Conference noted::equitation

     The stable license now required in Sterling was precipitated
   because one person in town refused to provide shelter for their
   horses and did keep good fences and the horses were walking all
   over the neighbors yards all the time. Eventually the neighbors
   took the town to court and cost the town a lot of money.

   This was the justification given for introduction of the licensing. 

   I have since talked with residents of other local towns and most
   of them have been required to get stable licenses for many years.
   

    My town has them.....since we are big farm country, this
    generates a few bucks for the town.

    SOUTHBORO has the stable licenses too. Although they were not inforced
    in the past but because one man...the town is now sending out the forms
    to the horse owners in towm. Of course they are not going to make a big
    issue over it I do not believe. Alot of the owners that have that one
    horse in the back yard...have had these animals for years and no
    complaints from the neighbors as yet. The town has only just done this 
    due to the fact that one man at the Marlboro Equestrian Ctr. hates
    these two stable owners in our town and wants to shut them down. They 
    are both licensed stables already and teach lessons on their property.
    Maybe he wants their business. Any ways he even called the MSPCA in 
    on them...You should see the horses at these two places they are all
    very fat and happy. The animal inspector in town does inspect all the 
    livestock...horses,sheep, cattle, pigs, etc and says all the animals in
    town are all healthy and housed well.
    
    Oh well....it only takes one bad apple to make it hard for the other
    poor folks out there.
    
    tr

    We paid the town of Littleton a yearly fee for at least 10 years, while
    we owned a pony or a horse. It was not terribly high. You could not
    even go out to dinner.

    Horses are taxed in most towns, so are sheep, goats, cows etc. This
    thing in Sterling is a permit (permission) to buy a horse. According
    to the pedlar they come out and inspect your premises. Licensing
    a stable is one thing, it is a business and serves the public much
    like a kennel license or a milk license. A single horse is more
    of a pet situation.
    My feelings are that innocent people are often hurt by ignorance
    and power mongers. Politics and 'who you know' always enter the
    picture. This may never happen here but if it gets spread to all
    towns it WILL happen. The neighbor next door doesn't want you to
    get that horse and is friends with the inspector, the rules are
    applied for some and bent for others. I know, my husband and I just
    built a house and who you make friends and who you tick off can mean
    many $$$$ and time. Luckily we saw this, but our friends who were 
    also building did not. Our house is done, theirs is just started.
    Ignorance is another factor.
    Remember that questions 2 on the ballot a couple years back? The
    sheep farmers said if they ever had to enact the rules as they were
    stated they would have lost half of their spring lambs to pneumonia
    (separate stalls inclosed and heated) Someone just this fall was 
    SHOCKED that my barn wasn't heated, 'The POOR animal!'
    And whose to say what type of fencing you should have or barn flooring
    or how much acreage per horse or if your allowed to keep the hay
    in the same barn as the animals? Even within the notes file the
    opinions are strong and sometimes opposite, when you get 'non' horse
    people involved the potential is there for real problems. I'm not
    sure that the benefits outweigh the this. Whose to say after a
    permit is obtained that someone isn't going to starve or beat the
    horse anyway? Is someone going to check it every week?
    Try as we might we can't eliminate all abuse, of horses, children, 
    dogs, etc. We could make rules til we're blue in the face.
    

   Horses are taxed as personal property in Sterling. In addition
   to that, they propose to charge the keeper of the horse (not 
   always same as the owner) $1 per horse fee on top of the stable 
   inspection fee**. They will not inspect the horse's health in 
   any way. The persons doing the inspecting will not be veterinary 
   health people or even professional horse people. Mainly they are 
   inspecting for adherence to building and environmental codes. 
   It is not permission to buy a horse, but permission to keep
   a horse on your property that they are licensing.
 
   I am told that ten years ago, there used to be a one-time inspection 
   and lifetime license for $10, and that it did not need to be renewed. 
   This inspection (if you had it) is no longer valid.

   Property owners will be required to go to the BOH for a variance 
   if their property does not meet the requirements. This means nearly 
   every one in town (including 100+ year old farms) will be getting
   a variance from the BOH every year, because so few meet the new
   requirements.

   **The fees for the stable license were revoked at a hearing with 
   the Board of Health that was attended by over 25 horse-owning 
   residents. According to Mass General Laws, in towns of over 5000, 
   these fees must be set at town meeting. They were not, and the 
   Board was in violation of that law. These fees will be set at 
   the next town meeting. At least residents will be notified of 
   that, unlike the BOH meeting that set the regulations. They say 
   they published legal notices, but the paper they were published 
   in is a give-away two page monthly that you cannot even subscribe 
   to. You have to go looking for it at local businesses.  

    I'm really happy with the way our town lets us know whats going on.
    They send us a notice of everything that's going to be voted on.
    We get these about once a month. I know that in other towns the
    people usually find out after the fact.
    
    Sharon

    This is an update of the current situation in Sterling.
    
