Cavel Plans Expansion
Cavel International, Inc. is currently slaughtering horses for human consumption at their 108 Harvestore Drive, DeKalb, Illinois facility and shipping the meat overseas to foreign markets. They are proposing to move down the street from their current location and build a new slaughter facility.
Initially there was some confusion because the town had advised concerned parties that what was being proposed would be an "animal rendering facility" and indicated Cavel proposes to "relocate and consolidate the plant" into a single 28,000 square foot building.
Afterwards, a letter was issued by the attorney for Cavel, Brett Brown, in which the plans were clarified. The proposed new facility would NOT be a rendering facility, it would be a slaughterhouse. Cavel's current location allows them to operate through a grandfather clause, which means that the only way they could operate at a new facility is if they acquired a special use permit by the city.
The town put together distribution materials, in which they indicate a mistake had been made in referring to the proposed new facility as a rendering plant.
The new slaughterhouse would be 28,000 square feet, which would be significantly larger than their current leased facility and they apparently want to own their facility.
A public hearing with the DeKalb Plan Commission was held on September 12, 2001. The Plan Commission board voted against Cavel 4 to 0.
There were two surprises that no one expected:
During the initial meeting, a lawyer for a couple who own land adjacent to the new plant was in attendance. He apparently found a list of land covenants from the 1970's when the area was zoned for industry. The covenant lists of forbidden uses for land development, which include slaughterhouses and stockyards. The commission most likely will analyze the covenants prior to rulign on a special use permit for Cavel.
The land owners for the location Cavel currently leases also attended the meeting. It turns out the owners live in and run a pig slaughter house in Chicago. Statements were made which implied if Cavel moves from the current site, the land owners will open a pig slaughter house there since the site has a special use permit already and is grandfathered in. The owners made it known that they would like Cavel to stay or buy the land from them. The asking price is steep, but the permit and zoning may make it worth while. In the event another business wants to buy the property, they would have to tear down all the structures and rebuild, which would make such a proposition economically unfeasible.
Other homeowners and residents attended the meeting, but no one spoke up in favor of Cavel exceptt a Cavel employee.
A second hearing was scheduled for September 24, 2001.
Previously Cavel, along with wanted to convert a 2.4-acre cattle slaughterhouse into an equine slaughterhouse.
The citizens of Bigfoot, Illinois and the McHenry County Board were successful in keeping Cavel out of their town, and we hope DeKalb citizens are equally successful in keeping them from expanding!
City of DeKalb, Community Development Department,
Fax: 815-748-2359, Phone: 815-748-2060,
or visit the website: www.cityofdekalb.com
City of DeKalb Community Development Department:
cbryden@cityofdekalb.com
Mayor of DeKalb:
Greg Sparrow - gsparrow@cityofdekalb.com
DeKalb City Council Members:
Andy Small - asmall@cityofdekalb.com
Kris Povlsen - kpovlsen@cityofdekalb.com
Steve Kapitan - mknowlton@cityofdekalb.com
Mike Knowlton - mknowlton@cityofdekalb.com
Pat Conboy - pconboy@cityofdekalb.com
Dave Baker - dbaker@cityofdekalb.com
Joe Sosnowski - jsosnowski@cityofdekalb.com
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