(AP) - Local officials have approved plans to turn a former pickle plant in Millsboro into a chicken processing facility.

The News Journal reports the Sussex County Board of Adjustment on Monday approved an application from Allen Harim Foods LLC to use the nearly 460,000-square-foot facility as its new Delmarva headquarters.

The company will also debone some chicken products there but board members said no chicken slaughtering will take place.

The newspaper reports the facility will create 165 new jobs.

The approval came over the objection of about a dozen demonstrators who protested the facility over environmental concerns.