Cumberland County leaders could decide this week whether to change the county’s poultry production ordinance at the request of a company.
Cagle’s Keystone Foods of Albany has asked the Cumberland County Fiscal Court to make a number of changes, including allowing producers to have four chicken houses on their property as opposed to two, and decreasing the minimum distance between a chicken house and another dwelling from 2,500 feet to 1,500 feet.
Another change would increase the amount of birds allowed in a chicken house from 23,000 to 25,000.
Some Cumberland County residents have spoken out against the changes at public meetings, and want the issue put on the ballot so that voters can decide.
An agriculture committee appointed by Cumberland County Judge-Executive John Phelps is to deliver its recommendation at a meeting Monday evening, with a possible Fiscal Court vote coming at a meeting Tuesday.
