With the future of farming in Southold Town at a crossroads, residents turned out in force last night to speak out on the issue of aquaculture — with some supporting fish farms and other land-based operations, and others adamant that they have no place near residential neighborhoods.
Residents spoke at a public hearing on the draft code relating to aquaculture.
Back in July, the town board voted unanimously to defeat initial draft legislation regarding land-based aquaculture, with an eye toward implementing amendments that would help ease concerns raised by neighbors.
The new draft includes a provision that such operations be sited on parcels that are a minimum of seven acres, with a 200 foot setback from other parcels and 100 feet from roads.
The seven acre lot size makes the draft consistent with New York State ag and markets law, Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell said.
The planning board recommended that the proposed setbacks be reduced to 50 feet if the contiguous parcel is protected, an agricultural use, or has no residential home within 200 feet; the town board said that suggestion was rejected.
Tess Gordon, who, along with her husband Todd came before the town board at a work session in November and said they hoped to launch a new, indoor, business, Celestial Shrimp Farm, in Peconic — if approved, it would be the first indoor shrimp farm in New York State — began last night’s hearing with a presentation on the proposed business.
She said the face of agriculture has been ever-changing in Southold since the town was born in 1640, with crops such as potatoes, cranberries and corn making way for oyster, scallops, wine, snails and mushrooms.
“Fish farming is not new to Long Island,” she said, with Cold Spring Harbor’s fish hatchery raising trout for 100 years.
She said Celestial Shrimp, a wholesale facility, would use water over and over, with no hormones and no antibiotics. “Just shrimp,” she said, adding that the hope was to cultivate Pacific white shrimp in waters of 86 degrees.
Working in a clean, indoor, climate-controlled facility, she said, produces a “better product, with no environmental degradation.”
Addressing concerns, Gordon said one to two deliveries of feed would arrive each month, with cars limited to employee vehicles and postal service trucks. Processing concerns were not relevant, she said, because the shrimp are to be sold live and whole. “There will be no removal of heads and no decaying matter to attract flies,” she said. The business would use filtered Atlantic saltwater, she said. “It smells like the beach,” she said.
Gordon said the goal was to model the business after the RDM Aquaculture, LLC, a Fowler, Indiana-based company.
Many local restaurants on the North Fork, she said, “can’t wait to serve up our shrimp.”
North Fork oyster farmer Karen Rivara also spoke out in favor of the shrimp farm. She said she had concerns that the proposed amendments restricted land-based aquaculture more than other agricultural ventures in town by relegating them to only three zones.
“Were this code written in 1996, in effect, my shellfish farm would not exist,” she said.
Rivara said while she believes it is the intent of the town to promote agriculture in Southold for the long-term, something that will stimulate the economy and provide jobs, the code needs tweaking.
George Aldcroft of Peconic said while he is not against aquaculture, residents had concerns about noise, size of buildings, and open tanks. He praised the Gordons’ presentation.
Russell reminded that under the Right to Farm law, anyone denied the opportunity to move forward with their proposal could still appeal to New York State. The town, he said, has had success in the past with implementing reasonable restrictions to mitigate impacts on neighbors.
Many have been concerned with one particular parcel in Peconic that would not be feasible under current code, Russell said.
Peconic resident John Skabry who, along with his wife Margaret, have been vocal opponents of the proposed shrimp farm, brought articles about the Indiana fish farm, where he said neighbors have rallied to oppose its expansion, saying it had “an odor similar to a rotten fish bowl.”
Skabry said concerns include water discharged by the farm potentially causing drainage and flooding issues, size of buildings, fecal contamination, garbage, flies, noise, traffic from delivery trucks, smoking processes and canneries.
“Is this preserving the rural character of Southold?” he asked. The town mandating that the shrimp farm be an indoor facility, Skabry said, “means nothing to me. Absolutely nothing.”
Russell said the town can impose restrictions on processing and packaging, which is prohibited.
Skabry said in the other facility he mentioned, no processing was taking place. “They were just raising fish. And it still smelled.”
Skabry said the initial parcel potentially suggested for the shrimp farm was right behind his Henry’s Lane home; the building could have been 54′ x 270′ or 14,580 square feet, with 10 percent retail space allowed.
“This operation belongs in an industrial zone,” Skabry said. “We want you to protect us through our existing zoning laws.”
At one point, Skabry said to Russell, “You don’t have all the answers. You don’t even have one answer.” When the supervisor spoke, Skabry interjected, “I have the floor.”
Cutchogue’s Benja Schwartz said the shrimp farm is representative of a new form of agricultural industry but the proposed law is “very broad” and could encompass much more than just shrimp farming and could open the door to future operations. He suggested the size of the operation should be limited to see how the model works in Southold.
Bill Toedter of the North Fork Environmental Council, meanwhile, said the new model raises concerns. The face of farming on the North Fork has changed over the past 50 years. “Who would have thought we’d have a plethora of corn mazes and greenhouses?”
Toedter urged the board to safeguard the community and the environment and said he worried about what could happen in the event of an emergency, if the water and fish were not self-contained and were released into the environment.
Water quality issues are a concern on the North Fork, he reminded. “The town needs to get in front of this before we allow it to get out of hand,” he said.
Pacific white shrimp, Toedter said, also make “an alarm bell go off, because they’re not native to the area.”
The use of antibiotics and hormones is widespread in many fish operations, and if not in the one proposed, they could be present in future businesses pitched.
The fertile ground should also be preserved for agricultural use, Toedter said, something that might not happen if a project has such a large footprint.
One Orient farmer stood up to support the Gordons.
Rod Stankiewicz of Southold was adamantly opposed. “I don’t want it in my backyard,” he said. “I don’t want to be part of a test case.”
Russell reminded the hearing was to talk about zoning, not a particular parcel.
Margaret Skabry, who has spoken out in the past, echoed her past issues with the proposal. “I don’t want this in anybody’s backyard,” she said. “Every time someone comes here you bend over backward to give them what they want. You have to say ‘no’. Enforce the rules we have here and worry about how we get treated, first. Think of us, first, before profits.”
Chris Baiz, chair of the town’s agricultural advisory committee, said the East End has the most expensive farmland in the nation and to survive, farmers need value-added products to sell. He said he supported the legislation. “Agriculture has one constant and that constant is change,” he said. “Let’s just get this done.”
The board closed the hearing and tabled a vote, taking no action.
