Save Our Farms

Save Our Farms Keeping our community informed and connected. For updates, events, and resources. Your Voice Matters.

03/09/2024

In March 2023 the ZBA/ Planning Board counsel, in response to a request from the chairman of the Planning Board to meet with the ZBA, cautioned the ZBA to limit any interaction between the Planning Board and the Zoning Board to education on their respective processes only and that there should be no discussions at all on any applications, past, pending and future.

All members of the ZBA agreed with the advice of their counsel.

This advice would appear to be on point with the concerns expressed at Candidates Night relative to the current ZBA chairman seeking to occupy the available seat on the Planning Board. It is also prudent legal advice that as a member of both boards it would be impossible for the ZBA chairman to comply with. Recusal does not cleanse your memory and you simply cannot unlearn what you learn on one board and not have it affect your views on another. In fact one of our selectmen articulately stated his concern that a mere meeting between the Planning Board and the ZBA could “inevitably change how the ZBA views and makes their judgement and judgements should not be biased by any means”; he saw just the mere meeting as a potential conflict of interest.

It is also impossible to determine the impact one board member has on another. The ZBA (absolute) and the Planning Board (more often than not) are considered quasi-judicial and their members under New Hampshire law must meet the so-called juror standard which is contained within RSA 500-A:12. Under this standard even the appearance that any member is
not indifferent disqualifies them from participating in a decision. This falls under the category that if it looks bad it generally is bad. How then can any applicant, before the Planning Board
that may also go before the ZBA, presume they will receive a fair hearing in front of either board?

Justice should not be a means test and in the case of our town sometimes it is. If some people did not possess the wherewithal to challenge misapplication of law and bad process they are crushed by a system that weaponizes the legal system by using taxpayer dollars to delay and wear down those who challenge it.

Those with means who have elected to pursue appeal of untethered to the law decisions of the ZBA have prevailed oftentimes citing the specific unlawful views of the chairman, in particular, as justification for the appeal. The ZBA’s batting average on these appeals is below the Mendoza line. This is at great cost to the taxpayers (tens of thousands of dollars per appeal) and it will only increase with routine conflict of interest allegations. The ambition of the one should not be subsidized by the scarce resources of the many. Given the chairman of the ZBA just recommended himself to the Board of Selectmen for another
three year appointment he has certainly declared his intentions.

Everyone in town would be a locked-in passenger in that car which would be traveling on a three year journey Unsafe at any
Speed! I suspect for some, they will choose to walk.

Please Vote This Tuesday, March 12, 2024.

*STATUTORY SUPPORT FOR AGRITOURISM OVERLAY DISTRICT*
02/15/2024

*STATUTORY SUPPORT FOR AGRITOURISM OVERLAY DISTRICT*

FAQ
02/14/2024

FAQ

Article VIIB - Agritourism Overlay District (ADD)
02/14/2024

Article VIIB - Agritourism Overlay District (ADD)

02/14/2024

*AMENDMENT SUMMARY*

I generally think of addressing issues in terms of five things influenced by my parochial education and modeled after St. Thomas Aquinas’ “Five Ways”. Also it's probably the limit of my intellectual capacity although the older I get I should probably reduce that to four or even three.

Please keep in mind we are talking about a zoning ordinance amendment and it requires some work to fully understand. Nonetheless if you are looking for key thoughts to better understand the Amendment, please take a look at the following:

Create Incentive: The objective of the Amendment is to preserve the few farms left in Plaistow by providing them with more options to remain economically viable and to discourage conversion of their farmland to other uses. Farming is both a land use and a business and farmers cannot be reasonably expected to operate farm businesses without the option of adding agritourism activities when the economically sensible behavior is to develop their land for non-farm uses.

Agritourism is Agriculture. Under New Hampshire law Agritourism is contained within the state definition of agriculture and cannot be severed from that definition. The Amendment was developed using currently enacted agritourism ordinances located throughout the country. Simplified I think of Agritourism as activities that generally fall into four categories on a farm: (i)Farm

Education: Instruction and learning about the farm’s history and operations including active involvement in the activities of the farm(ii)Farm Hospitality—being provided a meal or making overnight stays,(iii)Farm Recreation- U pick, corn mazes, hay rides, etc. and (iv)Farm Entertainment-attracting visitors to a farm to attend events (weddings, festivals, etc.)

