Junction City Commissioner Mick McCallister has heard from local residents asking why not Junction City as a future home for a major Tyson chicken plant.

Tonganoxie and Leavenworth County have rejected the proposed location of the facility there.

McCallister has made it clear this week that local economic development personnel are looking at the possibility of trying to attract this plant, but there would be substantial challenges involved with locating it in Geary County.

McCallister stated the plant would process 1.2 million chickens per week, “have a two-million gallon requirement for water at the plant, have a million gallons of worth of wastewater at the plant.” He said that would require the City to provide five miles of sewer and water. “And the only place we have to go is either west or south. It starts becoming problematic as all these things add up. But we’re still looking, we’re still looking to see if this is a fit that we want to do here. Historically it would change the landscape of Junction City and Geary County forever, but we’ve got to make sure it’s going to fit.”

The plant would require 400 acres of land and would have to be located at least five miles from any residential area. The jobs would not be high paying with the range averaging $11.50 to $12.50 per hour.

No final decisions have been made on any attempt to try and recruit this facility for a Junction City and Geary County location. Accommodating the project would appear to be challenging.

The plant would be a $320 million dollar project and create an estimated 1,600 jobs.