Plans for a hog farm to be built near Petersburg have been stalled – at least for the moment. Grigsby Family Farms of Tallula proposed building a 9,300-hog facility about six miles from Petersburg, but opposition to the plan brought to light a procedural error that has forced a do-over. Under state regulations, the Illinois Department of Agriculture is required to publish a public notice when plans for such a farm are filed. That’s separate from a required notice of any public meetings on those plans. The department published a public notice about the public meeting in mid-December, but it didn’t publish a notice about the plans being filed in the first place. When opponents of the plan pointed that out, the department required Grigsby Family Farms to start over. The plans have been filed anew, and the Petersburg Board of Commissioners plans to ask for another public meeting. Few people knew about the previous meeting, but this time, count on the opponents – which include Petersburg mayor John Stiltz, the city’s tourism board and several other prominent groups – showing up en masse.
This article appears in Jan 29 – Feb 4, 2015.
