By ARCHIE MOUNTAIN
NEWPORT — A move to limit the number of chickens that Newporters would be permitted to keep on their property drew plenty of debate from members of the Newport Planning Board on March 20.
After 90 minutes of discussion the board settled on numbers, with changes, and voted to pass the updated zoning amendment on to the Newport Board of Selectmen for its consideration on whether or not to include the article on the town meeting warrant for a vote on May 8.
The amended article never got to the selectmen, however, after an opinion from legal counsel that the wording of the amendment needed some cleaning up. That would have required another public meeting and the time frame prevented further action on that recommendation.
And that killed voter action on the amendment for this year. It could resurface at the 2019 town meeting.
The agenda stated the intent and purpose of this section is to allow the keeping of a limited number of hens, primarily for the purpose of providing fresh eggs to the occupants of the dwelling in all zoning districts.
Originally, numbers permitted use was 2 hens on less than one acre, up to four hens on 1-2 acres, and 10 hens on 2-5 acres. No roosters would be allowed in any of those zones.
These standards do not apply to chickens kept in zoning districts where faming is permitted
At the end of the meeting those numbers changed to 3 hens, 6 hens and 15 hens based on acreage.
During the hearing Planning Board member Bert Spaulding Sr. mentioned that major changes were made to the original proposal and another public hearing was necessary.
“We as a board must abide by the law. We need another posted meeting,” Spaulding said. “The question is have we made major changes and are we breaking the law?
“I don’t think we have made any major changes,” we have clarified them,” said Planning Board member Bill Walsh.
A day following the meeting, Planning and Zoning Administrator Julie Magnuson dispatched the following message to the board members:
“I took the Public Notice that was posted for the Zoning Amendment on the Keeping of Hens and superimposed the revisions that were made last night over the original posting. I emailed the document to our town attorney’s and asked for advice on whether or not the changes were substantive.
“Although some of the revisions were editorial, the other changes are unclear as to whether or not they changed the intended effect of the proposal. Given the uncertainty, I was advised that the Planning Board should hold an additional public hearing.
“I have been told that the BOS needs the language by mid-day on Friday (March 23). The law requires 14 days between hearings and a 10-day notice period.
“The result is that we cannot go forward with this zoning amendment this year.
“Thank you for all of your hard work and good thoughts on this topic.”
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