Bees, chicken rules still up in the air

It may not be until early next year before Corte Madera lands regulations about beekeeping and having chicken coops within town limits.

The Planning Commission hosted a second workshop on Sept. 13 and will not address the topic again until Oct. 11.

“The Planning Commission asked for more information and analysis,” said Corte Madera Planning Director Dan Bell. “We will also redraft a set of standards.”

Even if any new regulations move forward with relatively few obstacles, it could be well into November before the Town Council addresses the matter. With public hearings and the council needing a second reading to adopt such amendments, the issue could linger into January.

“The [Sept. 13] workshop was again well attended,” Bell wrote in a report to the Town Council.

“The public and Planning Commission responded to a draft set of regulations/standards for keeping of bees and chickens. The general tenor of the public testimony and Planning Commission response was that regulations/standards should be minimal and if there are future complaints about backyard operations they should be dealt with pursuant to the nuisance ordinance.”

Not everyone agreed. “In stark contrast, the original complainant … argues strongly that backyard keeping of bees and chickens is not appropriate in residential neighborhoods,” Bell added.

Bell said one of the first things he did upon realizing that the issue would be heading to Town Hall was to take a look at how neighboring municipalities are dealing with residents keen on having bees or chickens.

“Generally speaking, there are more-established standards for backyard keeping of chickens than there are for backyard keeping of bees,” a Corte Madera Planning Department staff report stated.

“There appear to be ample local examples of standards for keeping of chickens, if it is decided to amend Corte Madera’s current zoning ordinance. These standards generally allow a maximum number of chickens (not roosters), with additional standards for location and maintenance of chicken coops.”

Several Marin municipalities (Mill Valley, Novato, Ross, San Anselmo and the county) have no regulations whatsoever regarding beekeeping, while others require that residents obtain a permit to keep bees.

Only San Anselmo fails to regulate the keeping of chickens, as the rest of the county places limits on quantity (no more than a dozen chickens is the most lenient rule) and location — typically nowhere near public access or neighbors.

“Staff has reviewed numerous regulatory standards from other local, statewide and nationwide jurisdictions pertaining to the noncommercial (backyard) keeping of bees and chickens,” a staff report read.

“Corte Madera residents have assisted staff by providing documents and Web links on the subject. Not surprisingly, regulatory standards range from complete prohibition to strict regulatory standards to unregulated. The draft standards, as currently written by staff, would effectively prohibit keeping of bees and chickens on small-size parcels that could not meet the proposed lot size or proposed setback standards … Property owners that can provide evidence that the keeping of bees and chickens have operated on their property before March 1978 are ‘grandfathered’ and may continue to operate, since they would pre-date regulatory controls that were enacted by the comprehensive March 1978 Zoning Ordinance Amendment.”

Festival shows there’s an appetite for local food

Don’t know how to spend your summer vacation? Let your appetite be your guide.

Guelph Wellington Local Food — an initiative of the Guelph Community Health Centre — is tapping into the culinary tourism trend with its taste•real brand, which was officially launched at the Guelph Wellington Local Food Fest, held Sunday at the Ignatius Jesuit Centre.

“Agriculture is part of our history and heritage and we need to showcase it more,” said Gayl Creutzberg, outreach co-ordinator for taste•real. “There are lots of reasons to come to the region. Great food, locally grown and carefully prepared, is one more.”

The initiative begins with the local food map of member-organizations — everything from farms that are open to the public, pick-your-own places, restaurants and B&Bs that feature locally sourced food, farmers’ markets, greenhouses, and retailers.

Taste•real has linked with Guelph fab 5, a marketing partnership of Guelph’s well-loved festivals: the Guelph Contemporary Dance Festival, Hillside Festival, the Guelph Jazz Festival, Eden Mills Writers’ Festival, and the Festival of Moving Media.

Creutzberg said she hopes visitors who are coming for a festival will check out taste•real restaurants and destinations while in the area. Conversely, she hopes those who come following the culinary trail will check out the festivals and other attractions that make Guelph and Wellington unique.

“It’s farms, it’s restaurants, greenhouses, kitchen stores, hotels and B&Bs (bed and breakfasts),” she said. “There’s been a real coming together over this.”

Sunday’s local food festival was testament to that.

Tours of the Ignatius Centre showed food in the field — the outcome of many private and community projects that happen on the expansive property.

A walk through the marketplace featured booth after booth of produce grown at local farms and food-related products sold at local businesses.

And then there were the local restaurants, cooking up delicious, locally sourced food for visitors to sample.

“I care about locally grown, yes, especially since having kids,” said Shannon Noble of Guelph, who attended the event for the first time with her husband and two small children. “We try to eat local, organic food. It’s nice to come to this and find out what’s in the area.”

There were cooking demonstrations and even one on pickling and making jam. There were workshops on agriculture-related topics, such as how to keep a backyard chicken coop, or how to become a hobby beekeeper.

Some 1,800 people were expected to attend.

Maureen Comartin, of Windsor, was visiting family in Guelph and they all went to the food festival.

“We buy local in Essex County and my daughter buys local in Guelph. I think it’s a smart idea,” she said. “It’s certainly a wonderful atmosphere at the Ignatius Centre.”

Damage in Md. chicken coop fire estimated at $7 million

A team of fire investigators from the Maryland State Fire Marshal's Office is combing through the ashes of a Cecil County chicken coop, trying to determine what caused Monday night's multimillion-dollar blaze at the egg producing plant.

Deputy State Fire Marshal Bruce Bouch said the 3-alarm fire at the ISE America egg processing plant at 605 Sassafras Road in Warwick, about a mile and a half from the Delaware line, destroyed about 220,000 chickens, each valued at $3.

The fire began at 7:20 p.m. Monday in the #2 chicken coop and quickly spread to two other 50-foot-by-530-foot coops before being brought under control by firefighters battling the flames and high wind conditions.

Bouch said the fire destroyed three coops and damaged a fourth chicken coop, which sustained heat damage.

Each coop was valued at $2 million.

The farm manager was alerted to the fire by a working high heat alarm system and called 911 when fire was seen coming from the #2 coop.

More than 100 firefighters from Kent and Cecil counties in Maryland as well as Delaware firefighters battled more than five hours to control. One Odessa firefighter was treated at Union Hospital in Elkton for a wrist injury and released.

Damage was estimated at $7 million, Bouch said.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.