Put yourself in Gail Gomez’s shoes. Gail is the person who went
the Board of Supervisors back in May and complained about the
racket created by hundreds of roosters on a five-acre farm near her
home. She even played a tape, recorded at 4:00 in the morning, to
drive home the point.
Put yourself in Gail Gomez’s shoes. Gail is the person who went the Board of Supervisors back in May and complained about the racket created by hundreds of roosters on a five-acre farm near her home. She even played a tape, recorded at 4:00 in the morning, to drive home the point.
There are many five-acre parcels in the county, the result of county subdivision laws that allow owners of land zoned for agriculture to sell off portions for homes.
The land retains the zoning, along with which comes an invitation to do things perfectly legally that your neighbors may find annoying. Inevitably, conflicts have increased in recent months.
Back in the day, your neighbor’s farm house was far enough away that raising 500 roosters would not bother anyone.
But with adjoining five-acre parcels, it’s no longer possible to hold a private rodeo or a dirt bike race – which have been sources of recent complaints – without creating a nuisance for your neighbors. Zoning laws, or noise ordinances, need to adapt to the changing nature of land use.
County officials seemed on the verge of doing that. Three weeks ago Supervisor Don Marcus told the Free Lance that he envisioned a strict, well-enforced noise ordinance with fines to rein in problems.
Acting County Administrative Officer Susan Lyons said: “We will do whatever we can to mitigate this.”
But when both sides of the dispute showed up at a hearing, our supervisors, afraid to offend any of their constituents, got cold feet.
Suddenly the gung-ho Don Marcus had lost interest, saying “The part of this that is disappointing to me is that government has to get involved at all.”
He encouraged people to be neighborly and work out the problems among themselves.
That’s all hat and no cattle.
The Board of Supervisors punted on an issue that just a week before Anthony Botelho had called “a critical issue that needs urgent attention.” They ran and hid, hoping the issue would go away, but it hasn’t. And it won’t.
In the meantime, the supervisors’ message to the public is: “You folks just go ahead and sue each other. Better that than we risk offending any voters.”
This is not the Wild West. Government by lawsuit or other form of confrontation is irresponsible.
The county supervisors need to step up to the plate and write reasonable noise regulations.
And if that means you can’t have 500 roosters on your five acres anymore, or hold a loud dirt-bike race or rodeo without the consent of your neighbors, then so be it.
