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Muncy Creek Township supervisors have released a 71-page written decision laying out reasons why they as a board of two granted conditional use to the Lancaster County-based applicant seeking a concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) of chickens to lay eggs and a solar energy facility on land along Clarkstown Road.
Last month, township Supervisors Eric Newcomer, chair, and Harley Fry II, gave their verbal order granting conditional use to the Bollinger Solar, LLC application for the solar and CAFO on 164.3 acres owned by Sunny Side Up Farms, LLC. The verbal decision was read for the record by J. Michael Wiley, board solicitor.
The property is primarily in the agriculture and conservation district with a smaller portion zoned for residential use, according to the township zoning map.
Notably, a condition for approval presented by the board was for the original five barns not to be permitted but instead three barns were allowed. Originally, five barns were to house 350,000 free-range chickens. The two barns closer to Fogelman Road were not approved.
Moreover, another notable condition was that neither any part of the solar energy project or CAFO can be on the residential zoned portion of the property, the report stated.
The applicant can't spread manure on the property or have a third-party spread it. All of the conditions are written out in the final 10 pages of the report.
This project was first presented to township officials on Jan. 29, 2025, when the applicant submitted two applications to the township, one sought approval for construction of a solar energy facility and the other sought approval for the construction of a CAFO, according to the report.
The report said at the time of the application the "solar facility is not a use provided for under the zoning ordinance" while the "CAFO is recognized in this district," so on April 2, 2025, the township planning commission recommended that the supervisors consider imposing conditions on the solar energy facility similar to those required for previously approved sites such as Fogelman Road and Lime Bluff Road, the report stated.
The commission recommended conditions for supervisors to impose on the CAFO.
At the first conditional use hearing, Supervisor Gary Phillips was excused from the matter, the report stated.
Supervisor Dan Whitmoyer, who resigned after the hearings commenced, was replaced by Fry, when he was appointed to fill Whitmoyer's unexpired term, according to the document.
Fry familiarized himself with the record in this case and reviewed the transcripts of the hearings that occurred prior to his appointment.
Overall, there were 18 township conditional use hearings, a process that is expected to move toward the land development plan phase.
The applicant has 30 days in which to appeal the written order and opinion to the Court of Common Pleas.