A hotly debated, controversial proposal to build a new meatpacking plant in Newberry, Fla., was effectively killed this week by the Alachua County Board of Commissioners, who approved a motion to stop planning for the facility, according to local news reports.
The proposed, 10,000-square-foot meat-processing plant went through a months-long saga of debate and protests in city and county meetings, as well as having a $1.75 million funding initiative vetoed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis earlier this summer.
Alachua County residents were present at the meeting, and Newberry Mayor Jordan Marlowe had said that his city was ready to move forward on the proposal with the county’s support. The board voted 3-2 to approve the motion to kill the plan, with the chair of the county commission expressing her support for the facility (as one of the two voting against the motion to stop the plan).
