LIVERMORE FALLS — Selectmen on Sept. 3 agreed to have a proposed animal/dog control ordinance reviewed by the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry [Maine DACF] before sending it to voters for adoption.

Selectmen on Sept. 3 agreed to have the Animal/Dog Control Ordinance reviewed by the state before asking voters to adopt it for Livermore Falls. The ordinance includes guidelines for farm animals raised for food. File photo/Livermore Falls Advertiser

In May, the Select Board tasked the Planning Board with possibly developing an ordinance governing livestock in the village area.

Animal Control Officer Kenneth Pelletier told selectmen at their May 21 meeting that in the past 90 days he received 45 to 55 complaints, six of them about goats.

“A while ago, the Planning Board was asked to draft a couple of ordinances,” Gayle Long, chair of that board said Sept. 3. “One was property maintenance, update the current one and the other one was to draft an animal ordinance and update the dog ordinance.”

Both have been done and they have been sent to the attorney. “The attorney got back to us on the animal/dog control ordinance,” Long said. “He has reminded us that the state has a statute called the Maine Agriculture Protection Act. It’s part of the Maine DACF.”

This statute gives directive to any municipality that’s writing an ordinance that is about farms, animals, farming in general, Long noted. “Whenever the town drafts an ordinance, the recommendation is that the ordinance is sent to the Maine DACF for review prior to having a vote,” she stated. “The attorney has said there is little in this ordinance he thinks would be a problem so if we wanted to we could go to vote in November and then send it to Maine DACF.”

If issues are found, there would be a very short time to correct them and the ordinance would have to be voted on again, Long said. The Planning Board would like it to go to the Maine DACF first and hopefully get it back in time for the April vote, she stated.

“I’d like to have their approval,” Selectman Bruce Peary said. “Have them check it before we vote. Find out if we have done something that they don’t like and then have to redo it.”

And re-explain it to the public, Long stated. She said the ordinance has been returned, the attorney made some suggestions for changes which the Planning Board agrees with. The new draft will be sent to the selectmen, she added.

“It will be interesting to see it, hopefully it will solve some problems, clarify some stuff for people,” Chair William Kenniston said.

The draft ordinance has defined some space limitations based on some of the challenges in town, Long said. “We took out the word village because there are a lot of smaller communities where some of the lots are equal to some of the sizes in town,” she noted. “We didn’t want to limit the smaller restrictions to just the town area because there are a lot of people that would benefit by having an understanding of what the limitations should be. So far they are broad enough so anybody with a current farm wouldn’t be affected whatsoever.”

“So this would be more towards things that come up after the ordinance is approved,” Kenniston said.

It might affect someone that has 97 turkeys on a small parcel of land or 30 some odd goats on a 10 by 10 foot lot, Long replied. It’s for people on the edge of town, have other animals, two acres, she noted.

“It clearly defines where the housing should be, how the housing should be, how the manure is managed, not bleeding into the septic system and how not to offend your neighbors with animal sounds and or smells,” Long stated. The attorney agreed with most of that, put legal terms in there that we didn’t have that would protect us, she noted.

Selectman Jim Long mentioned a letter that had been passed on to the Planning Board, asked if that situation would be a problem.

“No, not at all, she far exceeds the smaller size,” Gayle Long replied. “The space limitations that we identified are looking at lots that have less than half acre open space, which is a typical town lot.”

She said the Planning Board drove around town to look at all properties that were not necessarily in the village area too. “When we get it [the ordinance] back from DACF we will talk with the lady who wrote the letter so she can see it,” she noted.

The property maintenance ordinance hasn’t come back from the attorney, will be shared when it does, she said.

Kenniston asked if the animal/dog control ordinance would affect a person with a lot of chickens.

“It’s really more about where you put the animals,” Gayle Long responded. “It is protecting the animals. It is really not a chicken issue, it’s more along smaller locations. It doesn’t include pets.”

“I think the animal control officer and CEO both wanted some kind of meat in the ordinance so that they could address an issue like what was happening on Knapp St.,” she stated. “This does that. It doesn’t prohibit anybody from having an animal. Primarily if you have a very small lot you would be using it just for personal use.”

It’s also animal welfare, so they are not being cared for inappropriately, Selectman Long noted.

The ordinance has pretty good materials, guidelines on how to keep animals, what types of materials to build a shelter, lights and that type of thing, Gayle Long said.

“We look forward to reading it,” Kenniston stated.