Amid Horse Controversy, P&Z Shifts Direction

By Andrew Gorosko

Following sharp controversy within the local horse community over the appointment of a Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) member to a study panel on regulating commercial horse farming, the P&Z chairman says he will dissolve the horse study panel and have the P&Z instead focus on broader issues that it faces.

 In an August 14 memorandum to P&Z members, P&Z Chairman Daniel Fogliano wrote: “Due to the overwhelming amount of telephone calls and letters to both the (P&Z) office and the first selectman’s office, myself and Herb Rosenthal have decided to dissolve the horse regulation task force. I believe that (the P&Z’s) valuable time should be spent on issues that are at the forefront, such as (elderly housing regulations) and the (Town) Plan of Conservation and Development.”

“This (equine regulation) issue is far too explosive and will only serve to distract (P&Z) commissioners from truly pressing and important items on our upcoming agendas. Rest assured, this (horse farming issue) will be revisited long before the one-year end of our recent zoning amendment,” Mr Fogliano wrote.

P&Z members were expected to address the horse farming regulation issue at an August 16 session, after the deadline for this edition of The Bee.

Mr Fogliano’s memo follows an anonymous campaign agitating for the ouster of P&Z member Meg Maurer from the study panel on horse regulations. Leaflets which were distributed locally lodge personal attacks against Ms Maurer.

The anonymous leaflets urged people to contact the first selectman and the P&Z chairman to register opposition to Ms Maurer’s presence on the study panel, and to have the panel reconstituted with other people. A petition form is attached to the leaflets.

 P&Z member Anthony Klabonski is the other member of the P&Z’s horse farm study panel. As P&Z chairman, Mr Fogliano on August 2 named both Ms Maurer and Mr Klabonski to the study panel. That panel was formed as P&Z approved a controversial equine zoning amendment, which provides certain commercial horse farms with limited exemptions from the “special exception” requirements of the town’s zoning regulations.

P&Z approved the equine zoning amendment over the objections of Ms Maurer, who said specific regulations are needed to control commercial horse farming. Mr Fogliano and P&Z members James Boylan, Lilla Dean and Robert Poulin voted in favor of the equine amendment. Ms Maurer opposed it.

Ms Maurer lives on Stone Gate Drive in Sandy Hook. She was among a group of neighbors who had strongly opposed Annette Sullivan’s past application for a special exception for Zoar Ridge Stables, a horse farm on nearby Morgan Drive. Ms Maurer recently became a P&Z alternate member.

 

Response From

The First Selectman

First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal said Wednesday “There’s been quite a hysterical reaction to all this. I’ve gotten letters and phone calls,” he said in noting the local horse community’s intense reaction to Ms Maurer’s appointment to the study panel.

“I don’t think on any issue, I’ve gotten so many vitriolic letters,” the first selectman said.

Mr Rosenthal said he is surprised by the level of opposition to Ms Maurer’s appointment to the study panel.

The Bee also received many letters to the editor this week seeking Ms Maurer’s removal from the study panel.

“I’ve tried to calm people down,” Mr Rosenthal said. Based on the intensity of the controversy, having a study panel review the matter now would not be effective, the first selectman added. “It wasn’t going to be productive,” he said.

 The regulation of horse farming is not a pressing matter, Mr Rosenthal said, adding that P&Z faces broader issues.

Ms Maurer is only one of eight members on the P&Z panel, Mr Rosenthal said. The P&Z has five regular members and three alternate members. Ms Maurer is an alternate member. Alternate members often vote in the absence of regular members. When deciding an application, a maximum of five P&Z members vote.

 Asked for her view of the controversy surrounding her appointment to the study panel, Ms Maurer said Wednesday, “I have no comment to make. I can’t address [the content of] anonymous flyers.”

Equine View

Jane Nickerson of Bridle Path Trail, a member of the local horse community, in a prepared statement this week wrote the town needs regulations on horse farming. She suggests the qualifications of people who would serve on an equine regulation study panel. The panel should be composed of a P&Z member, a horse farm owner, the owner of a horse boarding facility, the owner of a horse business, a horse veterinarian, the town health inspector, and some local resident who does not own a horse, she suggests.

Ms Nickerson is urging that Ms Maurer be removed from the two-member horse study panel, charging that Ms Maurer has anti-horse sentiments.

Ms Nickerson also wrote that a reconstituted study panel could formulate regulations which strike a balance between farming and residential land uses, and maintain Newtown’s rural atmosphere.

In approving the equine zoning amendment on August 2, P&Z members exempted certain horse farms from having to seek a “special exception” to the zoning regulations. Applying for such a special exception subjects an applicant to a strict and expensive review process.

The equine zoning amendment applies only to horse farms that were in operation before December 28, 1986, and which did not expand their horse operations from December 28, 1986, through August 13, 2001. Horse farm owners seeking the exemption must register with P&Z within one year. Town officials have said it is unclear how many local horse farms are affected by the rule change. One estimate has put the number of affected farms at eight.

P&Z did not start strictly enforcing its requirement for a special exception for commercial horse farming until several years ago, when some property owners living near some horse farms began complaining about the farms’ operation and sought P&Z’s help to regulate nuisances at those facilities.

Some residents living near commercial horse farms have complained that their proximity to stables poses quality of life, property value, environmental, and health issues. Those issues stem from concerns about stormwater runoff, odors, horse manure management, chemical use, noise, vehicular traffic, lighting, and hours of operation.

As local suburbanization increased, residential land uses moved into what had been agricultural areas. Residential uses and equine uses were not always compatible, considering that horse farming is an agricultural use that is industrial in nature.

In the August 2 motion approving the equine zoning amendment, P&Z members decided that the caring for, boarding, keeping and training of horses occurs at horse farms which have largely peacefully coexisted with their neighbors for 15 years or more without generating nuisance complaints. P&Z members also decided that the presence of horse farms contributes to the town’s character, provides recreational opportunities, and serves to protect open space and preserve property values.

Mr Fogliano has explained that granting the exemption to affected horse farms will spare the farm owners and the P&Z the time, expense and complexity inherent in the P&Z’s special exception process.