MOULTRIE, Ga. — Colquitt County Commission said yes on Tuesday to the addition of a litter storage unit for a local poultry grower but nixed a request to build additional chicken houses.

Both of the applications at the 1272 Bay Rockyford Road location came from Darrell and Thomas Griffin for Bridge Creek Farm. They were seeking to have commissioners grant zoning variances to allow those two projects to go forward at their operation, which contracts with Keystone Foods Equity Group processing facility in Camilla.

Specifically, county zoning prohibits a litter storage facility, known as a stack house, from being closer than 1,500 feet from adjacent property owner. The Griffins’ request would put the stack house 327 feet from the closest neighboring property to the south and 598 on the north side.

The Moultrie-Colquitt County Planning Commission recommended approval of the variance request by a 6-1 vote.

None of the nearby property owners had any problem with the stack house, which would potentially prevent the dumping of chicken litter on soil without covering until it is removed. The stack house will be covered and protect the litter from precipitation and should cut down on the smell of stored litter after it is removed from the houses.

However, when it came to the addition of two more poultry houses on the 40-acre site where six houses already are located, neighbors were not so accommodating. They cited more traffic — and more smell — as 25 percent more chickens means more trucks coming in to bring in baby chicks and feed and to haul the mature birds out to the processor.

The Griffins had requested that the commission grant a variance reducing the required distance of 500 feet to adjacent property owner’s lines. If built, the new houses would have been 125 feet from the adjacent property to the south and 421 feet on the north.

“We are concerned about more houses being built, just for the environment around the area,” Wendell Brown, who lives in the 1000 block of Bay Rockyford Road, said during a comment period during a public hearing on the issue. “We’re concerned about the buildup of litter from more poultry houses. For the good of the community, due to the traffic, I think we have the maximum number of houses on that property that we really need.”

Brown and several other nearby property owners also noted the smell associated with the chicken houses and how it affects their property values. While voicing approval of the stack house, another resident of the area said it is not a cure-all for odors.

Adding to the operation increases the number of dead birds that must be disposed of at the site, and he predicted the “unpleasant” conditions would only worsen.

Poultry is big business. Colquitt County is ranked number 12 in Georgia in broiler production, with payments to farmers of $17.59 million on 419 houses in 2014, according to the University of Georgia.

The county was number 7 that year in breeder pullet production, with a total value of $5.66 million on 18 houses. It ranked 12th in hatching laying hens at $11.61 million on 28 houses.

Siting new grower houses in the area has been met in recent years by stiff opposition from those who would live near them, with those opposed listing concerns about odor and potential negative impacts on streams from storm runoff of litter along with the nutrients and chemicals it contains.

County commissioners unanimously turned down Bridge Creek Farm’s request for more houses. The city-county planning commission also had unanimously recommended not granting that variance.

In other zoning issues addressed Tuesday, commissioners:

• Approved a request for a variance granting increased square footage of signs by Teramore Development, which is developing the Publix shopping center at the intersection of Veterans Parkway North and Highway 37 East.

• Granted special-use permits for applicant Value Concepts Inc. allowing construction of 400-foot commercial cell phone towers at Highway 133 North and Ticknor Road near Doerun, and at 133 South and Wesley Chapel Road near Berlin.