The Thinking Person’s Choice

To the Editor:

My mother always told me “Don’t state anything in public that you wouldn’t want to see on the front page.”

It would be a good thing if all members of P&Z and relocated suburbanites to our erstwhile bucolic country town actually knew the facts before speaking of the effect of a 20-plus acre farm on the community.

In comparison to the impact of a 20 acre subdivision with 10 to 40 homes sending 20 to 80 children to school, paving earth, using the parks and town services, greening their lawns with chemicals and weed control, discharging their detergents into the water table, depleting the aquifer, and creating the traffic of 30 to 100 vehicles daily – the farm (cows, horses, sheep, chickens), on sufficient acreage, would be the thinking person’s choice.

I have 30 acres, which has been part of a farm for over 100 years. We keep up to 18 horses, and practice 99.9 percent organic farming, (the exception being fly and wasp control). We use the time-honored method of weeding, mowing and organic fertilizer in our pastures and gardens. We educate people of all ages in the way of nature, farming and animals; work with students and teachers from the regional agricultural school; and included a Fresh Air child from NYC in our summer program. Farms provide recreational opportunities to the community without receiving any town sponsored services, such as trails or an agricultural fairground, that are allotted our tennis and team sports enthusiasts. Farmers pay good land taxes and yet are made to feel by some that we are the intruders in the lifestyle of the new suburbia.

The milk and meat that you put on your table came to you from manure-producing animals, not plastic containers. The organic vegetables prized in the market were grown in that manure.

Regarding zoning regulations, while much farming is “commercial,” it is not “industrial.” Churches and schools are permitted uses in “residential” zones, and certainly have more impact on abutters’ “quality of life” in terms of noise, hours of operation, and traffic than does any farm.

I think that there are personal issues clouding the objectivity of appointed board member Meg Maurer. The only plea we hear from our neighbors is “Please don’t subdivide! We love to view the horses, pastures, and riders, and our property value would plummet if your land became house lots.”

Please, newcomers, try to remember what you came to Newtown for; or was it just cheap land and taxes – it isn’t anymore. There are towns that discourage farm animals, Newtown should not be one of them.

Sharon Folger

129 Huntington Road                      August 10, 2001