The people of Perry will have a chance to weigh in on the proposed JBS USA sausage factory Monday night, when the Perry City Council holds a public hearing on a resolution to rezone the 90-acre parcel for use by the Brazilian multinational company.
If approved, the $137 million project will see the construction of a 150,000-square-foot plant on Perry’s southeast side next to the Perry Industrial Park. The factory would at first employ some 250 workers in slaughtering sows and converting them into packaged sausage. The plan has earned the support of Perry’s mayor and some local leaders of business and investment.
The project cleared its first hurdle June 10, when the Perry Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) voted to recommend changing the parcel’s zoning from agricultural to heavy industrial in order to accommodate the new sausage factory. The commission’s recommendation was communicated to the city council, which takes up the question this Monday.
In a public hearing prior to the P&Z vote, three members of the public spoke against the proposed sausage factory, and two spoke in favor. The opponents all own property near the proposed plant and fear enduring the kind of noisome stench that prevailed in the Perry air for more than 60 years under the westside slaughterhouse owned in turn by IBP Inc., Oscar Mayer Foods and Tyson Fresh Meats.
JBS representatives have said the new factory would slaughter about 900 to 1,000 sows a day, fewer than one-tenth the number killed daily at the Tyson Fresh Meats plant.
“Believe me, I’m from the farm, and I know what kind of smell these hogs put off,” said Lamar Koethe, an Urbandale land developer who owns about 50 acres north of the proposed sow processing plant along Iowa Highway 141. “The number of hogs that are going to be rendered there is huge. So my main concern is this, it’s about containing that smell. If we can control the smell in that area and not have a problem in the future, I’m all for it.”
“I’m happy for Perry,” said longtime Perry resident Kay Bullock, whose property also lies directly north of the proposed plant along Iowa Highway 141. “I think it would make them a wonderful employment opportunity, but I am concerned, as this gentleman said, about my property and the smell. Will my property go down in value as my taxes have gone up? I am also concerned about the traffic on 141. The trucks will be creating more traffic. That’s a concern.”
Joyce Scott of Adel was the third person in the public hearing to speak against the project. She owns a Century Farm next to the Bullock property.
“Why did you choose next to us?” Scott asked. “Isn’t there someplace else you could go? The industrial park has land right there for sale. Why not check that one out?”
As Scott noted, the land for the proposed sausage factory lies outside the bounds of the Perry Industrial Park. The 89-acre parcel lies on the eastside of L Avenue and is owned by Carl Stukenholz of Perry.
Strongly endorsing the factory plan were four JBS representatives who attended the P&Z meeting as well as several members of Perry Industries/Perry Economic Development Inc., the 70-year-old investment group that built Perry’s original pork plant and later developed the industrial park. Among its more recent accomplishments, the group acquired the Hotel Pattee in 2021 and later donated it to the city of Perry.
Jeff Huitt, president of Perry Economic Development Inc., said he was part of a delegation of Perry stakeholders who visited the JBS plants in Ottumwa and Marshalltown and engaged in frank and candid conversations with both community and company leaders in those cities.
The visitors from Perry told JBS that “we know what we had. We know what we want. If you can’t do that, we don’t want you,” Huitt said. “That spurred some conversations to invite a lot of local people to the table, whether you’re part of an organization or you’re a community leader, whether you’re on the school board, whether you’re part of the school’s roster, we need someone that’s a partner in town.”
Huitt said the PEDI board of directors voted unanimously earlier in the day on June 10 to support the JBS project. He said the current businesses in the Perry Industrial Park also welcome the arrival of the new food-processing business.
PEDI Treasurer Eddie Diaz was also part of the self-selected Perry delegation to visit the JBS factories, and he addressed the P&Z meeting in the public hearing. He noted the history with Perry’s “previous industry partner that frankly was not a great partner,” and he acknowledged the concerns of the project’s opponents.
“Those same questions we asked” about odor, Diaz said. “Ultimately, we’re look for is a strong community partner that treats its workers well, that treats its community well. Based on what we found out, JBS can do that.”
Like Huitt, Diaz said he supports the JBS plan as a representative of PEDI.
“Are they perfect?” Diaz asked. “No, no industry’s perfect, but I think it will be a net positive for the community.”
Along with Huitt and Diaz, other members of PEDI include its officers, Vice President Jason Levan Secretary Darren Lindstrom, and board members, Dan Spellman, Scott Finneseth, Terry Nielsen, Jon Peters, Mike Van Houweling, Jackson VanKirk, Angela Mortoza, David Finneseth, Tom Burkgren, Joni Campidilli, David Finneseth, Deb Lucht and Amy Rathje.
PEDI Past President Matt McDevitt, who also sits on the Planning and Zoning Commission, said the “science of removing smells” has advanced, and JBS assured the Perry leadership that it is committed to minimizing any stench at its modern plant.
