Developers raise stink over village, town resistance to housing proposals
US - Sean Gavaghan and his land development partners have presented Holmen and town of Onalaska officials with what seems like a simple choice: They can have a housing subdivision with the potential for land donated for a future elementary school site or they can have a hog farm.
19 September 2006
2 minute read
To help drive home the choice, Gavaghan and his father-in-law, Fred Schomberg loaded up 12 sows and a boar from Schomberg’s hog farm south of West Salem then dropped them off Tuesday on their land. They unloaded right in front of the sign they put up earlier that day that read: “Holmen Hog Farm #1.”
Gavaghan said the first choice, by far, would be to have houses on what has for many years been known as the Severson farm, a 480-acre spread on Highway D east of Holmen. Gavaghan also believes people living in the surrounding rural residential subdivisions would rather have houses than hogs, too.
“I understand where they’re coming from, because there will be a smell,” he said.
There’s one big problem: both Holmen and the town of Onalaska have designated the Severson farm, as well as Phil Johnson’s farm next door, for agricultural use in their long-term comprehensive plans.
Source: Holmen Courier
