The Pottawattamie County Board of Supervisors has decided not to hold a public hearing on a request by Lincoln Center Farms, to expand its hog operation south of Walnut. There are no complaints on record about the farm, and a public hearing on the company’s expansion plan is not mandatory in order for it to proceed. Regardless, the Board agreed to keep the application for expansion on file at the Planning Department, so that  accept any written comments may be accepted.

County Planning Director Kay Mocha said Lincoln Farms has asked the Iowa Department of Natural Resources for a construction permit to add a fourth building at the farm. The farm has about 3,300 head of swine and is looking to add 1,100. Mocha says it’s the first request for expansion of a livestock lot that the county has received since a master matrix program was enacted in 2002. The master matrix is a scoring system for concentrated animal feeding operations, with point allocations in three categories: water, air and community impacts.

The Iowa DNR will have the final say on whether the farm can expand.