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Marshall Council to decide on permit for dog treat business

Photo by Deb Gau Steve Trachtenberg, owner of the Chasing Our Tails pet treat company, answered questions for Marshall residents and the city planning commission on Thursday night.

MARSHALL — The Marshall Planning Commission meeting Thursday was standing-room only. More than 50 people crowded into the council chambers at the city hall building for a public hearing on a permit that would allow a pet treat business to operate in the former County Fair supermarket.

The proposal divided both local residents and members of the Planning Commission, with commission members ultimately voting 4-2 to recommend a conditional use permit for the Chasing Our Tails pet treat company. The Marshall City Council will need to decide whether or not to grant the permit at its April 9 meeting.

Thursday’s hearing lasted over an hour, with Chasing Our Tails owner Steve Trachtenberg answering questions about his business, and Marshall residents raising concerns about everything from potential odor caused by dog treat production to increased traffic from shipping trucks.

Trachtenberg said residents’ objections were coming from a misunderstanding of what kind of business Chasing Our Tails was.

“You’re comparing us to a kibble manufacturer, and we’re not,” Trachtenberg said. The Marshall facility would be used for smoking and dehydrating ingredients for pet treats, as well as slicing meat, and packaging and shipping treats, he said.

County Fair closed in 2014. The supermarket building, located on Country Club Drive, has sat empty since then. Chasing Our Tails, a family-owned pet treat company relocating from Hudson, New Hampshire, to southwest Minnesota, is interested in purchasing the building. However, the property is zoned as a general business district, and processing and packaging dog treats is not specifically permitted there.

The current owners of the County Fair property, Carr Family LTD Partnership, are seeking a CUP for the pet treat business. The permit would allow a business similar to a wholesale business, provided certain conditions were met, said assistant planning and zoning administrator Ilya Gutman. The proposed CUP had a list of seven conditions, including that no offensive odors are detectable beyond property lines, and that the property does not create negative impacts to adjacent properties.

“These (conditions) can be added to, or subtracted from,” planning commission member Donald Eblom said.

Trachtenberg said Chasing Our Tails makes single-ingredient pet treats.

“Everything we make starts with stuff you eat every day,” like chicken and turkey, Trachtenberg said. The company’s products are carried in 5,500 stores, including Whole Foods, he said. Chasing Our Tails would bring around 25 to 30 full time jobs to Marshall.

Chasing Our Tails is in the process of moving its operations to southwest Minnesota. The company has taken over a processing facility in Sanborn, and bought the Lucan meat locker, Trachtenberg said. Chasing Our Tails had planned to remodel a building in Tracy to produce dog treats, but the building had a partial roof collapse this winter.

Trachtenberg said he is looking at the Marshall building because he’s trying to complete the company’s move by the end of May.

Several Marshall residents said they were concerned about the possibility of odors and air quality problems caused by production at the facility.

Trachtenberg said there haven’t been any odor issues with the Chasing Our Tails production facility in New Hampshire. Smoked ingredients are smoked at a low temperature in a closed chamber, and dehydrated ingredients are dehydrated in ovens at a low temperature, he said. Trachtenberg said the business also produces little grease, and conserves water by using recirculating dishwashers for cleaning.

“High-volume water is not used in what we do,” he said.

Other residents said they were concerned about possible truck traffic in the neighborhood. The County Fair building is not far from the Marshall golf course, West Side Elementary, Legion Field and the Marshall Aquatic Center.

“I really am concerned about the school right there,” said Nicole Schuler.

Several residents said they weren’t opposed to Chasing Our Tails coming to Marshall, but said the business should be located in the city’s industrial park, and not on Country Club Drive.

“I think everyone in this room is for economic growth,” said Patrick Louwagie. “My main concern is really the location of the facility.”

“I welcome Steve’s business here in town, but not in my neighborhood,” Randy Fox said.

Judy St. Aubin said she understood there would be no slaughter at the Marshall facility, but that didn’t necessarily mean a production facility would be as clean as Trachtenberg was describing.

Not all the comments were negative, however.

“I think this has a lot of merit,” said Larry Doom. Plus, if the conditions the city puts on Chasing Our Tails are violated, the city can revoke the permit, he said.

Some residents said manufacturing had been allowed in the exact same spot as the County Fair building in the past. The Schwan’s ice cream plant was temporarily located there after a fire.

Members of the Planning Commission were divided on whether they thought the CUP was appropriate for Chasing Our tails. Their vote to recommend the permit to the city council passed 4-2.