When it comes to a hog kill floor, &uot;Not In My Back Yard&uot; is right up front on almost everyone’s mind.

Assuming we decide we want Premium Pork and they decide they want Albert Lea, where might be the best place to locate the plant?

First, let’s decide upon where it should not go. The plant should not be located anywhere near where people live or recreate. Secondly, it should not be near any of our bodies of water. Our forefathers believed that bodies of water were created to haul away and cover up garbage. We used our lakes and streams to carry off waste from Wilson’s, the lake made a convenient dump for electroplaters, our city frequently continues to dump raw sewage into them, and uncontrolled runoff from dump sites and improperly sited septic systems continue to run into the lakes. In the 21st century, we should know better. This is just not the right thing to do, and we know it.

The city has been attempting to option land near the sewage treatment plant along the Shell Rock River. The logic behind this location is that the closer the hog plant is to the treatment plant, the less pipe will have to be laid and the cheaper the project will be. If that were our only criterion, I would have to agree.

Unfortunately, there are other considerations that need to be looked into. First of all, do we really want 100 or more trucks leaking feces and urine traveling through this area each day, bringing hogs to that location along the river? If we think that we might like to see homes, parks, golf courses, and other prime development take place along the river, do we really think that will happen with a pig slaughter plant along the river? I have not talked to anyone who thinks this would be a good idea.

Now to the question of where such a plant should be situated. This would be a huge plant that will occupy 60-80 acres of land. It will need good highway access, will place heavy demands on sewer and water, will be a very large building, and it will probably smell somewhat. Common logic would seem to dictate that this plant should be located in an industrial park which is properly zoned for industrial use and which will adequately provide all the services that the plant demands.

This plant needs to be located in the Habben Industrial Park. The city already owns some 30 acres of the park and there are approximately another 70 acres available for this project. Darv Habben, owner of Crossroads Trailer, wants the plant in his park and he will have refrigeration services and truck trailer repairs right next door. Does this seem like a no brainer? It does to me. Not withstanding any past misunderstandings that Mr. Habben may have had with our fair city, let’s sit down together and get this job done right. The Shell Rock River corridor is just not the place for this plant; the Habben industrial park is.

Tony Trow is an Albert Lea resident and president of Destination: Albert Lea. His column appears Mondays.