They Want to Build WHAT in New Square?

Chicken slaughterhouse making a comeback, many lawmakers vow to oppose plan

A proposed $3 million chicken slaughterhouse is one step closer to being constructed in the Village of New Square as Adir Poultry submitted a 30-page environmental impact summary and the New Square Board of Trustees is mulling over a time for a public hearing on the matter.

In 2009 Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence had helped New Square attain a grant for over $1.5 million through the state-run Empire Development Corporation to expand the existing slaughterhouse, however, that was scrapped due to community pressure and the discovery the slaughterhouse was selling uninspected, dirty poultry. Adir’s facility has been closed since 2010.

Many in the community continue to resist any such proposed project, claiming a large slaughterhouse belongs in an industrial zone, not along Route 45 on the border of New Square and New Hempstead.

Adir’s proposed plant would process up to 5,000 chickens daily, most of them trucked in from farms. The plant would use upwards of 100,000 gallons of water daily, critics have said.

County Executive Ed Day did not sound too high on the project, which he’s opposed in the past. He said, “We are awaiting new applications to the Rockland County Planning Department on any proposed poultry processing facility in the Town of Ramapo. Once received, complete submissions will be carefully studied and considered. Failure to follow the process may result in delays and possible rejection. Past reports issued by the county on similar chicken slaughterhouse proposals in the Village of New Square have deemed the plans incompatible with adjacent residential uses. A case against any industrial facility in New Square is compelling, largely based on location and the transportation of thousands of live chickens through the streets of Rockland County.”

Assembly Ken Zebrowski added, “Yesterday, the Village of New Square announced intentions to continue their efforts to construct a chicken slaughterhouse on the village’s border. I remain opposed to the slaughterhouse and will continue to advocate on behalf of my constituents to stop this project. A residential neighborhood is an inappropriate setting for a heavy industrial facility. I will continue my conversations with ESD and hope to convince them that this project is inappropriate for the area and inappropriate for a state grant.”