Ag Council Backs Off Right-To-Farm Updates

ORLEANS – Efforts by the town’s agricultural advisory council to create policies governing livestock noise will not go forward.

The council on Oct. 21 said it would back away from proposed guidelines after local farmers and growers stood up for their right to have livestock, namely roosters, on their properties in the face of opposition from some neighbors.

Concerns were first raised to the council in the summer over early morning noise from roosters at a small farm on Hopkins Lane and another on South Orleans Road. There have also been reported issues with livestock trespassing onto neighbors’ property.

“That led to some research where we were trying to figure out how we can interpret right-to-farm laws and try to resolve some of these problems,” said Rand Burkett, a member of the advisory council that has been working to explore options for revising the bylaw.

The town adopted its right-to-farm bylaw in 2013 to give local farmers the same protections locally as they have at the state level. The bylaw, which was amended in 2020 to also apply to fishing, allows for farming at all times and offers exemptions for noise and odors associated with farming.

“It is hereby determined that whatever impact may be caused to others through the normal practice is more than offset by the benefits of farming and fishing to the neighborhood, community, and society in general,” the bylaw reads.

Peter Jensen, the council’s chair, said the issue before the council was finding a way to both uphold the integrity of the bylaw while also addressing concerns from neighbors.

“All of us are neighbors here,” he said. “We’re all within our confines of being good neighbors as best we can. And that’s what this meeting is about.”

But several residents and local farmers, including some members of the advisory council, have pushed back against efforts to impose policies above the bylaw. The Oct. 21 meeting was heavily attended by both bylaw proponents and neighbors complaining about the noise.

“I’m suggesting we withdraw that document,” Burkett said of the proposed policies. “That’s my take on it, and then we start from scratch based on what input we get today.”

“Yeah, I would agree with that wholeheartedly,” said Matt Milan of the council.

Amanda Kane, who owns the Hopkins Lane property, has lived in town for 11 years and owned her property for seven. She told the council that she operates a small “homestead production” in her backyard, where she has animals including goats, ducks, hens and two roosters.

“I did a lot of research before I got any of my animals, if I was allowed to have any of those animals,” she said. “I didn’t just go out purchasing animals before looking into the law in Orleans, the rules and regulations.”

But Kane said she felt “a little personally attacked” when one of her neighbors began putting fliers in neighbors’ mailboxes complaining about noise from her rooster. Kane’s neighbor, Andrew Winston, also told the council that there have been instances in which the rooster trespassed onto his property.

Kane said these actions were taken without ever being addressed with her directly.

“I don’t have a rooster to try and stick it to my neighbor,” she said. “I’m just trying to live my life.”

Milan noted that the right-to-farm bylaw expressly states that any disputes over farming and agricultural operations in town should be dealt with in a “neighborly manner.” He said “pretty unequivocally” that the approach taken by the complaining neighbors “was not at all neighborly.”

According to the council’s charge, its goal is to support and promote commercial agricultural efforts in Orleans, Milan said.

“We would be severely limiting those opportunities for small farms with overregulation,” he said.

But Winston’s partner, Steven Guditas, said they have also been criticized as being anti-animal and anti-farming over their opposition to the rooster noise. Guditas called himself an “amateur farmer.”

“I believe in the right to farm and fish, and one is permitted to have a question or raise a comment about our well being as a neighborhood and as a town without being told that we hate farming, that we hate farmers, that we hate produce, that we hate people who have animals. Because that is not true,” he said.

Winston said he was unaware of the right-to-farm bylaw when he moved to town two years ago.

“That’s not something that is shared when you purchase your home,” he said.

Milan said he should have been notified of the bylaw by his realtor, but others saw Winston’s situation as a case of someone from off-Cape moving to town and trying to dictate what farmers can and can’t do on their properties. Orleans resident Neal Ahern said Winston should have done his research before buying his home.

“Stand down,” he said. “It’s not your place to tell people who grew up here how to farm.”

Winston said his concerns over noise are shared with neighbors other than himself.

“Move,” Ahern said.

“I don’t want to move,” Winston replied.

Kane said she and her children use a fan and noise machine at home to help ward off noise from their roosters. Beyond that, she said there’s little more she can do to curb the noise, as ventilation is required in her backyard coop.

“I need that for their health,” she said, noting that the roosters are needed for her backyard operation.

The council voted to direct those involved with disputes over livestock and noise to work to resolve their issues in accordance with the right-to-farm bylaw. The council will check in on the matter again in six months.

“I apologize if the approach was unneighborly, and we’re going to continue living next door to one another,” Guditas told Kane. “I know you love living where you live, we love living where we live.”

Asked if the council might consider another revision of the bylaw in the future, Jensen said “not at this point, specifically.”