A family business is on the ropes following a city commission's denial of a special permit to allow a slaughterhouse next to the Sacramento SPCA, the poultry processor's owner told The Bee on Friday.

"This is ridiculous," Harry Cheung, owner of New American Poultry, a chicken processing plant now operating on Broadway near Fifth Street, said of the decision Thursday evening.

"We supply chickens for tens of thousands of people. What are we going to do?"

After hearing from Cheung and from animal advocates who oppose the project, the city planning commission voted 5-3 to approve it. But bylaws require six "yes" votes, so Cheung was unable to secure his special-use permit, said principal city planner Greg Bitter.

Cheung said he will appeal to the City Council.

If he is unable to find a suitable location for his business soon, he said, "we will have to shut down. We have 30 people who will be unemployed, and there will be no fresh chickens going to markets and restaurants."

Cheung lost his lease on the Broadway plant, which has quietly operated for a decade, he said. In anticipation of leaving, he bought property less than a block from the SPCA's complex on Florin-Perkins Road.

But his plan hit a roadblock when the SPCA objected, arguing that the location was inappropriately close to an agency that strives to save animals. Others expressed concern that volunteers and potential adopters of dogs and cats would avoid the SPCA because of its proximity to the slaughter facility.

"Having an organization that has a mission of saving animals next to a business that kills them is just not a good fit," said SPCA Executive Director Rick Johnson.

New American Poultry is a wholesale operation where live chickens are trucked, then slaughtered and distributed. As many as 5,000 birds per day would be processed at the new plant.

Cheung's business is one of few in California to be granted a "Chinese Buddhist religious exemption" by the USDA, allowing the heads and feet of slaughtered birds to remain intact, he said. USDA inspectors appear at the Broadway plant daily, he said, "watching our every move."

Johnson said he toured the plant recently, and found it clean and quiet. He said he has empathy for Cheung.

"His approach to the grim business that he is in is about as good as it gets," said Johnson. "But the fact remains that having a slaughterhouse next to the SPCA is not in the best interest of our organization."

Cheung said he "had no idea" that the SPCA was in the vicinity of the planned slaughterhouse when he bought the property. City planner Bitter recommended approval of the project prior to Thursday's meeting.

Cheung plans to rally community support for his business. "We're not killing pets," he said. "A chicken is not a pet. I don't want any enemies, but I am going to fight this as far as I can."

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