11/15/2011

Councilors see proposed rooster regulations as 'more agressive' than intended, defer to future workshop

Roosters are again on the fence.

The Town Council on Nov. 14, 2011 tabled a draft amendment to the miscellaneous offenses ordinance that would have included roosters and chickens among animals regulated by the animal control section of the ordinance.

Even before a public hearing began Nov. 14, ordinance subcommittee Chairman Jim Walsh said he intended to recommend the draft be deferred to a workshop of the full council, yet to be scheduled.

"The ordinance committee took several meetings to discuss how to deal with the roosters here in town," Walsh said. He said the draft represented the group's best effort, "unfortunately it approaches this in a more aggressive way than I think the ordinance committee intended," Walsh said.

None of the 10 people who spoke favored the draft, which would have made it an offense to allow an animal to make noises loud enough to disturb neighboring property owners.

"This is not a need, there is not a need for a Town ordinance," said Two Lights Road resident Kelly Gordon. "Farm animals make noise - it's a part of 'rural character'," she said.

The council has been looking at rooster regulations since the summer of 2010, when two written complaints about roosters came from residents in residential areas. The Planning Board held workshops and public hearings, and ultimately recommended roosters be regulated through a nuisance ordinance rather than through zoning.

Speakers at the council's Nov. 14 hearing, however, believed the nuisance regulation proposed also threatened farming in Cape Elizabeth.

"I believe as it is written that the ordinance runs afoul of the state's right-to-farm law," said Beth Angle of Young Lane. "The way this is written, it appears that if a neighbor complains about a farm animal on a working farm, then a farmer can be fined," she said.

Penny Jordan, part owner of Jordan's Farm and chair of the Cape Farm Alliance, also said the proposal could affect an individual's ability to grow and produce food. "As a farm I'm protected by the right to farm law. But as a non-commercial producer I'm not protected by anything except the wisdom of the people who help to create the ordinances in our town," Jordan said. She said she would like to see Cape Elizabeth continue setting "the pace" statewide as a food-production-friendly town, as well as a farm-friendly town.

Angle, who said she raises chickens, suggested that owners of roosters on properties smaller than 100,000 square feet be required to keep them in a barn during the dark night-time hours. Roosters will not crow in the dark, she said.

Councilors unanimously agreed to defer rooster regulations to a future workshop, but were still grateful for the input. "This has been great. This is how it's supposed to work," said Anne Swift-Kayatta, who admitted that she nor any other members of the ordinance subcommittee were farmers. "I'm sorry that people got agitated, but it's good that people did because now I think we have some good suggestions," she said.