Planning Board & the annoying neighbors UPDATE 5/26/2011 Happy Ending!

[AK Michelle]

Invite all the neighbors to a BBQ. Grill some burgers and dogs, walk with them and show them where the barn will be, where the compost will be, where the garden will be... Help them visualize the full circle, the animals will graze, keeping the weekds and grasses mowed down and neat looking, the barn will be cleaned into the compost, the word clean is a wonderful thing - use it often, the compost is the natural breakdown of organics, eliminateing any pollution and/or odor NATURALLY, and the garden will be rich in nutrients, because of the compost tilled in (thank you critters) yeilding plenty of large flavorful vegetables. The garden waste will be fed back to the animals completeing the chain.

They are like puppies, feed them, and they become your friends. Educate them and they are no longer willing to flail blindly behind miss busy body.

And, ask any that support your cause to show up at the next meeting and speak. I work in local government, I have sat in many public meetings. It's a daunting task, but generally only the complainers show up. I have seen open and shut cases turned over just because someone showed up and said a few words.

Good luck.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

THere is a really great letter in hte legal section that someone sent to his zoning board recently. If you need approval of your farming plan, take a look and pull out any points that are pertinent to your situation.

 

[Drk_Wlf]

Well here is the article they printed in the paper today!

http://pressrepublican.com/0100_news/x1181615213/Livestock-barn-variance-tabled

 

[greeneggsandham]

If there are no restrictions on the property how come they tabled it? I would go back to the town clerks off and get copies if you haven't already to show them for the next meeting.

 

[Drk_Wlf]

Quote:
We only found out after the meeting that there are no restrictions, and we didn't know prior that some lady was going to stand up during the meeting and say there was or we would of come prepaired. We have all the paperwork now and we are meeting with the town and their attorney tomorrow to go over all of it with them. Also in the article one lady mentions that they are re-zoning the land around the subdivision residential, this is untrue what the Town Planning Proposition says is that they would like to re-zone the area so the minimum lot size would be 2 acres and thats all there plan says about it, no mention of it being zoned so that only residential housing could go in.

 

[Drk_Wlf]

Here are some comments just left on the news paper's site about the article.
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greenacres2 34 minutes ago

Maybe the neighbors would like a section-8 housing complex on the 13 acres instead. Drugs and violence would be so much better than farm animals. Unbelieveable.

passnod 19 minutes ago in reply to greenacres2

Ah yes, resort to instilling fear of low income housing and the residents of such. The issue with these animals is that they are in close proximity to a residential neighborhood that has been in existence for over 50 years and has NOT allowed anything but domestic animals. Having a pig/chicken farm in the back yard will diminish quality of life here and will adversely affect property values. Ask the people who live near the poultry farm in Chazy. The people who want to have these animals here do not even LIVE here! If they had a home on the property, they would not have needed the variance to begin with. There is a legal process and they need to follow it.
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Why does everyone think I am starting some HUGE agri-business? sheesh All I want is a few animals and I plan on keeping them on pasture. From my experience with visiting other pasture based farms, they don't stink.

i.e. the farm in Chazy he is talking about is Giroux's Poultry with does stink to high hevens but they have like a million bird!

ps. greenacres2 who ever you are I LOVE YOU.

 

[annageckos]

The issue with these animals is that they are in close proximity to a residential neighborhood that has been in existence for over 50 years and has NOT allowed anything but domestic animals

Um, aren't pigs, chickens, sheep and all the other farm animals domestic?​

 

[Drk_Wlf]

Quote:
Um, aren't pigs, chickens, sheep and all the other farm animals domestic?

OMG

thats is GREAT I didn't even think about that!

 

[greeneggsandham]

Have you seen the other comments. The passnod person seems to be losing the fight. LOL

 

[justbugged]

Thank you for the update! I am so happy that things are going your way. There was a comment from the guy about how they couldn't sit outside because of the flies that I thought was ridiculous. The flies could come from so many other sources than just the few animals that you have. I don't understand how he can claim be so big on nature and still get worked up about some flies and bugs. It sounded like he was grasping at straws. A small farm is not the same as a chicken factory. I hope you are able to start building your barn soon.