Port Arthur’s Economic Development Corporation took another step Monday to ensure no slaughterhouse would be built at either the corporation’s new or the existing business park by going along with a request made by City Attorney Val Tizeno.

Two weeks ago the EDC voted 5-2 to prohibit any type of slaughterhouse or meat processing plant from being built on the new acreage purchased off of FM 365 and Jade Avenue.

At the time about 75 to 80 people attended the EDC meeting to oppose selling a portion of the property to Riceland Farms, a Beaumont company that had proposed purchasing a portion of the new acreage for what company representatives described as a state-of-the-art meat processing facility to slaughter cows, sheep and goats.

After hearing numerous complaints from the citizenry, the EDC voted to include a restriction in the covenants drafted for the new acreage that would prohibit meat processing plant or slaughterhouse.

Last week Port Arthur City Council members were to have voted on whether to approve the new covenants and restrictions, but tabled the matter on Tizeno’s recommendation.

Tizeno had voiced concerns that as written the restrictions could be difficult to enforce.

She suggested that the restriction’s language be changed to be the same as the city’s zoning ordinance.

“What she prefers is you use the exact wording,” EDC attorney Guy Goodson said.

To do so, the word “slaughterhouse” should contain a hyphen and the words “meat packing plant” would be substituted for beef processing plant. The word ancillary would be deleted.

Making the minor changes would speed the process along with the least amount of discussion, Goodson said.

The City Council is expected to vote on whether to approve the EDC’s restrictions and covenants concerning the slaughterhouse at their next board meeting.

“Hopefully when it gets rezoned and replatted, we can start marketing it again,” Goodson said.

While the EDC board did vote to make the changes in wording, they stopped short of voting to respond to a Jan. 4, 2016 letter from Golden Triangle Engineers and telling the company they had no plans to sell Riceland Farms land at either the new or old business parks.

That motion failed by a vote of 4-2.

Numerous citizens attended the board meeting to thank the board for their action at the previous board meeting and to once again voice their concerns that the facility would create a foul odor, overload the city’s sewage infrastructure, and create an environment that would not attract future business, but rather repel it.

“You have to look past this plant at what kind (of businesses) we want to come to the business park in the future,” Keren Arledge, of Port Acres, said.

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