Resident after resident filed into the Lower Towamensing Township municipal building Tuesday evening for a Zoning Hearing Board meeting about a proposed meat processing facility. More chairs were pulled out to accommodate everyone, but the meeting ended soon after it started.

At issue is the use of the land, which is zoned rural conservation.

Troy Johnson owns 100 acres at 2016 Hahns Dairy Road. He wants to sell 10 acres on the west side of his property to Steward Herfurth Jr., the owner of Lehigh Valley Meat LLC, for a meat processing facility.

Currently, the facility is located in Plainfield Township on Sullivan Trail between Wind Gap and Stockertown. Herfurth said he wants to relocate his business closer to his home in Carbon County.

With an increase in the farm-to-fork movement, he has seen an increase in business and would like to expand. His present facility is 7,500 square feet and processes 10-12 cattle and 15 pigs per week from small farms. The meat is sold to local markets.

The new facility would eventually provide up to 12 good-paying jobs, he said.

The zoning ordinance requires that every property owner within 200 continuous feet of the site involved be notified via certified mail by the party seeking a zoning variance. Herfurth said he sent out the mailing to four property owners, but did not realize there are actually 15 others to notify.

Johnson spoke up on behalf of Herfurth and told the zoning hearing board that he thought only the property owners next to those 10 acres had to be notified, not everyone next to his entire property.

Holly Heintzelman, the solicitor for the zoning hearing board, said the requirement is meant to give notice to anyone who may have a concern an opportunity to speak before a project gets underway.

“We’re just trying to prevent you from spending a lot of money only to have it challenged,” she told Herfurth.

One man from the audience asked for clarification about the location of the facility. He had heard it would be on the east side, not the west.

“That was a technical error in the public notice,” zoning officer Duane Dellecker said.

Heintzelman told Herfurth that asking for a continuance would not add any additional fees, but the new hearing must be held within 60 days.

She also addressed the audience and said that although the board would not take any questions about the facility at this meeting, they could answer questions about the process leading up to the next meeting. No questions were asked. Herfurth requested a continuance, and it was granted.