Livestock Ordinance Information Session Draws Crowd

Over 20 people came to City Hall on Friday afternoon at 3PM, to ask questions about the new livestock ordinance submitted by the Board of Health and recently enacted by the Common Council. They included sheep and cattle farmers, backyard hen enthusiasts, and others who support agriculture in the City.

Health Director Dr. Joseph Havlicek opened the proceedings by reading from a statement that was prepared for him. Public Health Educator Louis Carta read questions which had been submitted by audience members on index cards. Most of the questions were about how the enforcement of the new ordinance would impact existing farms.

Chief Sanitarian Sal Nesci explained that the Health Department would only enforce the livestock ordinance when there was a complaint, "We don't proactively go out to look for these issues."

He reassured anxious farmers that existing farms are exempt from the new ordinance, which begins by citing the Federal Right to Farm Act, and stating that "existing and future registered farms ... are exempt from this section." Sydney Mintz of the Middlesex Farm Bureau stated that the farmers appreciated the effort to exempt farms from the regulation but she said there were problems with the language in the ordinance. She pointed out that while Connecticut has a Right to Farm Act, there is no Federal equivalent. Nesci also admitted that while there were many different tax and business designations for farms, "You could have a recognized farm and not be registered at all."

When asked about the definition of a farm, Nesci said that anybody who kept livestock would be considered a farm, as long as it was done in a manner "consistent with best management practices," and as long as there was no danger to public health.

Nesci and Havlicek both pledged to work with farmers to improve the language of the ordinance, and they invited residents to attend the monthly meetings of the Board of Health, on the second Tuesday of each month.

Livestock Ordinance Raises Hackles at Planning and Zoning

A recently passed ordinance on keeping livestock was discussed briefly at last night's Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. I have closely followed this ordinance, because my family raises much of our food (including meat) on a small farm in Westfield.

I have strong opinions about this ordinance. Thus, before my report on P&Z and the ordinance, I feel I owe faithful readers a disclosure of my own perspective. I include links to many of the documents related to this issue, for you to draw your own conclusions.

BACKGROUND AND OPINION
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The Crafting Of An Ordinance
The Common Council on March 7 approved an amendment to the ordinance regulating the keeping of livestock in our city. This ordinance, which is now the law of the City, took nearly 5 years to be enacted.

Board of Ed to get public input

The Board of Education has scheduled a special meeting for next Tuesday, at which there will be two public comment sessions.

The first public comment session will focus on leveling, which is a proposal to eliminate advanced math classes from the 6th grade next year (Eye piece).  Last week's BoE meeting drew impassioned opposition to this leveling, from teachers and parents concerned about both the advanced students and those needing more time to understand basic math.  

The second public comment session will focus on the recommendations by JCJ Architecture, who have been hired to do a district wide utilization study.  JCJ promised to make recommendations this Spring, which would solve Moody School's overcrowding this coming year.  These recommendations are to be followed in the fall by recommendations for districtwide school buildings use.  The JCJ recommendations will precede a second public comment session.  

Here is the agenda for the meeting on Tuesday, May 26, in the Middletown High School auditorium, from the BoE web site:

6:00 Leveling

7:00 Public Comment

7:30 JCJ Architecture Recommendations

8:30 Public Comment

9:00 Adjournment

The Hartford Courant reports that the JCJ recommendations presented on Tuesday will deal only with Moody Elementary School overcrowding.  The chair of the Board of Education, Ted Raczka, has not responded to my Thursday early morning request for more information to share about leveling  or the JCJ study.  

Health Department Tests Show No Contamination At Kolman Farms

In January the Middletown Common Council instructed the Health Department to conduct water tests near water sources on and near the Kolman Farms on Higby Road. Salvatore Nesci, of the Health Department reported to the Board of Health that according to tests his department conducted and there is no contamination of water sources by the composting operation on the farm.

In other business the Board of Health voted to deny an exemption which would allow a Wall Street resident, Patty Stickney, from keeping a horse on her property at 32 Wall Street on a lot which measures .27 acres. Town ordinances prohibit keeping horses, chickens or other livestock within 200 feet of any dwelling.

Despite her pleas that she wanted to bring her horse Jazz "home" from a boarding stable in Cromwell, the board agreed that granting the exception would set a worrisome precedent.

The Board also refused to lift a legal citation against Homer Scoville, owner of 835 Washington Street (site of a proposed PriceChopper), after the property was cleaned up but not sealed against illegal occupation by homeless squatters.

In the Director's report, Dr. Joseph Havlicek indicated that the department had prepared four prospective budget projections under orders by the mayor. At "level service," the budget projected a shortfall of $18,000. Havlicek cited the projected state budget as largely responsible for the shortfall, indicating that the Governor offered incentivized funding levels based on the willingness of municipalities to develop a regional approach to services. Havilek and Nesci both argued that Middletown should reject and overtures toward regionalization because the city would lose its autonomy, and would have to give up the more than $100,000 in revenue it realizes each year.

Board member and Common Council member David Bauer suggested that rejecting the idea of regionalism, without a thorough study of its effect on cost and revenue, was not a reasonable approach.

Nesci, indicating the case of Patty Stickney, argued that autonomy would not allow residents like Stickney to address their concerns to a local board. In the case of Stickney, she was allowed nearly 50 minutes to make her case to the Board of Health.