Westbrook City Council could be soon finalizing a new zoning ordinance to allow so-called “hobby farming” in residential districts after a first public hearing Monday produced no opposition.
The ordinance comes some nine months after the council first sent the question of urban farming to the planning board. The council acted following two complaints about residents on Chestnut Street.
Bob Ledoux was cited last fall for keeping chickens at his home following a complaint from a neighbor. He appealed the code enforcement decision to the zoning board of appeals, but the board upheld the citation. Beekeeper Mark Leclair was also the subject of complaints from a neighbor.
After a number of meetings and some research, the planning board recommended a zoning ordinance change to the city council. The ordinance would allow for most small-time hobby farming on lots in residential districts if the lot sizes are a minimum 10,000 square feet. But residents would still have to go to the planning board for a permit that would allow them to house their non-traditional pets.
Included in the ordinance change are standards of practice to ensure humane and neighborly keeping of the hobby-farm animals.
“No one has come forth and voiced opposition to the honeybees,” Leclair said after it was obvious the only folks present at the public hearing were in support of the ordinance change. “The amount of time and money that has been spent on this just doesn’t make sense.”
The process of changing the ordinance has also involved services from the town attorney, William Dale.
Leclair added that the complaint about his bees in the first place was made by a neighbor out of spite.
Councilor Drew Gattine expressed a concern that the ordinance was still too restrictive because of the need for residents to go to the planning board to obtain the special exception permits.
Westbrook isn’t the first community to bring out the lawyers to rewrite such zoning ordinances. A number of communities across the country have been making similar changes, including Madison, Wisc., home of the Mad City Chickens, a group of pro-chicken folks out to increase awareness of the benefits of home-grown meals.
Locally, South Portland is also going through talks of caging in city chickens.
The Westbrook ordinance change will be up for public reading again in room 114 of Westbrook High School on Monday at 7 p.m.
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