No remedy for neighbors

No regulations against chicken houses

Thursday, November 30, 2006

By Marcie Young
Charlotte Observer Staff Writer

MORGANTON -- Willard Holland grew up with a view of Burke County's South Mountains, farming alongside his family and neighbors. As an adult, he moved to Charlotte to start a business, marry and raise a family of his own.

But Holland, 65, knew he wanted to return to Burke County when he and his wife retired, so, a few years ago, he started renovating his family homestead in a mostly rural neighborhood near Morganton.

In October, Holland and his neighbors began noticing large trailers moving steel and equipment through his neighborhood.

By mid-November, workers had built two, 300-foot-long, metal chicken houses within 800 feet of Holland's front porch, less than 350 feet from Connie Dufford and Camille Watts' back door and down the street from a nursing home.

Soon, the buildings will be stocked with live birds.

Holland and some of the neighbors say the chicken houses threaten their property values and the area's overall quality.

"You walk out on my deck and see these chicken buildings," he said. "There's no way you can stop the smell if the wind is blowing in your direction ... It's far different than having cornfields in your backyard."

But there is little that anyone can do to help Holland and his neighbors. State and local governments have little control over agricultural operations beyond health and safety issues. And the culture of rural areas, where property owners are fiercely defensive of their independence, means the homeowners have little recourse.

The chicken houses are being built by Daphne and Matthew Davis, who plan to raise hundreds of chickens for local poultry processor Case Farms.

The Davises, who own about 7 acres off Holland Street, according to Burke County Planning and Development, did not want to talk much about their chicken houses or the clash with their neighbors.

But they say they are free to use the land as they choose. "It's our property," Matthew Davis said, "and we can do whatever we want with it."

Holland said he has talked with officials at the state Department of Agriculture, members of the county's board of commissioners, the county manager, other chicken breeders and a spokesman at Case Farms, which is working with the Davises.

While local officials say they are sympathetic to Holland and his neighbors, they say there's not much they can do.

Marc Collins, planning director for the county, said local officials have no control over livestock. "There's nothing we can put on zoning ordinances that put (regulations) on that type of agriculture," Collins said.

The N.C. Poultry Federation has established voluntary guidelines that encourage breeders to build at least 500 feet from an occupied home or public business and a minimum of 1,200 feet from recreation centers, schools and nursing homes.

The distance, Ford said, helps curb the smell and maintain good relationships between neighbors. "There's no legal issues on (building closer)," he said. "But these are distances that seem to be working in other areas."

Burke County Manager Ron Lewis said he encourages neighbors to work together to find a compromise and would be willing to mediate the conversation.

Building fast-growing shrubs, such as cypress trees, he said, could create a buffer between the buildings. He also suggested chicken breeders follow the N.C. Poultry Federation's guidelines.

"In the spirit of being a good neighbor those kind of measures are reasonable," Lewis said.

Richard Ducker, professor of public law and government at UNC Chapel Hill's Institute of Government, specializes in land use law and said no firm standards exist when it comes to building poultry houses.

"It's largely unregulated," he said. "And (that's because) North Carolina has strikingly been an agricultural, rural state."

In the 1990 census, however, the state passed the urban threshold. For the first time, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, 50 percent of the state's population lived in urban areas. Conflicts like this, Ducker said, become more common as the state becomes more urban.

Neighbors say they know the Davises are within their rights to raise chickens on the property but wish they had followed the federation's guidelines.

"I understand that these people are trying to make a living," said Jeff Tallent, who co-owns a nursing home about 800 feet from the chicken houses. "But the quality of air in that area is going to get worse."

Connie Dufford and her sister, Camille Watts, bought nearly a half acre on Holland Street more than two years ago, dreaming of retiring with a view of Burke County's rolling mountains. The 350 feet between their back door and the poultry buildings isn't enough, they said.

"If we had known the chicken houses were going in, we would have never bought," Dufford, 63, said. "We won't come anywhere near what we have invested in it if we try to sell right now."

The road the Davises built to the chicken houses runs alongside Dufford's property and about 20 feet from the trailer the sisters share. Tractor-trailer trucks and other large vehicles, they say, make deliveries late at night, rounding the corner at speeds over the limit and cutting into their yard.

They said they worry the traffic will continue as Case Farms begins dropping off the birds and feed and picking up the fattened chickens.

"We liked this place so much," Watts said. "It's not fair for one person to destroy a neighborhood."

The Davis' declined last week to discuss the details of their business but said they have followed building regulations and will abide by state and local laws.

Case Farms works with about 175 independent growers in Western North Carolina, said Director of Public Relations Ken Wilson.

Now that the houses are built, Holland said, it's only a matter of time before the buildings are stocked. It's the lack of communication between residents and the Davises, he said, that upsets him most.

"Dumping this in the middle of the neighborhood without anyone knowing what's going on isn't right," he said. "The community should have some sort of input."


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