Denverites voted to preserve the city’s only working slaughterhouse, voting down Ordinance 309, which would have shuttered Superior Farms and blocked any future similar business from starting in the city.
When elections officials released their last tabulation of the day Wednesday at 5 p.m., about 65% of votes had been cast against Ordinance 309.
If approved, the measure would have forced employee-owned Superior Farms to shut down its Globeville packing plant by Jan. 1, 2026, and take with it 160 jobs.
The measure would have banned the construction, maintenance or use of any slaughterhouse facility in Denver. It also required the city to “prioritize residents whose employment is affected by the ordinance in workforce training or employment assistance programs.”
The ordinance, initiated by an advocacy group called Pro-Animal Future, was referred to voters by Denver’s City Council. The group also initiated Ordinance 308, asking voters to prohibit the manufacturing, sale, trade and display of select fur products. At 5 p.m. Wednesday, 58% of votes had been cast against 308.
Ordinance 309 could have removed 15% to 20% of the total lamb slaughter capacity in the United States and in the worst-case scenario, impacted more than 2,700 workers including ranchers, distributors, grocers and butchers, as well as restaurant owners and employees, according to a Colorado State University assessment of the implications of 309 on the local, state, national and global meat supply chain.
About 1,500 lambs are processed daily at Superior Farms’ north Denver packing plant. Colorado has one other large lamb-processing facility, in Brush, and 21 smaller ones around the state.
Superior Farms in Globeville supports the majority of sheep producers in Weld County, one the largest lamb-producing regions in the country, said Kevin Ross, county commissioner. Closing the Denver facility would have forced producers to send their lambs to slaughterhouses in other states, or stop producing, Ross said.
“I can’t tell you how relieved I am,” said Gustavo Fernandez, general manager of Superior Farms Denver, who has worked there for over 30 years. “I and the workers at this facility just want to do our jobs and provide for our families. Now we can get back to that without this huge weight on our shoulders.”