No Compromise Reached in Lanesborough Fowl Bout
LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The Board of Selectmen are giving Kara Zaks until April 11 to get her flock of fowl down to less than 20.
Led by her abuttor Clark Gable, a number of residents have complained about Zaks raising somewhere around 80 ducks and chickens on about a half-acre of property in the densely populated Narragansett neighborhood.
The two have been trying to reach a compromise on the number of birds allowed but failed to reach an agreement. The Selectmen are now saying by April 11 the flock needs to be down to 15-20 with no roosters.
"You've got to do something," Board of Selectmen Chairman John Goerlach said. "You keep postponing this."
Zaks said she has been trying to sell many of the animals but is having trouble finding buyers at this time of the year. Coupled with that, the state Board of Animal Health has now ordered that all of the chickens be tested for National Poultry Improvement Plan provisions. None of the birds are allowed to leave the property until they pass that test, Zaks said.
"I've gotten rid of 13 call ducks, the loudest ducks on property," Zaks said, adding that she has a buyer for another seven in the coming week. "This brings me down to 22 ducks and I just need to go through the NPIP process to sell the chickens."
Gable is tired of hearing the roosters and ducks at all hours and he is tired of the smell. If she can't find a buyer, Gable says he'll buy them just to get them off the property.
"My problem is we've tried to work things out with you," Gable said. "The whole neighborhood wants these gone."
Gable's attorney Thomas Hamel has been asking the Board of Selectmen to order the number be reduced to the number of fowl she had in 2013, when it wasn't causing a nuisance. Then it was between 15 and 20 — though Zaks says it was closer to 30.
"It is consistent with the zoning bylaw and the agricultural right to farm," Hamel said, adding that he hopes the Board of Selectmen institute a daily fine for every day the flock isn't below that number once April 11 passes.
Goerlach said he was hoping the neighbors would come to terms before taking action. However, with no agreement on the horizon, the board is going to move forward with a proposed bylaw restricting the number of fowl to six.
"We are going to move forward with a bylaw. We don't see an end to this coming," he said.
While a number of residents joined Gable at Monday's Selectmen's meeting, Zaks had supporters of her own. They said there are plenty of other people with problems with their neighbors whether it be late night partying or riding four-wheelers or barking dogs but those aren't brought before the board.
Agricultural Commission member Marvin Michalak said a bylaw like that would affect a lot of people in town negatively. He said the Board of Health found no problem with Zaks animals last fall. She doesn't fall into the category of farming because of her property size and the income generated, so the commission can't help her. But, Michalak hopes there is another solution to solve the conflict among neighbors.
Gable said they've been trying to solve it but nothing is ever done.
"Everything we come up with something, it gets delayed. We want to get this resolved," he said.
Zaks said she's been trying to accommodate as well by agreeing to reduce the size but there aren't any buyers.
"He'll buy the birds. It will end your problem. It will end his problem. It will end our problem," Selectman Henry "Hank" Sayers said.
Zaks wants to make sure she sells the ducks, which she says are rare breeds and used for eggs and not meat, to a place that won't euthanize them. She feels that's what Gable would do.
"The noise is unbearable. The ducks and the roosters have to go," Hamel responded.
Tags: chickens, complaints, domestic animals, poultry, zoning,
