Committee to Revisit Farming Ordinance Discussion

A potential farming or market garden ordinance is under the list of discussion items on the agenda for the Thursday's Chatham Township Committee meeting.

A subcommittee of two committee members, Mayor Nicole Hagner and Committee Member Bob Gallop, , but the subcommittee did not meet for the first time until June 8.

The issue was tabled over the summer, Hagner said, because the committee does not generally take action on major issues during the summer months as people who are involved are often away on vacation.

“The main concern is focused on how we want to have the ordinance regulated within our zoning,” Hagner said at the June 23 meeting. “Whether it’s a permitted use, which would allow people to have a farm or garden as long as it meets the regulations we set forth, or a conditional use.

"But you would need to get approval from the planning board for a conditional use. Or else you would need a variance. I think the subcommittee at this point doesn’t know what the best option would be for Chatham, so we are continuing to look into it.”

The primary lobbyers for the ordinance are Tom and Debra Bucuk, who purchased a home at 461 Green Village Rd. in 2010. Before 2010 they lived in Chatham since 1983. The Bucuks' son Michael, a graduate of Rutgers University, hopes to turn some of their property and neighbor Dan Miller's property into an organic farm and sell produce at the Chatham Borough Farmers Market. Their neighbor, Richard Erich Templin, told township officials the Bucuks were preparing to farm the land in a residential zone.

In 1999, the committee passed an ordinance that forbade commercial farming in Chatham Township with exceptions for farms already in operation. The ordinance outlines certain criteria for any farms that wish to apply for a variance to operate in the township.

The ordinance is geared toward larger farms with loud equipment and livestock. The Bucuks said they intend to have a small farm without livestock or loud equipment.

. Both petitions include signatures from residents in Chatham Township and Green Village, particularly Green Village Road, Meyersville Road and Britten Road. Electronic versions have attracted signatures from throughout the state and country.

The committee meets at the Thursday at 7:30 p.m.