City officials say developer says he will not pursue a controversial 12,600-cow feedlot outside city's boundaries

The original project proposed an 826-acre cattle feedlot and slaughterhouse south of Highway 198 and west of Highway 41, which prompted city and county officials to send strongly worded messages to the Kings County Community Development Agency expressing their grave concerns about the proposed project’s potentially “very negative impact” on the livelihoods of city residents and the operations and investments of the city’s businesses.

However, Vidovich told Olson, who was present at Tuesday night’s special council meeting where the council discussed the controversial project, that his organization would not proceed with a large-scale feedlot.

“He (Vidovich) said they’re not going to put a feedlot there. It’s not the right location for it,” said Olson.

Instead of the original 826-acre cattle feedlot and slaughterhouse south of Highway 198 and west of Highway 41, Olson said Vidovich would pursue a beef processing facility, but not the feedlot.

Olson told The Leader that there would be some cows, perhaps 125 on the site, and a 1,800 square foot retail counter where meat could be sold. However, there won’t be any rendering at the site. Instead, a location in Hanford will accept the beef.

Council members did not take any action at Tuesday’s special meeting and focused solely on the proposed feedlot and slaughterhouse. “Our (original) letter of opposition is still there against the project as it stands,” said Lemoore’s city manager.

When the project was first proposed, Lemoore officials sent a letter to the Kings County Community Planning Commission, stating the size of the 215-acre feedlot would be about one-third the size of the existing Harris Ranch feedlot located at the interchange of Interstate 5 and State Route 145. That facility was far from any urbanized area.

Olson said a proposed “beef processing facility” minus the adjacent feedlot could be a plus for Lemoore.

“I really don’t see any downside to the beef harvesting plant, and if we could ever get that, it would be a great one to annex,” said Olson. He told The Leader that the proposed facility could generate two to three million in retail every month.

“That would be $24 million in retail sales,” Nathan says the facility might net the city $300,000 to $500,000 per year. “If we could get it into the city, that’s good money.”

However, because the project’s boundaries are outside the city’s limits, the proposed project remains the priority of Kings County officials.

Read The Leader's original story regarding this subject