A site on the north side of Buttermilk Creek Road will soon become home to a grain loading station and feed mill.

The Rockingham County Board of Supervisors approved a special use permit during its meeting Wednesday night that will allow Virginia Poultry Growers Co-op Inc. to construct a grain station and feed mill, with office and storage space on the site.

The board voted unanimously to approve the permit to allow the co-op to use the land, which is zoned agricultural, for business purposes. It did so on the condition that the co-op constructs an evergreen buffer around the property.

The approval did not come without some discussion, however.

Lengthy Discussion

James Mason, general manager of Virginia Poultry Growers, opened the discussion by presenting the co-op’s plans for the site, west of Kratzer Road.

He explained that corn grain would be brought in on the Norfolk Southern line and stored in silos on the property.

But several residents who live near the site opposed the plan.

Doug Nyce, who lives near the site in question, summed up most of the concerns by asking about the amount of dust, odor, noise and traffic that the station would generate.

"This is a concern," he said. "This is going to depreciate" the land value.

Mason and representatives from Norfolk Southern assured Nyce and others that dust would be controlled, traffic would be minimal, there would be no odor other than the smell of corn, and the operation would meet state environmental standards.

After more than an hour of discussion, Supervisor Pablo Cuevas made a motion to approve the permit. In doing so, he had a few words for those in opposition.

"I want you folks to keep in mind that you come to us and ask us to keep agriculture" in the area, Cuevas said. "In order to do those kinds of things, there is going to have to be a feed mill."