With new residents moving to Walker County, officials are trying to determine which types of property to prioritize: agricultural, commercial or residential.
“We have a lot of new things that want to come into the county,” Walker County Planning Commission Chairman Phillip Cantrell said at the top of the commission’s work session Jan. 9. “More and more people are coming to our county.”
The board met to discuss new regulations for where poultry houses can be placed on properties zoned either agricultural or residential. It was their first official discussion on the matter.
Commissioners said they want to establish setbacks to limit visibility of the structures from the road so as not to detract from the mostly rural county’s residential opportunities, while finding a happy compromise with chicken owners.
The Census of Agriculture in 2017 reported 624 farms in Walker County, making up 90,761 acres of land. Poultry and egg products made about $140.6 million in sales that year.