Marty Gordon
Contributing writer

Members of the New River Valley Meat Association have pulled plans for a slaughterhouse on Riner Road.

The group said the site directly across from Auburn Hills Golf Course was simply not big enough for such a facility.

The plan had received lots of criticism from neighbors around the Route 8 location when the group asked the Montgomery County Planning Commission to adjust the required setbacks for such use.

The planning commission decided not to make any changes. Of course, any final say on the change lies in the hands of the county supervisors, but, typically, they follow the commission’s recommendation.

Initially the group of farmers and business people said the only way they could open on the Riner site was if the county changed the required distance between the facility and adjoining property owners. Without that, NRVMA member Margaret Smith said they could not locate anywhere in Montgomery County.

She also told the planning commission the Riner site was one of several being considered including others in Pulaski County.

At the commission’s meeting last month, Auburn Hills’ residents expressed concern their property values would fall with a slaughterhouse in the neighborhood while causing extra traffic on the roads and odor from the process.

Smith repeated the facility would be self-enclosed and would have to meet stringent requirements set forth by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).