Changes to Graham, N.C., Rules Would Further Limit Poultry, Hog Farms

Jul. 23–GRAHAM — There aren’t any hog farms near the city, and the city means to keep it that way.

The planning and zoning board saw some proposed changes to the city’s rules this week. If adopted, they would allow the city to limit poultry to five birds on a property and ban swine or any smelly livestock, not just in the city but in the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ). An ETJ is a buffer around a city or town in which the town can enforce its land use or zoning ordinances, but not other local ordinances like noise rules or leash laws. Residents of the ETJ do not have to pay municipal property taxes, but they also cannot vote for town officials or get access to town services.

“There’s no restrictions in our ETJ right now,” said City Planner Michael Leinwand, “and the state has just passed a law saying that we can restrict different types in our ETJ as well as in the city.” The proposed rules are intended to protect people in and around Graham from the kinds of smells people living near large hog or chicken farms around the state have discovered. Leinwand said there are no hog farms near Graham that he knows of, but there may be some small poultry farms outside the city.

People with hogs, pigs or six or more chickens, ducks or geese would have two years after the rule is adopted to get rid of their swine and reduce the number of their poultry. They could not breed more if that would put them over the limit.

Swine are already prohibited inside the city, but there is an exception for domesticated pot bellied hogs; one per lot is allowed, according to the ordinance. Poultry are allowed in the city, but police can confiscate them if they are out in the street.

The city could only enforce the proposed rules, however, if there were complaints about the smell. The sniff test would actually apply to any animal kept for food, product or use. While there is no specific language about horses and no specific limit on cows, any complaint about their odors crossing property lines could bring the city down on their owners. The owners of properties annexed into the city would have two years to get into compliance with the proposed rules, if they are passed. But Leinwand said the city was not likely to annex a farm unless the owner requested it. Board member Butch Harrington cast the only vote against the proposed rules, saying they could apply to anyone who had a covey of quail or other wild poultry like wild turkeys on their property. “I’m not satisfied with the bird provision; we have precious little of that left,” Harrington said. “I think that language should be changed to allow ‘any wild birds not kept.’” The city will have a public hearing on the proposal Tuesday Aug. 2.

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