“I would say that this is something that comes up and is prevalent,” McDevitt said, “whether it’s in our PEDI meetings, whether it’s people adjacent to the plant, whether it’s people in town — what we had with Tyson and the smell that was prevalent constantly, they are representing to us that they have been able to fix that or minimize it to a great extent, whether that’s with technology, whether that’s with location.”
Josh Warren, an engineer with Chicago-based Epstein Architecture and Engineering, the JBS construction managers for the project, addressed the odor issue and said several features of the factory’s design will help to minimize odors, including covered lagoons, an enclosed barn with plentiful fresh air exchange and technologies such as filters and “wet sprayers to help bring the organics down” in the rendering area.
“With that technology, that allows us to find a balance to eliminate 90% to 95% of the undesirable odors,” Warren said. “So as that’s going on with rendering, it comes down to operations. It comes down to cleanliness. JBS has made that commitment that they’re going to align those rendering activities as it aligns with production. In the barn, we’re not looking for overnight stays and things like that, which can accumulate to odors throughout the day and evening.”
Warren said the company is committed to “pull that 90% to 95% out” of the local air. “We want that to be a place that isn’t known for the odor but is known for the economic growth,” he said.
Cameron Bruett, manager of corporate communications for JBS USA, similarly faced the odor issue head on when he addressed the P&Z members.
“We are going to invest the money it takes to maximize odor mitigation,” Bruett said. “It’s an absolute priority for the company and for the CEO of the company.”
He said Perry had “multiple decades of experience with one of our competitors. We are not our competitor. I’m not here to talk bad about anybody, but we are a different company.”
Like Warren, Bruett noted the new factory will be one-tenth the size of the Tyson plant, “so when you think of that tenth of the size, think that tenth in all realms, whether that be water, energy, odor, just a much different facility, a much smaller footprint.”
About half the plant will be devoted to “traditional slaughter,” he said. “The other half of the facility is going to be focused on very modern, technical sausage production. So think formulations, ingredients. At the end of the day, the team members that populate that facility are going to end up with a finished product that at the end of the line can be sold directly to consumers.”
Bruett thanked the Perry delegates for visiting the large hog facilities in Ottumwa and Marshalltown, each about twice the size of the former Tyson plant. He said there are also two modern facilities in Council Bluffs, and in each city JBS bolsters the community, from free community college tuition for workers and their children to the company’s $100 million Hometown Strong program, which promotes rural infrastructure and development.
“We have a stellar track records in all those communities,” he said. “Community involvement is one of the pinnacles of our organization. We’re a family-run business. We give back to our communities. We know that the town of Perry has been through a lot. It’s been a challenging couple of years. We’re excited about the opportunity that this can bring not only to our team members, not only to our company, but to the city of Perry.”
Discussion among the P&Z commissioners was cursory. McDevitt reiterated his support for the project. Hulgan, an HVAC specialist, said the latest technology in residential “scrubbers” is very effective in removing odors in houses, and he thinks similar technology at the commercial scale is probably also effective. Eiteman said the P&Z recommendation is not conclusive.
“This really is the first step,” Eiteman said. “We’ve still got to do site plans and that’d be adjust to this, so that’s going to come back again.”
“Correct,” Hix said, “but as we’ve clearly seen with this show up of the crowd, you’ve had more than 50% of the public comments made that are against the smell and less than 50% that say they’re looking at it more from the economic side versus the smell.”
In the end, Hix voted against recommending the zoning change to the city council, but he was outvoted by Eiteman, Hulgan, McDevitt and McDivitt.
“I think more research, more public input should be heard,” Hix said after the meeting. “Obviously, any time you have public hearings like this, you’re not going to capture all opinions. We brought up six people to the microphone, and half of them were against it. Is that percentage going to be unanimous throughout the community?”
Hix also noted that “various board members were invited to go on tours, but I was extended no offer to go, so I’m sitting here not knowing much about the project before having to vote on it.”
Indications are the Perry City Council looks favorably on the project. On June 16 the council voted unanimously to approve a development agreement with JBS that will rebate $10 million in property taxes to the company as part of a tax-increment-financing (TIF) package. The TIF rebate is the city’s match to the state’s gift of $12 million to JBS in tax benefits as part of the High-Quality Jobs Program.
Perry City Administrator Sven Peterson said the city will apply for a Revitalize Iowa’s Sound Economy (RISE) grant from the Iowa Department of Transportation in order to cover the cost of paving of L Avenue and extending water and sewer service to the new factory. Construction would likely start next summer, Peterson said.
The council also approved a $13,000 contract with Bolton and Menk, the city’s engineering firm, to conduct a study of safety improvements to the intersection of Iowa Highway 141 and Willis Avenue.
The council’s public hearing on the rezoning question will be held Monday, July 7 at 6 p.m. in the Clarion Room of the Security Bank Building at 1102 Willis Ave. The meeting is open to the public.
