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07/27/2021 02:31 PMThe owners of a 10.29-acre parcel in Ivoryton are asking to amend Essex’s zoning regulations to allow horses on their property.
The change would apply to all properties zoned as Village Residence District, which are not currently permitted to keep livestock, poultry, or other animals except as household pets.
A public hearing, and potential vote, on the text amendment is scheduled for the next regular meeting of the Essex Planning & Zoning Commission (PZC) on Tuesday, Aug. 3.
Tom Metcalf, a civil engineer and land surveyor, brought forward the text amendment request for the property owners. If it were to be approved, he plans to purchase a portion of the 10.29-acre parcel in Ivoryton, build a dwelling, and keep his two horses there.
As proposed, the text amendment would permit horses on properties zoned as Village Residence District for personal, not for-profit, use. The number of horses would be restricted based on property size, with a required lot size of “not less than three acres,” with “one horse for the first two acres and one horse per acre thereafter.”
The property in Ivoryton “has a historical farm use associated with it, which included the keeping of horses and the existing open field area at the rear of the property is well suited for the keeping of horses,” said Metcalf, in a June 27 letter to the Essex PZC.
The house at 2 Main Street in Ivoryton was built in 1870. It is the immediate neighbor of an automotive repair shop and a residential dwelling. The bulk of the 10.29-acre parcel runs behind the house and is surrounded by wooded residential lots.
The Courier asked the Essex Land Use Office how many properties within the Village Residence District would meet the lot size requirements under the text amendment, but this information was not available by press time.
Jenifer Nadeau, an associate professor of animal science and an equine extension specialist at the University of Connecticut, said that lot size requirements for horses are “arbitrary.”
“Historically people have said two acres, but the reason for that is that if you’re going to support a horse on pasture only, then you would need two acres of good quality pasture. But that is not a good standard to use really, in my opinion, because it really depends on the land,” said Nadeau, by phone.
“Most people, they are also going to be giving [their horses] hay, so it’s kind of an irrelevant number. It’s more how the people are maintaining their land and the quality of their pasture,” she continued.
The amendment does not stipulate any specific site conditions or other approvals from the PZC.
“Say this is approved as proposed, they could just bring horses onto the property so long as the parcel was three acres or more,” said Essex Land Use Official Carey Duques.
A zoning permit would be required if a property owner wanted to build a structure to house the horses, however.
“So, there is a zoning permit component to it [if building a structure], but the way it’s proposed right now, would not require review by the PZC through a site plan or special exception,” said Duques.