Editor’s Note: After this article was published, the Planning Board voted Sept. 14 to reopen the public hearing at its next meeting, which will be held Oct. 5 at 5 p.m.
Original Story Below:
The owner of a property on Ackerly Pond Lane in Southold who had proposed an egg-laying chicken farm earlier this year is planning to instead begin an “organic produce farm focused on fruits and/or vegetables,” according to a Sept. 3 letter from the applicants’ attorney on file with the Southold Town Planning Department.
Pictured Above: A notice of public hearing for the site plan for the barn at the cul-de-sac at the end of Jasmine Lane this winter.
Old Westbury resident Grant Callahan, representing 2340 Ackerly Pond LLC, first approached the Southold Town Planning Board about using the currently vacant 16-acre property as a 6,000-hen chicken farm this past winter.
Residents of the subdivision have adamantly opposed the project from the start, starting a petition and repeatedly appearing at Planning Board and Southold Town Board meetings asking the town to intervene to keep the chicken farm from beginning operation.
Among their concerns were the intensity of the operation and potential associated dust, disease or vermin. The Town Board has declined to weigh in on the matter, stating that it cannot intervene in applications that are before its land use boards.
“I’m incredibly excited to be building an organic farm here on the North Fork. Southold has an extraordinary agricultural history, and as a young farmer, I’m proud to have the opportunity to contribute to its next generation,” said Mr. Callahan in a statement to The Beacon Thursday afternoon. “I believe people should know where their food comes from, how it was grown, and the practices that went into growing it. That’s the kind of farm I am building, one that people can know and trust, and that will be part of this community for many years to come. I’m very grateful to my neighbors, the Southold community, and the Town of Southold for all the time, encouragement, and guidance I’ve received along the way.”
Southold Town holds a development rights easement on the property which requires it to only be used for agricultural purposes.
While Mr. Callahan does not need approval from the Planning Board to raise chickens, he does need approval for a 2,100-square-foot barn he proposed to build not far from the property’s border with a neighboring subdivision on Jasmine Lane.
“After much thoughtful and careful consideration, the applicant has elected not to pursue the originally proposed chicken farming operation at the property,” said the applicant’s attorney, John C. Armentano of Farrell Fritz, P.C., in the Sept. 3 letter to the Planning Board. “Instead the applicant seeks to utilize the property as an organic produce farm focused on fruits and/or vegetables with an associated storage barn. We believe that this change addresses many of the concerns previously raised by the neighbors.”
Mr. Armentano asked the Planning Department to add the matter to the board’s work session agenda for this coming Monday, Sept. 14 and requested to reopen the public hearing on the project.
As of Friday, Sept. 11, the application is slated to be discussed at the Planning Board’s 4 p.m. work session on Monday. Here’s the agenda.
The change in type of agriculture being done at the site may have little impact on the Planning Board’s deliberations. Board members have repeatedly said they have little say in the agricultural activities on the site, which are protected by New York’s Right to Farm law.
“We’re siting a barn here, not a chicken farm,” Planning Board Chairman Jim Rich had said at the last work session at which the project was discussed, in March.
“The applicant intends to appear before the board at the next scheduled public hearing to bring the pending application for an agricultural storage barn to a close,” added Mr. Armentano.
This past winter, town planners say the Southold Police Department was contacted by both the neighbors and the property owner, who complained of “trespassing and harassment of workers on site,” who were clearing trees to build an entrance road into the property, which can only be done in the winter to protect the nesting habitat of northern long-eared bats.
The project received a Stop Work Order from the town in July after construction of mobile chicken shelters began on the property.
Mr. Callahan told The Beacon at the time that the hoop house-style chicken shelters do not have foundations and are “on skids with skis” so they can be moved around the property, as is the case at several other nearby farms that raise chickens.
Several residents of Jasmine Lane approached the Southold Town Board Wednesday evening, Sept. 9, regarding whether the owners of the property, 2340 Ackerly Pond LLC, are required to disclose the names of the principals of their LLC to the town.
In a July 8 letter to the Planning Board outlining his legal view of his client’s right to farm in Southold and of his client’s plans to protect the environment, Mr. Armentano said the LLC’s “corporate documents are private, and providing them to Southold would subject them to Freedom of Information Law requests — invading Ackerly’s privacy.”
He added that the corporation had submitted documentation to the town proving Mr. Callahan was authorized to pursue the application on behalf of the corporation, and provided documentation of the mobile nature of the chicken shelters.
Both letters can be viewed here.
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