous says:

        But if we can’t feed ourselves it doesn’t matter how long someone else’s eggs can be left on the windowsill. – Either Cayman can’t feed itself, in which case food self-sufficiency is not an argument in favour of the chicken farm, or feeding ourselves is a national goal in which case you need to answer how many eggs per person that is and how big a chicken farm is needed? (Because if we’re not producing that many eggs then there’s no reason to approve the farm as its a failure according to your national policy.)

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  11. Anonymous says:

    we need go back as our ancestors did…have chicken coop in backyard for eggs and protein…eat chicken once or twice a week…fish rest of time and red meat once a yr…as they couldnt afford to buy it! yet they were living 105…109…112 yrs of age? caymanians ya listening???

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  12. Ron Ebanks says:

    I think that the processing plant can be successful if proper guidelines are in place and followed . Jobs jobs and not politic . But it just shows damn political the Island has become and controlled by politics .

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    • Anonymous says:

      There are guidelines all over this island for this and that, no one pays a blind bit of notice.

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  13. Ron Ebanks says:

    Sounds like none scrambled eggs for breakfast again this morning .

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  14. Anonymous says:

    10,000 chickens escaping into the wild could potentially increase the wild chicken population by 2% or more!

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  15. Anonymous says:

    classic nimby nonsense…

    we need jobs…not that type though
    we need development…not that type though
    go east campaign?….not yet!

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    • Anonymous says:

      Read their application this will not create jobs. They have 2 people they will staff who are not Caymanian. BYE

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      • Anonymous says:

        It was a figure of speech (10:31 am), as an example of how stupid things are on this rock.
        I lived and worked in many countries, developed and developing and I’ll tell you, the level of stupidity here is mind blowing. I am starting to think that inbreeding is the real cause.

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        • Anonymous says:

          sshhh ….the genetics of east end are not allowed to be discussed

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        • Anonymous says:

          12:20pm

          I don’t think that you have lived and work in many countries – if you did then you would not make such idiotic statements.

          I have lived and worked in many countries and there are idiots like you everywhere.

          The concentration of your type just seems high in Cayman because they let you in here when you have failed everywhere that you have been.

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        • Anonymous says:

          So, upon admitting that your argument was flawed you resort to calling other people stupid to make yourself feel good.

  16. Anonymous says:

    Pretty amazing. Everyone talks about diversifying the economy and creating jobs in East End, until a Caymanian actually tries to start a business there. If a chicken farm isn’t appropriate for East End, what is?

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  17. Anonymous says:

    Seems to me they are counting their chickens before they have hatched.

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