NORWAY — Selectman Thomas Curtis said Thursday there’s nothing to fear from a hay farmer spreading manure in a field along Hobbs Pond, according to a state regulator and the town’s code enforcement officer.

The field near Lakeview Cemetery on Watson Road slopes toward Little Pennesseewassee Pond, known locally as Hobbs Pond. It is town land leased to local farmer Jerry Cleveland, who spreads manure for growing a hay crop.

At the selectmen meeting Thursday, Curtis, who lives along the pond, that the farmer was operating within state law. 

The information appears to close a monthslong, sometimes contentious chapter between the board and a few residents, who asked selectmen two weeks ago to restrict the manure spreading because manure may be running into a drain and down into the water, polluting it. 

Curtis said Matthew Randall, an agricultural compliance supervisor with the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conversation and Forestry, walked the property on Tuesday with Code Enforcement Officer Joelle Corey-Whitman. 

Curtis said Randall found no issues and reiterated that the onus for proving that a permitted practice was harmful fell to the complainant. 

If neighbors think their wells, or the lake is contaminated, they have to prove it before they can ask for remediation, Curtis said.

Resident Steve Siskowitz, who said his well and the pond were in jeopardy of being contaminated, had not conducted testing. He previously complained he should not have to have a problem before he was required to fix it. Siskowitz was not at Thursday’s meeting.

In May, selectmen voted to rescind an earlier decision establishing a 200-foot setback between the manure-spreading and abutting properties, after Cleveland objected it was stricter than the 25-foot federal setback requirement. The distance manure must be kept from a well or body of water is 100 feet. 

That vote aligned the town with federal guidelines, although Cleveland said he was more cautious, spreading manure 75 feet away from neighboring property. 

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