Whether two Lancaster County-based companies that want to bring a hybrid form of agriculture and energy businesses in Muncy Creek Township receive conditional use will be determined soon.

Township Supervisors Eric Newcomer, chair, and Harley Fry II are expected to give their verbal decision on the conditional use applications for the hybrid chicken and egg laying operation and solar energy facility at a public meeting that begins at 5 p.m. June 25 at the township building on Route 442.

The proposed projects consist of a concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) with 350,000 free-range chickens living in five barns, each barn about 88 feet wide by 616 feet long, each barn housing 70,000 birds. The project would be operated by AgVentures Inc. A second conditional use application is for Bollinger Solar LLC., which wants to build a 32 megawatt solar energy array with 52,000 panels and subsequent equipment on the land owned by Sunny Side Up Farms, which is zoned for agriculture-conservation and residential use. The number of barns and megawattage has differed from the original application.

Supervisors have a bit longer, or by July 11, to render a written report, according to J. Michael Wiley, board solicitor.

At the time Bollinger applied to the township the township did not regulate solar so it was a “use not provided for” and required a hearing.

The board intends to make a decision to either grant, deny, or grant with conditions these projects. Each of the projects is a separate condition, Wiley previously told the Sun-Gazette.

Supervisor Gary Phillips is recused due to statements he made on social media perceived to be biased against the project. Phillips told the Sun-Gazette after one of the hearings that he had three lawyers recommend that he step aside from anything to do with this proposal. He remains an active supervisor able to vote on any other type of business before the board.

Muncy School Board voted on a resolution opposing the proposed CAFO and associated solar array in a vote of 7-1 last summer. Not more than a mile from the proposed site is the Ward L. Myers Elementary School where 450 students attend.

“We have recess, we have a lot of outdoor activities, and the high school plays a lot of their sporting events over there,” Muncy School District Superintendent Craig Skaluba told WBRE-WYOU.

Lately, too, a farmer on the same ground has been riding a tractor and pulling a machine to spread chicken manure on the fields, said neighbor Karla Shipman.

The spreading of the manure is unrelated to anything that has gone before the supervisors at this time regarding the proposed projects.

However, the prevalent odor, especially in the June heat, has become a nuisance and can be detected if one drives by the field or for those living near it.

Shipman described the odor of the spread manure in the field as “atrocious.”

The pungency, she believes, is from it clinging to the plant life.

Weed growth on the property has reached 3 feet high or greater.

The manure sticks on the weeds and tall grass, rather than the farmer chopping them low and then tilling the ground, she said.

The manure piles have been there since early spring. More tractor trailer loads have since dropped off more manure, she said.

She said she believes the farmer may be in a lease agreement with the landowner.

Wanting to find out more, Shipman said last month she reached out to the Lycoming County Conservation District, where she spoke with an individual there who was going to see whether the owner of the manure had a manure management plan.

The Shipmans have been at the hearings from the start as members of Muncy Area Neighborhood Preservation Coalition.

The coalition of neighbors and others hired Zachary DuGan, an attorney with Perciballi & Williams, who has provided legal counsel and asked direct and cross examination questions of the applicants, their witnesses and those opposing the project during the conditional use hearings.

“I am not against farming,” Shipman said. “We moved here almost 40 years ago and the field was filled with cows.”

Knowing that Sunny Side Up Farms owns the parcel and is permitting the farmer to spread the manure – even as it awaits a decision from the supervisors – has upset the couple.

“It’s a kick in the teeth,” Shipman said.