Last summer Mark Slack tried to build an early weaning operation southwest of the village of Tamworth in Stone Mills Township. The region is roughly 40 kilometres northwest of Kingston. The township originally granted Slack a building permit. But, amid considerable protest from area residents, they later revoked it, blaming the unusual action on problems surrounding the septic permit.

Within months Slack, 35, was trying again; this time in nearby Tyendinaga Township in Prince Edward County. Bob Stone, an engineer in OMAFRA’s Brighton office, says Slack didn’t reach the building permit stage on his second attempt.

Now Slack is back to try again. His family owns a 287-acre parcel of land around Erinsville, a tiny hamlet in Stone Mills Township that hugs the shores of Beaver Lake.

In fact, the Slack property is surrounded by water, and that, in large part, is what local residents are worried about. "I don’t want to send farmers to the moon but they also shouldn’t be smack dab in the middle of this many waterways," says Virginia Storring, member of a newly-formed group called Concerned Citizens for a Community Environment, or CCCE.

"This is where I’m going to spend the rest of my life," said Storring, during a recent tour of the area where Slack plans to build. "There are all my neighbours around me that have farms - they don’t want it (the hog farm) either."

Slack’s planned operation, a 1420-sow farm, would be within seconds of several bodies of water, including White Lake, Goose Lake, Inglesby Lake and Dry Lake. Miles of marshland are plainly visible from the roadway. Everything is connected to "the same watershed," says Storring, pointing out that lakes in the area ultimately empty into the Bay of Quinte.

"Nobody is against farming here, but yes, we are against factory farms. The quality of the ground water, the watershed itself, contaminating people’s wells ... a lot of farmers are opposed to it, they’re worried about their water and their wells," says Storring.

Slack himself is making a concerted effort to ignore local opposition. "We fundamentally felt welcome and that’s why we felt this was worth pursuing," he said, during a recent telephone interview with The AgriNews. "The people that are hostile have either not approached us or they don’t have the courage to approach us."

But if his guarded nature is any indication, Slack is very aware that some hostility exists in Stone Mills. He won’t say where he and his wife and their three children are living right now, allowing only that it’s in southern or southwestern Ontario.

Slack maintains that what he’s proposing to run is a family-run operation and not a factory or intensive farm. He says 1420 sows translates into 284 animal units which is "not that big by industry standards.

"When they see it up in operation it’s going to be a tidy, neat little barn with my wife and I walking to the barn every day to do chores," Slack said last year months before his building permit was pulled.

At this stage Slack is saying little about how he plans to proceed. As of early March he claimed not to have made any decisions about contractual arrangements with a pork company. "We’ve narrowed it down to two companies that we would accept a contract from," he said, when asked whether he would be working with Premium Pork. Slack says that whatever company he ultimately signs with, the company won’t be bankrolling him. Calling the hog industry "capital intensive," Slack, nonetheless, insists "we’re going it alone."

Slack is again, sufficiently vague, when questioned about the huge amounts of water in the form of lakes and swamps surrounding his family’s property. "This is when a little bit of information is dangerous," he says, suggesting that out of the 287 acres his family owns, there’s only a small portion "that is wet."

Patricia Long wonders what could possibly be driving Slack to settle in an area where, she contends, he’s not wanted. "He saw the outcry before," says Long, referring to Slack’s efforts last year. A member of the Beaver Lake Preservation Association, Long asks a question echoed by others in the small community, "Why would he want to do it again?"

Long worries that given the proximity to Beaver Lake the operation would pose a real danger. "This piece of property drains into Beaver Lake," says Long. "If he ever had a spill it would be disastrous."

Slack’s plans also include utilizing property his family owns in Tyendinaga Township, further west in Prince Edward County. Storring has been in touch with members of the native reserve in Tyendinaga in efforts to involve them in what she says is a strong and growing movement against the hog farm.

Storring’s brother Robert, a real estate broker in the village of Tamworth, says Slack’s proposal for the operation involves spreading manure on two properties in Tyendinaga Township. "How is he going to transport manure from here to there," Storring wants to know. "It’s 20 miles. He can’t do it in a tank on the back of a truck - that’s an environmental concern."

Robert Storring raises another local concern. A group in Erinsville is attempting to build an Irish replica village. The idea behind the planned tourist attraction is to celebrate the village’s history as an original Irish settlement. "The pig operation," says Storring, "is directly behind it ... it will absolutely destroy it."

Slack disagrees. He says the replica village is located "a kilometre" from the planned farm site, far enough away that "they won’t see us, they won’t bother us and we won’t bother them."

Slack says he understands the concerns people have with the odour given off by pig manure. He says he plans to use a product from Mexico which "significantly reduces the odour." He points out that the product costs "$28,000 a ton." It’s an expense "we don’t have to bear but we will."

An answer on whether Stone Mills Township will give Slack a building permit is expected at any time. Reg Unger, the township’s chief building official, wouldn’t speculate on what may happen, when asked just ahead of The AgriNews’ March deadline. When asked whether Slack has a Nutrient Management Plan in place, Unger wouldn’t answer yes or no. "In order to submit an application for a building permit ... a Nutrient Management Plan has to be completed.

"It (the plan) requires third party peer review," Unger said, "And that must be done to the satisfaction of Stone Mills Township bylaws. (Township officials) have to be satisfied that everything ... has been completed to the bylaw standards.

"There’s a formal process to go through for a building permit," said Unger. "I’m not in the position presently to issue a building permit."

A long list of items in the Nutrient Management Plan, including a hydro-geological study, minimum distance requirements and site plans, must be done to the specifications of the township’s bylaw standards, Unger explained.