Liborio Markets, the Hispanic grocery chain opening a store in Commerce City this summer, is exploring the possibility of including an on-site chicken- slaughtering facility.
Bruce Wilson, interim deputy director of the Tri-County Health Department, confirmed Tuesday that his agency has had discussions with Liborio about what type of regulations would be required for such an operation.
Tri-County staff members are reviewing the company’s request and expect to issue their recommendations within the next week or two. Those recommendations would likely address ventilation and sanitation issues.
Liborio could then decide whether to proceed with its request, Wilson said.
Commerce City spokeswoman Heather Rule said current store plans do not call for a chicken-slaughtering operation, nor will the store include such a facility when it opens.
The company could request to add it later, she said, but that would require a special exemption to city ordinances that prevent the killing or wounding of birds.
Officials from Liborio Markets and their Denver-based development partner, MCDS Inc., did not return messages Tuesday.
The Commerce City store – to be called Rancho Liborio – would be the seventh for Pasadena, Calif.-based Liborio Markets and the first in the state. The store will open in a renovated King Soopers at 6040 E. 64th Ave. this summer.
The company said it intends to open seven stores in the state within the next two years.
Liborio Markets pursued a similar request for its Las Vegas store in 2003 and faced opposition from neighbors. Supporters of a zoning change said fresh chicken is an essential part of cooking in some Hispanic cultures and that processed, frozen chicken is not a suitable substitute, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The Las Vegas City Council approved the company’s request.
Tri-County Health, the health department for Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties, plans to provide recommendations on transport and storage of the live chickens as well as ventilation and sanitation of the storage and slaughter areas. A big concern is the handling of waste and wastewater from the facility.
“We want to see that the chickens come from an approved source. Once they are transported to an approved site, we want to make sure they don’t cause a nuisance to the neighborhood,” Wilson said.
Staff writer Kristi Arellano can be reached at 303-820-1902 or karellano@denverpost.com.
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