CLEAR LAKE – Eleven persons attended the Clear Lake city council meeting Monday and gave opinions on the proposed Prestage Foods pork plant that could be built in neighboring Mason City, culminating with a statement read by Mayor Nelson Crabb.
Of the eleven people that spoke, 10 were against and one in favor. Only five persons were actually from Clear Lake. One man drove down from Kensett, and another woman came from Fertile to speak.
NIACC instructor Bennett Smith “expressed (his) profound concern of the many potential negative impacts” the plant could present to the area.
“I would ask you (the council) to oppose it,” he said, pointing to “long-term” pitfalls versus the short-term.
Mason City’s Max Weaver spoke to the elected body, and even removed his trademark stocking cap “out of respect”.
Thanking them for their service, Mr. Weaver was agitated that Prestage Foods’ Jere Null left the meeting after making a statement and didn’t stay to take questions from the crowd. Mr. Weaver expressed most concern for CAFOs – confined hog operations, essentially – and the impact from them, as he predicted they would spring up around the plant and impact quality of life here. He said the pork produced in the plant would be exported to China.
In typical Max Weaver gusto, rousing the audience to applause, he said “I do not want to change my quality of life to feed China!”
As for Mr. Null, he did attend the meeting, along with North Iowa Corridor CEO Chad Schreck (who did not speak). Mr. Null made a statement despite the fact his company’s plant would be located in another town. He said his company has no permits to open any new CAFOs in Cerro Gordo county. He pointed to “speculation” from those opposed to the plant “about things we are not gonna do.” He also pointed to the “high quality of life” and “we wouldn’t want to do anything to change that”.
“We think that it would be a poor idea to build a (CAFO) in or near Clear Lake or the … vicinity of Clear Lake. Not only do we not intend to do it, we would discourage anyone else that’s involved in our business to do it as well.”
He pointed to a surplus of hogs already in the Northern Iowa – Southern Minnesota market.
After the public finished addressing the council, Mayor Nelson Crabb made a statement connected to the controversy with the potential pork plant development. While saying Clear Lake has no intent to “meddle” in the political process of another elected body, he pointed to “political precedent” in Clear Lake “opposing large-scale commercial confinement operations” and warned of potential future action by the Clear Lake council.
“As this potential economic development project, Prestage, evolves, it may come to be that the city council of Clear Lake would, perhaps in the future, possibly consider to take a position in opposition to such a proposal as being counter-intuitive to our community’s primary economic engine: tourism.”
The council’s next meeting is April 18th. That is one day before the Mason City council’s meeting, when the council could very well vote for the third and final time to approve the zoning changes that would allow Prestage Foods to build their $240 million plant.
