Posted on 01/02/2003 7:41:58 AM PST by End Times Sentinel
Red barns and silver silos rise amid gently sloping fields of soybeans and tomatoes, a stone's throw from sprawling country estates on tree-shaded, winding roads.
But in the idyllic setting of South Harrison, battle lines are being drawn between Gloucester County's rural past and its suburban future.
On one side are farmers such as Lou Chiulli, who has 33 head of cattle on a plot of land behind his house on Franklinville Road. The money he makes by selling the cattle supplements his income from his 142 acres of organic crops and his job as a union tile-setter, he says.
On the other side are the neighbors.
For three years, Diane and Louis Madonia and the owners of two adjacent homes have sparred with Chiulli, contending that a pile of cow manure - which can grow to eight feet high - attracts swarms of flies that leave droppings on their porch railings, windows and walls.
The Madonias say they cannot sit on the veranda, have outdoor barbecues, or savor the countryside they moved to South Harrison four years ago to enjoy. Neighbor Mike Toomey says the flies' droppings "look like someone poured chocolate syrup over my rail and the rockers."
"We moved here to get away from the hustle and bustle," Diane Madonia said, adding that Chiulli had fewer than 10 cows when she and her husband bought their home. "I just regret it."
The couple and their neighbors have called the township to complain, hoping to get Chiulli to move his herd. They have called the county Health Department, the state Department of Agriculture, and even the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
But New Jersey, the most densely populated state, has some of the nation's best legislative protection for farmers who have at least five acres and generate $2,500 a year from their farm. The Right to Farm Act, enacted in 1983 and strengthened in 1998, shields farmers who operate according to accepted agricultural practices from municipal ordinances and nuisance complaints.
"I see real estate ads for rolling green acres, and all I can think of is that these people just don't realize they have no rights," said Diane Madonia, her dining room table piled high with township ordinances and photos and videos of flies and the specks they leave behind.
Farm-related complaints such as the Madonias' fall under the jurisdiction of the county and state agriculture development boards, a bureaucratic structure that the state Supreme Court upheld last year.
Weaker farm law in Pa.
Pennsylvania has similar Right to Farm legislation, but municipalities have weakened it by crafting ordinances limiting the expansion of corporate agricultural operations, said John Bell, a lawyer for government affairs at the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau.
In Chiulli's case, New Jersey officials decided this summer that his cow manure is managed properly and forwarded the Madonias' complaint to the Gloucester County Agriculture Development Board. A final decision is to be issued at the board's meeting next Thursday.
Chiulli said he was gratified by the state support but feels invaded by the army of agencies that have surveyed his operations. He insisted that there was no fly problem, and that the Madonias edited their videotapes to exaggerate the number of flies on their property.
"The irony is that everyone wants to save the farms, but when you're farming, people try to stop you," said Chiulli, who moved to South Harrison in 1995, just a few years before the Madonias. He said his neighbors should have considered more carefully where they were going to live.
"The biggest mistake I made was moving next to a bar, but I was in a city," Chiulli said. "If you're superstitious, you don't move next to a graveyard. If you don't like kids, you don't buy a house by a schoolyard."
Eighty inquiries a year
New Jersey receives about 80 inquiries annually about the Right to Farm Act, but only a few lead to a formal complaint, said Hope Gruzlovic, a spokeswoman for the Agriculture Department.
Gloucester County is at the forefront of Right to Farm clashes, said Timothy Chell, solicitor for the county agriculture board. The board heard the state's first formal Right to Farm complaint several years ago, when a Franklin Township vegetable farmer was required to limit his use of chicken manure as fertilizer.
In Burlington County, agricultural agent Ray Samulis said he had seen more farmer-newcomer feuds since the stronger version of the Right to Farm Act was signed in 1998, because the tough law does little to halt suburban encroachment. He receives complaints when farmers hire migrant laborers for extra help at harvest time or fire cannons to scare crows away from corn.
At the New Jersey Farm Bureau's annual meeting in November, farmers chose Right to Farm issues as their primary agricultural concern, said Peter Furey, the bureau's executive director.
