Commission recommends approval of grain feed mill CUP in El Centro with overnight hours and limited truck trips

The Imperial County Planning Commission voted to recommend approval of Conditional Use Permit (CUP) 23-0001, which would allow a grain feed mill to be constructed and operated at 2015 Silvia Road in El Centro.

County staff summarized the proposal: the applicant seeks permission to construct a roughly 5,730-square-foot feed mill on a 35.8-acre parcel (APN 062-080-015) in an A2 general agriculture zone. The proposed facility would include two grain silos, two holding tanks and two flaking mills with steam chests. Feed inputs would include corn trucked in from Calipatria and wheat produced on-site; finished feed would be transported to LVS Cattle Feeders at 495 West Heber Road in El Centro. Staff said the operation was expected to generate eight trucks entering and leaving the site per day (16 daily trips) and would operate from midnight to 6 a.m., Monday through Saturday.

Staff recommended adoption of a negative declaration (Environmental Evaluation Committee, 12/12/2024) and approval of the CUP subject to the conditions in the staff report. Applicant representative Patrick Bush, general manager for the ranch at Lavaya Sabia, told the commission he had read the project materials and agreed with the proposal.

No members of the public spoke in opposition during the hearing and a commissioner moved, with a second, to recommend approval as presented. The roll call vote showed commissioners present voting in favor; the commission clerk announced that anyone wishing to appeal the decision must file within 10 days.

Approval by the Board of Supervisors is the final decision point if an appeal is filed or if the commission’s recommendation is appealed upward; staff will execute the conditioned CUP upon receipt of required permits and any required submittals.