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Costco initiates approval process for Nebraska chicken plant site

costco-wholesaleCostco has initiated the approval process to locate a chicken processing plant near Fremont in east-central Nebraska.

The company has filed a petition for annexation and rezoning of land at Hills Farm, an industrial tract located south of Fremont.

Cecilia Harry, executive director of the Greater Fremont Development Council, has been working with Costco on the project.

“We’re excited that they’re moving forward and continuing due diligence on the site,” Harry says. “But on the flip side, we’re still a long way from for sure knowing if they’re going to be coming to Greater Fremont.”

In addition to the city approval process, Harry says Costco still needs to decide if the site is a good fit.

“They still have a lot of work to do to sort through and figure out if that site is going to be a fit,” she says. “But if they didn’t submit those applications now, they would put the deadline of starting the actual construction of the project in the fall—they would be putting that at risk.”

The proposed plant met with some strong community opposition when it was first announced in mid-April. Harry says they’ve been working to address those concerns.

“We’ve absolutely made progress. The more that we’re out there sharing information about the project, the more that we hear that this is a good thing for the community and something that folks want to see.”

Fremont mayor Scott Getzschman and city council president Larry Johnson have both expressed their support for the project. Quoting Getzschman, “It is rare for a community to realize a project of this size and scope”.

From an agricultural perspective, Costco has indicated that it wants to contract with 75 to 100 local farmers to raise chickens for the plant. It also plans to purchase 300-thousand bushels of corn and three-thousand tons of soybean meal each week from local producers.

AUDIO: Cecilia Harry

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