After the September 28th work session by the Northampton Board of Supervisors, many left the room thinking that the board had put in place measures that would finally keep the poultry industry out of the county. In the October 4th edition of the Mirror, the story ‘Severely limits poultry operations…’ was published, and in it, we noted that due to the requirement of ammonia scrubbers as well as 500 foot setbacks, the chances of anyone being able open a chicken house in this county was fairly small. During the last meeting of the County Supervisors, Spencer Murray, during public comments, charged that recent headlines in local media were misleading in regards to ammonia scrubbers, as well as setbacks. Going back and critically reading the proposed zoning document, we discovered we were wrong, and had completely misread the intent, or at least did not follow the logic of the proposed ordinance to its logical conclusions. Here are the parts of the ordinance that relate to industrial poultry farming:
Page 55
(C) Minimum standards for intensive farming shall be as follows:
(1) All standards set forth in subsection (A) and (B) above shall apply.
(2) Intensive farming uses, structures and buildings for the purposes including but not limited to, waste storage, disposal practices, storage, shelters, grazing, pasture, feeding, handling and containment shall be setback as follows:
(a) A minimum of 300 feet from all rights-of-ways;
(b) A minimum of 500 feet from property lines, except this may be reduced to 200-feet if there is 200 feet in width of mature woodlands and ammonia scrubbers are used to actively capture emissions . These same mature woodlands used to secure a reduction in setbacks must be preserved, neither thinned nor harvested, during the life span of the associated intensive farming;
(c) A minimum of 2,000 feet from the limits of an incorporated town;
(d) A minimum of 1,500 feet from Village (V), Hamlet (H), Cottage Community (CTCM) and Town Edge (TE) zoning districts; and
(e) A minimum of 2,000 feet from shorelines and perennial streams.
Page 56
(5) Ammonia scrubbers shall be installed and operational in all animal containment buildings.
On page 56, it states that ammonia scrubbers are required, and directly conflicts (contradicts) language on page 55– that using a scrubber is a choice; however, the scrubber mandates on page 56, in essence, eliminates the 500 foot setback completely. So, if anyone wants to break new ground in Northampton, and place scrubbers in the chicken house, the setbacks would only be 200 feet.
The troubling issue is that requiring an ammonia scrubber on a chicken house is not found anywhere else in the United States, and any efforts to make it part of our ordinance will more than likely be challenged (it is a precedent the industry cannot let go unchallenged). This regulation may also be an affront to the Right To Farm laws in Virginia, which stress that “overly restrictive” measures may not be imposed on agriculture. This Board has stated in the past that they would like to see limited poultry operations in Northampton County, however limited to 50 houses or less.
More than likely, the requirement for ammonia scrubbers will not hold up in Circuit Court and the ordinance will have to fall back on the 500 foot setbacks, which is what it appears the industry has been after all along. The question becomes, is 500 feet really enough? In other states, we find setbacks up to 1000 feet. A careful reading of this scenario, exposes a back door wide open for the poultry industry (Tyson has stated publicly that it prefers 500 foot setbacks).
Whether intentional or not, the public has not been fully vetted in regards to the actual state of play. Cynically, it isn’t too far a stretch to see how the groundwork to bring poultry to Northampton was done under the guise of trying to stop it. Ammonia scrubbers are a red herring, meant to shift attention from the true end game. The BoS can now claim that they did all they could to stop the industry, by inserting the ammonia scrubbers language into the ordinance, having to understand full and well it would be tossed by the courts. With the gate busted down, and the minimalist 500 foot setbacks winning the day, they can point to their efforts, and just blame the courts. In the end, the industry gets just what it wanted in the first place, the 500 foot setback.
The Cape Charles Mirror is correct. Make no mistake, high density chicken factories have NOT been ruled out of Northampton County through the proposed zoning regardless of headlines you may have read in a local newspaper. The contradictory language cited above is only the most recent example of why Citizens for a Better Eastern Shore CBES has protested the flawed process that has resulted in the proposed zoning. We encourage all citizens to voice their opinions/concerns on this and other issues at the Public Hearing for the Proposed Zoning Nov 2, Eastville. Also be an informed voter. CBES Candidate Forum for Northampton County contested races is Thursday, Oct 29, 7PM Northampton High School, Eastville. More details http://www.cbes.org
“Sorry Luke, just doing my job. You gotta appreciate that.” Luke- “Nah, calling it your job don’t make it right, Boss.”
Well, it is actually worse than that. Because now you can clearly see the politics in all of this. Once the Circuit Court makes their decision, it’s a done deal. The real surprise would be, if the Court upheld for the scrubbers and thousand feet setbacks. But, in reality, I think we all know what’s going to happen. The signs are all clear and with the institution of ‘Good Ole Boy’ in place, the farmers and chicken industrialist will get what they wanted all along. The disenfranchised will be left with the eventual clean up and toxins in the water and in the air. It’s really a shame. The Eastern Shore is at a tipping point. Overfishing the bay with Omega’s practices of menhaden trawling and the farming practices of over fertilizing the fields and its runoff and leaching into the ground water are causing a one-two punch in the general health and welfare of the Shore populace. You have but one group to blame for this short-sighted money grab, your elected officials. Mark my words, in ten or fifteen years, you will be seeing 2015 as that fork in the road. It will be then you will realize, you were misled. But, by then, it will have been too late.
“What we got here is failure to communicate. Some men you just can’t reach.”
“Yeah well…sometimes nothing can be a real cool hand”
Write on, Wayne, Donna, and Chris (howdy Chris!): The language to require scrubbers on all intensive farm buildings was apparently inserted on June 29th by “staff”. Interesting that our Zoning Administrator, Melissa Kellam appeared to this observer to be blind-sided by that requirement during her presentation on zoning during the September 28th worksession. As pointed out, during that session Bill Satterfield said that requiring scrubbers on a chicken house was a “deal breaker” and then asked the Board “where do we go from here?”. It is possible that our illustrious former Florida-based Economic Development director hatched a scheme to get chicken houses into the county, while allowing his former bosses to look like “they tried”..? That is the general consensus out here in the broken- promise land. One thing is for certain…the county is being run by a small band of private interests, Nunez in the core, that have no allegiance or accountability to the majority of Northampton County taxpayers. In short, the county is out of control and allowed to spin as such by a complacent BoS who find it easier to follow sheepishly down this path of corruption and destruction, rather than doing their homework (like Supervisor Hogg) and wresting control from this small band of administrative terrorists. Strong word? Not as strong as this behavior deserves. They have turned what was just a few short years ago a respectful representation of the public will to what one commenter calls a “demockery”. The general feedback I get from the majority of folks who are concerned about this travesty is that Nunez and her band have turned Northampton County into a municipal laughing stock. Problem is, we stuck under their thumb are not laughing. We are fighting. And we will win. Take that to your local bank and put it in the safety deposit box. Its priceless. And certain.
Ken Dufty Wardtown Road, Exmore
Here is some interesting reading for you fine Northampton county folks. Just up the road a ways in Somerset County, Maryland. Look and see how those folks are coping with this industry.
http://marylandreporter.com/2015/07/22/poultry-mega-houses-forcing-shore-residents-to-flee-stench-traffic/
I am within a few years of active retirement. Looking around Virginia I stumbled on Cape Charles as seemingly the perfect place UNTIL I read about the big chicken business moving in. That is a showstopper for me and my friends who are considering investments in that county. Keep writing and fighting Wayne Creed. We’re out here watching too.