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Date: 10/26/2023
EAST LONGMEADOW — Residents who raise chickens came out in force to the Oct. 17 East Longmeadow Planning Board meeting to oppose a draft zoning amendment that would impose restrictions on the number and sex of chickens allowed within the town.
Building Commissioner and Zone Enforcement Officer David Gardner explained that in the year he has been with town, he has received several calls from residents asking about the regulations around owning chickens and complaining about the existing chickens in residential neighborhoods. After looking into the issue, he found there are no bylaws specifying the rules of chicken husbandry. He brought the issue to the Planning Board with a recommended bylaw update.
Planning Board Chair Russell Denver and Planning and Community Development Director Bailey Mitchell both emphasized that the hearing was the first step in a process and that the bylaw amendment was a draft only. If it passes the Planning Board, the amendment must also be approved by the Town Council.
The amendment would allow a flock of up to 12 hens to be kept by right on any residential property of 10,000 square feet. Properties of less than 10,000 square feet would have to request a site plan waiver from the Planning Department. Roosters would be prohibited, as they are “very unpopular” and often the subject of complaints. Coops would need to be 25 feet from side and rear lot lines and 25 feet from human dwellings.
Denver asked if people with existing flocks would be “grandfathered in” and not be subject to the bylaw amendment. Gardner was unsure of the legality of that but said they may be.
More than one resident asked how many complaints there had been. Gardner estimated that he heard from six or seven people, but he noted that others may not want to make an official complaint because they do not want to upset neighbors.
Denver later defended Gardner’s comment, saying it is not uncommon for people to complain to him about issues, rather than make a formal complaint because “they don’t want to piss off their neighbors.”
One resident said that if there are “not that many” complaints, “I can’t see uprooting an entire town and making people upset and angry.” She talked about the benefits of having a rooster to protect the flock and suggested “educating” neighbors, instead.
Stefani Pysz said there are many properties that are less than 10,000 square feet that have chickens. She said people cannot have a self-sufficient flock without a rooster to repopulate it. She also noted the proposed bylaw amendment refers to chickens kept as pets. “No one regulates how many dogs people have, or cats people have,” Bich said.
Mitchell commented that dogs are regulated by the town through annual licenses. “That’s a fact,” he said.
Heather Lieber said she breeds goats, sheep, rabbits and ducks, in addition to chickens and that she needs roosters to make more chickens. “It would definitely be restricting what I feel is my right to practice agriculture,” she declared.
Jennifer Conroy said that she bought her property in East Longmeadow because it has a chicken coop on it. She opined that most people who oppose chickens have “bad memories” of farm animals “from childhood.” She called the amendment a “solution looking for a problem.” She added that she would be putting in a public records request to find out the “actual” number of complaints.
Dawn Fonte, who lives on seven acres of land, said she has enough space for more than 12 hens. She also argued that roosters may make noise, but so do dogs.
Ralph Page is the Town Council president but spoke as a citizen when he suggested the 10,000-square-foot threshold be removed from the amendment as that is already the minimum lot requirement for residential zone C with the smallest properties. While he acknowledged that some non-conforming lots may be smaller, he said the site plan waiver process is an expensive for residents who want “a couple dozen eggs.” Mitchell noted that the fee for a site plan review waiver is $25 and is a less stringent process than a site plan review.
Page also said he was in favor of roosters and asked that the number of hens allowed be contingent on the size of the property.
Richard Ewing said that, like Conroy, he had bought land in East Longmeadow so he could raise livestock and said his family had done so for generations. He called the regulations “an atrocity” that is “undermining the American way.” He then warned that he would move out of town, before looking at Gardner and telling him, “Don’t blink at me.” Gardner left the room.
Denver said Gardner brought this amendment to the Planning Board because he felt it needed clarification. “He’s doing his job. He’s not un-American. He’s not a communist,” Denver told the crowd. Ewing yelled back at Denver before being asked to being asked to stop by the chair.
John Cooper commented that the rooster ban prevents children from participating in chick raising through 4-H, a youth-development organization. Like Page, he agreed that the size of a flock should be tied to the size of the property.
Erin Pratt-Violette pointed out that her property is more than 10,000 square feet, but her house is set back on the lot and there is nowhere to put a coop that is both 25 feet from the lot lines and the house.
She also noted that confining a flock to 12 hens is difficult because there are minimums to purchase, so when replenishing a flock, people must buy between four and six chicks, but sometimes as many as 20.
Another resident said her family is large and eats 24 eggs at breakfast each morning and 12 hens would not be able to feed her family, she said.
The issue was continued until Jan. 2 at 6 p.m. so that more information could be gathered.
Self-storage facility
The Planning Board approved the site plan for an indoor self-storage facility at 275 Benton Dr. Before the start of the public hearing on the matter, Planning Board member Robert Tirrell declared that he is the owner of a storage facility, although it is not local to the area, and he did not believe it to be a conflict of interest.
The applicant and principal owner of the property, CJ Bardy, was represented by Benjamin Coyle of the Law Firm of Bacon-Wilson. Coyle said Bardy owned several other facilities in the region.
The property is located in the Industrial Garden Park zone of town and is 2.55 acres of undeveloped land, 1.9 acres of which would be disturbed by construction. The three-story building would contain 500 climate-controlled units and with 60,750 square feet of floor space.
The site would use two access driveways and have 10 parking spaces with one of them reserved for accessible vehicles. Coyle said the applicant was seeking a waiver of the parking requirement, arguing that the purpose of the building meant that the entire square footage would not be used by people at the same time. Coyle said the applicant expects between zero and two people to use the facility per hour. He said traffic studies on similar facilities show there are about seven car trips per day per 500 units, or 35 total between the facility’s operating hours of 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
The facility would require one or two part-time employees because it is automated, with key card access and is fenced with sliding security gates. There are also security cameras in the plans for the site. Dark Sky-approved “wall pack” lighting will be installed on the exterior of the building.
The Conservation Commission approved the project on the condition that there is no disturbance of land within 10 feet of the abutting wetlands and that they approve which trees will be removed.
The project designer, Glen Martin of Design Professionals, said shade trees will be planted along Benton Drive and arborvitaes along the fencing. There will be native plantings, including pollinator plants along the stormwater basin at the rear of the site.
Denver asked how much space there was between the property and homes. Coyle said he was “not aware of any residential properties in the immediate vicinity.”
Tirrell said there were already storage facilities in the area with open units and asked how long the business could sustain low use. Brady countered that there were no other climate-controlled facilities in East Longmeadow, although Tirell disputed that claim. Brady also said the businesses in the area are “over 90% occupied, all of them.”
Continuing his line of questioning, Tirrell asked if a feasibility study had been done, which Brady confirmed. He said the net rentable square footage in a three-mile radius is 135,000 square feet. In the same area, there are 2.65 square feet of storage space available per capita.
Tirrell said climate-controlled units are a niche market that comes at a higher cost to customers. He asked, “If this doesn’t rent up for three of four years to get to your sweet spot of 60% to 70%, is that sustainable?”
Brady acknowledged, “If it doesn’t rent up, yeah we got a problem on our hands in three to five years,” but he said he does not think it will be hard to rent out because what he will offer is “substantially different” than other facilities in the area. He said he expected 50% of units to be rented in 18 months.
Denver asked if tractor trailers would be using the facility. Brady said that while it was possible, it only happened at his other facilities a couple times per year.
A resident asked how the facility would “help the town.” Brady said that the lot is currently “a piece of dirt” and that the development would add to the town’s tax revenue.
Denver commented that fewer than two employees would not add much to the town, but the facility is an allowed use in the zone. The approval was unanimous.