Elimination of Ambiguity :
The Town, by permitting agriculture in certain districts, but not defining it, creates ambiguity and
misunderstanding of state statutes, and restricts otherwise legal and permissible uses of existing farms. Ambiguity is the enemy of all zoning ordinances and in this context the accuracy and precision of language matters as the individuals and/or boards tasked with enforcing ordinances cannot consider what the local legislative body might have said nor add words it did not see fit to include. This is precisely why the Amendment is very specific.

Benefit to Community: Without farms there would have been no cities. Farming radically transformed almost every aspect of human society. Farms throughout history have faced the vagaries of weather, crop failures and uncertain markets. I don’t believe it unreasonable to see if we can remove the vagaries of local land use barriers to allow farmers to find ways to help farms withstand the pressures to develop their land for non-farm use. Protected Agritourism is such a way for farmers to be compensated for the public benefit they provide to without taxing the citizenry and is essential to any farm’s economic survival.

The results of the Plaistow Economic Development 2022/2023 Survey that our fellow citizens appear to overwhelmingly support efforts to (i) protect open space, (ii) increase conservation efforts, (iii) keep farms/farm. Our existing ordinance is silent on agriculture as the Town has no existing ordinance, bylaw, definition, or policy on agriculture (including agritourism) related business and (iv) attract small retail stores would seem to confirm that the success of all of our town farms is important to the people who call Plaistow home.

Conflict with Existing Ordinance: I am not aware of any conflicts with the existing ordinance. That being said there is a fair amount of ambiguity within the existing ordinance and I specifically did not want such ambiguity to be used as a basis to peel back the
Amendment like an onion where it would become unrecognizable. I also did not want the Amendment to circumvent any federal, state or local laws, regulations and rules as stated repeatedly within the various provisions of the Amendment. These provisions make it crystal clear that the intent of the Amendment is not to overwhelm any existing law or regulation.

02/14/2024

Welcome to SAVE PLAISTOW’S FARMS!

This site is dedicated to saving our Plaistow farms, of which there are less than ten remaining and only four with any agricultural activity. This site is informational only and while we certainly
encourage questions which you can ask at [email protected], which we will make
every effort to answer promptly as we cannot accept comments. There are enough existing public forums where people can comment about farms. Our goal is straightforward; to preserve our working farms, to support the agricultural operations, activities and practices of farms within the Town of Plaistow as a viable economic activity and discourage conversion of farmland to other incompatible uses. To do this we have created an Amendment to the town zoning ordinance to establish an Agritourism Overlay District.

We have also included an Amendment Summary, Frequently Asked Questions and the Statutory Support for the Amendment included in the New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated (“RSA”). Hard copies of all this information is available at Sweet Hill Farm. We hope you will explore the content and read as much or as little as you need to make an informed decision. We are asking those of you interested in SAVING PLAISTOW’S FARMS to please:
*Read the amendment and any other information available
*Ask questions as this is an important issue for our town
*Inform friends and family who also call Plaistow home to please vote on TUESDAY MARCH 12, 2024.

*VOTE YES ON BALLOT ITEM CITIZENS PETITION CP-24-O1

In the coming weeks you will start to see signs and flyers throughout town. To the extent you want to display a sign on your property please stop by Sweet Hill Farm and we will be happy to
provide you one or come by and set it up. We will keep a log of all our signs and come by after the election to collect it if you want.

Tuesday February 20th, Tuesday February 27th and Tuesday March 5th beginning at 6:30PM we will host at, Sweet Hill Farm, a “SAVING PLAISTOW’S FARMS” presentation. We look forward to
engaging with all who want to see what agritourism could look like. Refreshments will be served.

If you plan on attending please e-mail [email protected].

On Tuesday March 12th

(Election Day) we will host a thank you all party, at Sweet Hill Farm, to express the our gratitude to all the people in Town who have supported our Plaistow farms. All are welcome. We specifically wanted to do this regardless of the result. This will start at 7PM and go until whenever.

Daniel Webster once wrote, "Men hang out their signs indicative of their respective trades; shoe makers hang out a gigantic shoe; jewelers a monster watch, and the dentist hangs out a gold
tooth; but up in the Mountains of New Hampshire, God Almighty has hung out a sign to show that there He makes men.”
I am a big fan of Daniel Webster and paying homage to his oratory prowess it would, through voting in favor of the Amendment, be nice to also say “ that in the Town of Plaistow New Hampshire, here we “SAVE OUR FARMS”.

Thank you.
Dan Kane

Address

Plaistow, NH
03865

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Save Our Farms posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share