"The newcomers in the McMansions are skilled, many of them attorneys, and they're good at speaking up and raising complaints," Furey said. "As these homes begin to dot the landscape, farmers can feel the balance shifting away from them."
But the Madonias and their neighbors say they have borne the brunt of an anti-suburban bias, when they just want to be able to use their backyards.
"These inspectors come out here to survey the fly problem, and they see the farm, and then the Colonial - they figure it's just yuppies complaining again," said Toomey, whose house faces Chiulli's cows across a fence. "No one is worried about the problems at this particular farm. The people on these boards are farmers, and they're worried about when [a Right to Farm dispute] is going to affect them."
Owl_Eagle
”Guns Before Butter.”
The union life - it is for me!
Same situation applies to small general aviation airports: a/p has been in the boonies for years. Developer installs subdivision. Buyers bitch about the a/p. A/p gone.
--similar to a situation where I worked in the Black Hills. Twenty some years ago, a group largely composed of local potsmokers bought houses adjacent to an old gold mill, pockmarked with century old mine workings, then were outraged when one of the owners of the claims undertook to operate a mine in the area-This is absolutely nothing new for anyone operating an industrial facility in a suburban area. The plant I used to work at had a street built next to it at least a decade after the place became operational. Allegedly the plant owners tried to buy the property both before and after houses were built, knowing what would eventually happen. No deal.
Eventually the plant shut down due to city antagonism stemming from neighbor complaints about not only odors, but the noises of a three shift operation. They wised up near the end (the prospect of losing 400+ manufacturing jobs will do that) but it was pretty much too late at that point.
The only thing worse than NIMBY is ex post facto NIMBY. People buy houses at a low price because of the surroundings then try to drive the surroundings away.
-Eric
Likewise with my gun club. A new neighbor called the police to report bullets hitting his roof; Upon arriving and checking the roof and gutters, they found..UNFIRED ROUNDS, cartridge case, bullet, intact primers, and all! (Why were they not prosecuted??)
So..to keep it lighter:
The Yuppies moved into the country to live with Nature. Washing the dishes, the wife looked out the window, and saw an elephant, who had escaped from a visiting circus. She called the police in a panic.
"There's a BIG grey animal in my garden, and he is pulling up cabbages with his tail!!!"
"What's he doing with them?"
"You do NOT want to know!!!!"
LOL! That's hysterical. Except for the part about their not getting prosecuted. Club should have gone after them. Filing a false police report is a serious matter, and it would've served them right to go through the rest of their lives with a criminal record. Imagine explaining this to prospective employers in yuppie-land: "Well the noise was really bothering us, and we were afraid bullets really would hit our house, so we stuck some up on the roof -- only we didn't know how bullets worked, so we got caught". Could get your resume dropped right in the circular file . . .
She might have a legit beef (sorry) with her real estate agent, but certainly not with the farmer.
Now, I'm not college educated so maybe I'm just an ignorant hayseed, but I find it extremely odd that supposedly educated people don't know that cows poop.
And this "we have no rights" nonsense is really irritating. Of course she has rights; she just doesn't realize that her rights do not extend to denying the rights of her neighbor.
I'll side with someone who actually does something with the land over the "we want to get away from the hustle and bustle" oxygen thieves any day of the week.
You are correct. Here in NY, it is recommended that realtor's place the following paragraph in their purchase contracts when dealin with rural properties. (Most are urban realtors and don't bother).
"It is the policy of this state and this community to conserve, protect, and encourage the development and improvement of agricultural land for the production of food, and other products, and also for its natural and ecological value. This notice is to inform prospective residents that the property they are about to acquire lies partially or totally within or adjacent to an agricultural district, and that farming activities occur within the district. Such farming activities may include, but not be limited to, activities that cause noist, dust, and odors."
Caveat Emptor
Perhaps you can point out where it says he has a full time union job.
"I bet we can both guess which one it is..."
Actually we can't, care to help us out.
Obviously, you have never worked with unions before. For some recent background information, do a google search under - union - philadelphia - convention - center
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