Zoning proposal likely to raise feathers

by Laurel Campbell

Dec 20, 2007

POWASSAN – Livestock owners, take note. If you live on less than five acres of land in the Municipality of Powassan and have livestock, you may be looking for a new home for your animals in 2008.

A public meeting has been scheduled for Jan. 17 to seek input on proposed new zoning amendments for the Municipality of Powassan that will define a hobby farm and determine what livestock can be kept on rural properties.

Powassan council felt a need to review its lot sizes for faming activities after a young Powassan girl was told to get rid of her 10 pet chickens in March, 2007, or face fines and possible legal hearings. The chickens, originally purchased by 10-year-old Paige Taylor as a Girl Guide badge project, were housed in a coop located on her family’s one-acre lot in a rural zone. Following complaints by her neighbours, Powassan’s Municipal Law Enforcement (MLE) officer found the chickens violated current zoning that restricted the keeping of livestock to property of a minimum of 25 acres.

Paige’s story made headlines with the local media.

“I love my chickens very much, and I’m not willing to give them away,” Paige wrote in a letter to council.

In April, council determined that she could keep her small flock while the issue of lot sizes for farm activities needed to be reviewed in the municipality’s official plan.

During its December meeting council accepted a recommendation from the municipality’s planning and advisory committee to amend the zoning bylaw “to allow a hobby farm on five acres of land, leaving 25 acres as the standard for other farming activities.”

This decision, if adopted by council following public review, will mean that Paige will have to find a new home for her hens, as will a number of area property owners who have livestock, including a riding horse, on property of less than five acres in size.

“At this point, the committee’s decision is just a recommendation,” said Powassan Deputy clerk Nicky Kunkel, “and anyone who has had livestock on less than five acres since before October 2003 when the municipality's new Official Plan was adopted, will be grandfathered. Unfortunately, Paige Taylor’s chicken’s don’t qualify.”

The proposed new hobby farm designation “means an area of land on which a barn, stable or animal shelter may be erected to house domestic animals kept for recreational purposes or for home consumption by the occupants of a dwelling on the same lot to a maximum of five nutrient units, and able to meet the minimum distance separation formula,” reads the recommendation.

Ontario’s Nutrient Management Act provides typical nutrient units per animal and is only applicable where five or more nutrient units are present on a property.

David Armitage, a senior policy advisor with the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) in Guelph and one of the province's leading environmental land use specialists, told the Almaguin News that in the case of Paige‘s chickens, “this is such a terribly small number of birds that nutrient management regulations wouldn’t apply. Ten birds is inconsequential to the point that no provincial regulations are involved. I really question why there should be an issue at all.”

According to nutrient management formula, 10 chickens in confinement equals one-twelfth of one nutrient management unit.

“There’s barely going to be enough nutrient produced by these hens to work into a small garden,” said Armitage.

Kunkel said that the committee’s recommendations were based, in part, on the fact that “the municipality doesn’t want to have to baby sit farmers or landowners. You might be keeping 10 chickens on less than five acres now, but how do we know if that number grows to 30 or even 100 chickens,” she asked.

If put in place, the new zoning amendment will also mean those who have purchased horses since October 2003, and have them housed on less than five acres of land, will have to find new boarding accommodations. Although one horse is equal to only one nutrient unit, and therefore does not fall under the provincial regulations, Kunkel says “the issue of nutrients is very complicated and a lot of it has to do with how you store or use the nutrient material produced. There are so many variables that it’s just too complicated an issue for the municipality to take control of. That’s why the committee has recommended the new standardized hobby farm designation of five acres. And there is always the option of applying for a minor variance for smaller properties, but we have to consider water safety as well. It’s not just about the well water on the property housing the animal, but how the nutrient produced may affect the neighbours’ wells and the land surrounding that property.”

Any property owner having livestock in excess of the province’s five nutrient unit threshold will be required to meet the municipality’s definition of a farm, which stipulates a minimum of 25 acres of land are required.

While council had the option of tabling the planning committee recommendations until the municipality's OP comes under full review later in 2008, Councillor Nancy Barner said “the sooner we deal with this issue the better.”

Councillor Roger Glabb also supported moving ahead with the required public meeting as soon as possible. “Let’s get this thing done,” he said.

Kunkel stresses “we want lots of input on this proposal, and are hoping that residents with varying rural property sizes will come out to the Jan. 17 meeting.”

The public meeting on the zoning amendment starts at 7 p.m. at the community centre at Glendale Park.