Worcester County has introduced Bill 17-3 ‘An Act Concerning Zoning-Poultry Operations,’ for the purpose of amending the Zoning and Subdivision Control Article to define poultry operations and to establish size and number limitation, enhanced buffering and setback standards for poultry operations.
The County Commissioners will hold a Public Hearing in Snow Hill on April 25 to receive public comment on Bill 17-3.
—Agriculture is the single, largest source of pollution in the Chesapeake Bay and Coastal Bays. In Maryland, agriculture is dominated by the poultry industry.As farming practices have become more industrialized, chickens are increasingly being raised in large-scale Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, known as “CAFOs.”
These enormous poultry houses enable growers to keep large numbers of chickens contained in confined spaces. In our work to reduce pollution from agriculture, ACT advocates for regulations to keep pollution from CAFOs in check.
A recent study published by the National Academy of Sciences, found that ammonia emissions from factory farms was the primary source of nitrogen falling to the ground at 69% of the monitoring sites in the study.
In 2016, Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future released a poll that concluded Maryland voters want to see more regulation of CAFOs, including 71% of Maryland voters surveyed on the Eastern Shore support and encourage local counties to pass public health laws that limit the number of poultry houses that can be built in one area.
—What is missing from the Draft Zoning Regulations proposed in Worcester County Bill 17-3?
The County Commissioners will hold a Public Hearing in Snow Hill on April 25 to receive public comment on Bill 17-3.
—Agriculture is the single, largest source of pollution in the Chesapeake Bay and Coastal Bays. In Maryland, agriculture is dominated by the poultry industry.As farming practices have become more industrialized, chickens are increasingly being raised in large-scale Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, known as “CAFOs.”
These enormous poultry houses enable growers to keep large numbers of chickens contained in confined spaces. In our work to reduce pollution from agriculture, ACT advocates for regulations to keep pollution from CAFOs in check.
A recent study published by the National Academy of Sciences, found that ammonia emissions from factory farms was the primary source of nitrogen falling to the ground at 69% of the monitoring sites in the study.
In 2016, Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future released a poll that concluded Maryland voters want to see more regulation of CAFOs, including 71% of Maryland voters surveyed on the Eastern Shore support and encourage local counties to pass public health laws that limit the number of poultry houses that can be built in one area.
—What is missing from the Draft Zoning Regulations proposed in Worcester County Bill 17-3?
- —Density control - too many industrial scale poultry houses in one area are not only detrimental to human health but also to bird health.
- —Dual parcel protections - under the proposed regulations there is a bad loophole: contiguous parcels can be developed with 8 houses each, diluting the protections offered in the Bill.
- —Air emissions – placement of the exhaust fans need to direct air emissions away from water resources as well as residential/business properties.
- —Less ‘grandfathering.’
- —Bill 17-3 does not address the need for a Health Ordinance. The County Commissioners need to convene as a Health Board, create a stakeholder workgroup that includes residents, farmers, health officials and industry, and develop a Health Ordinance that will go beyond 'setbacks' and address the cumulative impacts of heavy industrial animal production in the county.
