Slaughterhouse clears hurdles

The Belgium Village Board on Monday removed slaughterhouses from the list of prohibited uses and allowed them as a conditional uses, both on 6-1 votes.

The Plan Commission had recommended both actions.

Buechler Farms, the only farm in the village, plans to add a slaughterhouse to its property and eventually include a retail shop selling meats, cheeses and other items. Co-owner Irene Buechler said the slaughterhouse won’t affect her and her husband Brian’s wedding barn and other events held throughout the year.

The slaughterhouse, she said, will be in an enclosed building that will not have windows or emit noises or smells.

“If you didn’t know what it was you would never know what it is,” Irene Buechler said.

Several residents aired concerns about the impact a slaughterhouse would have on the village, including decreasing property values of nearby residences, smells, sounds and the cleanliness of the operation.

Buechler and Village President Pete Anzia questioned whether property values would decrease.

“We’re all about community. We would never consider doing anything that would put any kind of negativity on the people that live around here. We count on you guys to support us with our events that we do. If it’s not for you guys, we’d be out of business,” Buechler said.

The Buechlers plan to have Daryl Maas, a field specialist who has been in the industry since 1978, run the slaughterhouse. He said he plans to butcher 15 cows and 15 hogs per week. A state inspector would be on site from the start of the process to the finish.

“You can’t even bring in an animal that’s injured, that can’t walk in. The animal has to be in healthy condition,” Buechler said.

One reason the Buechlers want to add the slaughterhouse is to butcher their own animals. They still have cattle, and slaughterhouses have been closing across the state, making it difficult on farmers.

The shortage has caused farmers raising a few cattle to close their operations, Maas said, because they can’t control when they are going to slaughter the animals and don’t want to drive an hour and a half to the nearest place to do it.

“There is a huge need for it,” he said.

“We’re doing it for the convenience of the small-time farmers around the area and for people like us that were suffering for how many years to try to find a butcher date,” Brian Buechler said.

Slaughterhouse owners, Maas said, are retiring and their buildings aren’t being grandfathered in anymore. Upgrading to state standards is costly, he said.

The fact that the job is difficult is another factor.

“It’s hard work. A lot of people don’t want to do physical work. If they can’t stroke a keyboard, they don’t want to do it,” Maas said.

He said he would like to hire three people to work at the slaughterhouse. Irene Buechler said they would undergo background checks.

Brian Buechler said the project would cost $1 million to $2 million.

“It’s not going to be some Mickey Mouse operation,” he said.

That raised residents’ concerns over expanding the facility to make more money.

Trustee Rose Sauers, who voted against both motions, doesn’t question Buechlers’ process or integrity.

“I have absolute complete trust you’ll do this in a sanitary, discreet way. The concern I have — we need to be forward looking. Belgium has an agricultural past, and it should rightly be proud of that,” she said.

“But that was Belgium 30 years ago. Belgium since the early ’90s has developed into a bedroom community and more modern. Just the thought that when the words Village of Belgium come out, people are thinking slaughterhouse, that bothers me, frankly.”

Buechler Farms’ next step is to apply for a conditional use permit. It does not need approval by the Village Board. The Plan Commission acts on conditional use permits.