Peoria IL — DeWitt County officials have lowered property values for more than 20 people whose homes are within two miles of a 7,400-sow farm and the odor it creates.
"It smelled pretty bad when we were out there, we thought, and that was in the wintertime," said Richard Tuggle, a member of the county's Board of Review. "It would be worse in the summertime."
The three-member Board of Review dropped property value assessments by 30 percent for neighbors who live within 1-1/2 miles of the hog operation. The board granted a 10 percent reduction to others whose homes are within two miles of the facility.
"They feel (the odor) was bad enough that it disrupted their way of life . . and frankly, I had to agree with them," Tuggle said on Tuesday.
Board of Review Chairman Marvin Morris added, "I would not want to have a cookout; I would not want to be sitting in my backyard and have to smell it."
Rhonda Baum and her neighbors jointly sought lower property reassessments last September, but they didn't ask for a specific reduction. Their properties are roughly 65 miles southeast of Peoria, in the western part of the county.
Odor is the main problem, said Baum, who organized the effort to seek reassessments. But she and her neighbors also are concerned about water quality, she said.
"The time may come when our water supply is depleted or possibly endangered by contamination," she said Tuesday. "It may never happen, but you're never assured that it won't."
The reassessments apply only to the homes of Baum and her neighbors, not to other structures on their properties.
"We're pleased with the fact that (county officials) feel, like us, that this (hog facility) is a problem and that it does devalue our property,"
Baum said. "But I think what would be the best thing is if it just wasn't there at all."
Chris Boyster, a spokesman for the Illinois Pork Producers Association, said he couldn't comment on the reassessments because he hadn't seen the basis of the county officials' decision. But he said that odor's "often subjective. What is offensive to one person may not be offensive to another."
Boyster also said that large-scale livestock facilities add to property values and create jobs.
The DeWitt County reassessments are believed to be the first in the state resulting from large-scale hog farms, said Chirag Mehta, agriculture program coordinator for the Illinois Stewardship Alliance.
"This tells us these facilities definitely reduce property values," he said.
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