CLAREMONT — The Zoning Board of Adjustment deliberated less than 10 minutes at its meeting Monday before unanimously approving a variance for a pig slaughtering operation at Granite State Packing on Sullivan Street, adjacent to the Claremont airport.

Mike Lemieux, who served as chairman at the meeting, said there would be a benefit to the business owners and the public if the variance was approved but no benefit if it is denied. He also said the 16,000-square-foot building is “set up” for meat processing and slaughter, which did take place at the location decades ago.

“Historically it has been that,” Lemieux said, adding that it is “something we need (in town).”

Granite State proposes to slaughter 50 pigs a day, five days a week. Deliveries will carry five to 10 pigs on each truck. The company projects adding 25 jobs, giving it 35 employees total. 

None of the board members spoke against the variance, noting that the slaughter will be done inside the building, according to the applicant.

Before reviewing the criteria for a variance, including public interest, effect on property values and hardship the board — which had continued two previous meetings on the application — heard from both supporters and opponents of the variance.

Supporters included Shawn Walch, a farmer and board member of the Claremont Growers Collective, which connects growers, vendors and consumers with the local food system. Walch said the COVID-19 pandemic showed how important it is to have “local food resiliency” and having a pork processor in Claremont will increase the region’s food supply. Other farmers said a Claremont facility would make it easier and less costly to have their pigs processed.

Steve Taylor, a retired Meriden farmer and former New Hampshire commissioner of agriculture, said he “enthusiastically supported” the variance. Taylor said when he was commissioner one of his biggest challenges was trying to get locally raised livestock processed and made available to consumers.

Opponents said noise of “screaming pigs,” odor, rodents and waste were all reasons to deny the variance. A petition signed by about 130 residents against the variance was submitted to the ZBA.

"Pilots and passengers don't want screaming pigs to be their first impression of the community," said Brian Gobin, who owns a residential property he rents out within 300 feet of Granite State.

Resident Norma Limoges, who opposed the variance, said it would violate an ordinance for the Industrial I zone passed by the City Council last year that prohibits “all uses of land, building, structures or industrial processes that may be noxious by reason of production or emission in to the air, water, both surface and ground, of dust smoke, refuse matter, odor, gas fumes, noise, water pollution or similar substances.”

City Planner Austin Ford said Tuesday the ordinance Limoges referred to only applies if the operation is conducted outdoors.

The benefit is not to the public but only the business owners, Limoges said.

Resident Meg Hurley, another opponent, said it is not the slaughter operation she and others were opposed to but rather they do not believe the location next to the airport is appropriate. She cited a likely increase in activity by birds of prey attacking rodents and also said regulations require animal operations such as a slaughterhouse to be six miles from an airport.

“No one is against a slaughterhouse,” Hurley said. “It is location, location, location.”

Ford said Tuesday that any issues concerning proximity to the airport or any processes of the slaughterhouse not completely contained inside the building would be addressed during the Technical Review Process in consultation with the Federal Aviation Administration prior to the site plan presentation.

Site plan approval from the Planning Board is the next step before construction can begin on expanding the building.

Peter Colman with Granite State addressed concerns from the public, including claims that the slaughterhouse would result in declining property values and an increase in crime and drugs.

Colman told the ZBA he spoke to operators of similar-sized slaughterhouses in New Hampshire and Vermont and none of them reported an increase in violent crime or drug use — as one opponent of the variance said would happen with a slaughterhouse — nor was there a decrease in surrounding property values. Those two issues remain in dispute as opponents disagreed with Colman’s statements.

He submitted a few emails from other slaughterhouses to back up his statements.

An email from Springfield, Vt., Town Manager Jeff Mobus said there has been no increase in crime or damage to infrastructure — water, sewer and roads — from the activity of Vermont Packinghouse, a slaughterhouse in Springfield. Additionally, Mobus said it has increased the town's grand list with the investment in the property.

Colman also responded to several requests made by the board at its previous meeting in November. He noted a Dec. 11 letter from Rick Blake with the city’s Public Works Department in which Blake said he toured the facility with Colman and discussed water use and the planned wastewater system and grease traps.

“At the conclusion of the meeting, there were no issues from either the water or sewer departments concerning the planned expansion of Granite State Packing,” Blake wrote.

The company would like to have the slaughterhouse in operation before the end of the year, Colman said after the meeting.

Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.