By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter
After two years of discussions, Levy County Commissioners Tuesday decided to prohibit horse manure and barn waste composting in unincorporated areas, except for bona fide farming operations.
A motion by Commissioner Desiree Mills was modified by Commission Chairman Matt Brooks to add language allowing bonified farming operations to compost manure. Just how that would work is unknown.
Brooks conducts business with billionaire Reid Nagle, the man who wants to dump more horse stall waste in Levy County than he already reportedly deposits at a farm near Williston.
The farm near Williston claims it uses horse stall waste for bonified farming operations. Brooks may have carved out a niche for this type of operation.
Mills and County Commissioner John Meeks, who seconded her motion, said they were interested only in a total prohibition on manure composting in Levy County’s unincorporated areas.
The two commissioners hesitated for a moment before agreeing to Brooks’ amendment giving bona fide farms the legal right to use manure composting.
County Attorney Nicolle Shalley said she will write ordinances aimed at implementing a total prohibition of composting horse manure and barn waste. She will have to define how bona fide farm operations could legally use manure composting as part of the farm’s production of crops, cattle, or timber.
The unanswered question is whether giving bona fide farming a legal right to compost manure will wind up being a loophole in the county commission’s effort to prohibit it entirely.
Commercial and industrial composting isn’t legal in Levy County and never has been. The county’s Land Development Code makes no mention of composting. Therefore, it is illegal, according to Shalley.
The final few minutes of the discussion about composting were confusing as commissioners talked about what they wanted written in the ordinances that would prohibit manure composting.
Planning and Zoning Director Stacy Hectus summarized what commissioners wanted and her comments were adopted by Mills for her motion.
- Hectus said commissioners want to prohibit manure and barn waste composting in Levy County by adding language listing manure composting as a prohibited business.
- Commissioners want to add language that prohibits dumping of horse waste or barn manure at the landfill and bars the material from being transferred from the landfill to a legal landfill.
- Hectus the county’s Land Development Code will also contain a list of allowed land uses in the unincorporated part of the county. Any land uses not listed in the LDC will be considered prohibited, including manure composting.
- Brooks then summarized Mills’ motion, but added his own twist, saying bona fide agriculture operations would be allowed to compost manure.
The discussion of manure composting began with Mills saying it was time to make the county commission’s current resolution permanent that prohibits horse manure and barn waste composting. The resolution, which amounts to a moratorium, adopted in February of 2022, remains in effect until Shalley returns with the ordinances she is writing.
Mills never got a second to the motion and the discussion became more intense. Shalley wasn’t interested in adding any language in the LDC prohibiting manure composting. She said she and Hectus had mapped out a strategy that would list all the allowed land uses in the LDC and everything else that wasn’t listed, including manure composting, would be prohibited.
John Meeks disagreed. He wanted to make a bold statement prohibiting manure composting in Levy County. He wanted it written in black and white to make sure there was no misunderstanding. He said the county got into the situation it faces today because the LDC makes no mention of composting.
“We need to make sure we are explicit in what we are wanting to prohibit and not leave us open to someone saying that it didn’t say we couldn’t do it, and I’m going to do it until I get caught,” said Meeks.
Meeks, the senior member of the board, said he also wants to make certain that future county commissioners know exactly what this board intended to do by prohibiting manure composting. He said he didn’t want future boards speculating on what this board really intended to do back in 2023.
The question of whether Mills made a motion in the first place was raised by Jill Westbrook, a neighbor of an 80-acre parcel Nagle reportedly purchased for manure composting. Mills wasn’t sure she made a motion, but she said even if she did, there was no second to the motion.
Brooks didn’t think a motion was really necessary. He felt the board had reached a consensus on prohibiting horse manure and barn waste composting in the county, but Westbrook said she really felt the board needed to pass a motion to put everything in writing. Brooks agreed to her suggestion. Mills struggled to condense the complicated discussion into a motion, so Hectus helped her out, repeating everything the board said it wanted done.
Brooks, as chairman, exercised his option to summarize what Hectus said. He added bona fide farming as being a legal use of manure composting. The motion passed with his amendment.
The commission chairman was asked whether the 80-acre parcel just east of Williston and a second parcel across from Morriston Baptist Church could be used by Nagle for manure composting. He said manure composting is prohibited and those parcels couldn’t be used for composting.
When asked what the county planned to do about the Allen Fant composting operation in Morriston, since composting is prohibited, he didn’t give an answer.
The Fant composting site was recently visited by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for an inspection, according to Shalley. She said DEP inspectors requested more information from Fant.
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Board of County Commission Regular Meeting July 11, 2023; Posted July 11, 2023