    Horse owners in Sterling have now united and have gotten help from the
    Mass Farm Bureau, Mass Dept. of Agriculture, and some help from an
    attorney.  We have sent two letters to the Board of Health and have
    attended two meetings.  We have been given an agenda item on the next
    meeting so that "we can have these simple regulations explained to us". 
    
    If you didn't already know it, the Boards of Health in Mass. are the
    most powerfull groups in the state.  They are given "Police Powers" by
    Mass General Laws to protect the public health and may pass any
    "Reasonable" regulation to do so.  Specifically, they are empowered by
    MGL Chapt 111, Sect 155,156 to regulate horse stables in their
    juristiction.  They may legally determine the number of horses that can
    be kept within the town!
    
    Here are the objectionable items to Sterling horse owners:
    
    Horses can not be kept on less than one acre.
    
    No more than one horse per 1/2 acre may be kept.
    
    Stables, paddocks, and corals must be located no closer than 100 feet
    from any dwelling.  (Zoning setoff in town is 40 feet.  This means that
    if someone buys the lot next door and puts up a house at the legal
    setback, you may be required to move your barn, corral, or paddock.)
    
    Stables, paddocks, and corals must be located no closer than 400 feet
    from any stream, pond, or drainage easement.  (This exceeds the state
    limit which specifies 100 feet and only streams which flow into a resevoir)
    Note that this also means that farm ponds are illegal.  Note also that
    your septic system may be within 100 feet.
    
    Stables floors must be hosed down regularly.  (regularly is not
    defined).
    
    Stable walls must be covered with an insecticide both inside and out,
    weekly.  (Industrial and Agricultural application of most insecticides
    in this state requires a license)
    
    Stables must be screened.
    
    No more than one cord of manure may be accumulated.  Public stables
    must have manure removed weekly.
    
    Grandfathering MAY be granted on an annual basis.
    
    Fines for non-compliance can be up to $50 per day.  (The state only
    allows a fine of $5 a day)
    
    Public stables must provide two or more toilet rooms with hand washing
    facilities and an approved septic plan by the BOH.
    
    Public stables are defined as any stable to which the public has access
    for riding horses, riding lessons, viewing equestrian events and ETC. 
    We are concerned about the etc. but under this definition, someone who
    has one horse and gives one lesson a week is a public stable, while
    someone who runs a breeding farm with 150 horses is a private stable.
    
    After polling 18 area towns, this was found to be the most restrictive
    regulations written.
    
    I will continue to update this note as events develop.  We are going to
    become as active as necessary to get these regulations recinded.
    
    Bob
    
    

    re .8
    
    It appears that there are some very horse-phobic people about in
    Sterling. As an appointed Conservation Commissioner responsible for
    administering the Wetlands Protection Act in the town (Littleton) where
    I live, I often have to deal with interpretions of "reasonableness".
    What is shown in Reply .8 for regulations exceeds my interpretation of
    "reasonable" and approaches "unconstitutional".
    
    The Board of Health consists usually of elected rather than appointed
    members, which means they can be unelected at the next town meeting, or
    whenever their term expires. In my opinion this BOH needs to
    demonstrate what "public interest" is being protected by their
    regulations and why that "public interest" can't be protected by a less
    restrictive approach.
    
    Do I remember correctly that somebody was trying to develop a Race
    Track in Sterling? One of the "joys" of being a town official is that
    all people must be treated alike, even the obnoxious ones. In the
    Conservation Commission case, a home-owner can't be less strictly
    regulated sub-division or office park developer. If these regulations
    were initiated by the prospect of a Race Track, then there's a lot of
    "fine tuning" still required.

    RE:
    <<< Note 1440.9 by KOALA::GUNN "I couldn't possibly comment" >>>
    
    >The Board of Health consists usually of elected rather than appointed
    >members, which means they can be unelected at the next town meeting, or

     You can only vote for someone else if there is someone else to
     vote for, which there isn't. They have been running unopposed.
     And I have been told that there are qualifications required to
     run, so that not just anyone can stand up and say they want to
     run for that job because they don't like the way it's being done
     now.

    Thank you very much for posting this.  A friend of mine was going to
    look at an antique colonial with barn in Sterling.  Based on this, I'll
    advise him to stick to other towns.
    
    Mary

    After last nights meeting with the Sterling Board of Health, I am happy
    to report that we have made significant progress.  We are still
    negotiating on the 400 feet requirement but they have given us the
    opportunity to submit a counter proposal.  Public stables will not be
    treated differently than private stables as it applies to manure
    removal.  There is now a definition for pastures which are excluded
    from many of the water requirements (ie farm ponds are now legal).  All
    of the strange language about washing down the stables and applying
    insecticide will be removed or rewritten to make sense.  Variances
    granted will be permanent and prior use will take precedence, meaning
    that no one can build next to you and thereby cause you to be
    non-complient.  All in all we were very successful.
       For those who run into the same problem, I suggest that you organize
    before you go to the Board of Health.  You should do your homework and
    send your detailed concerns to the Board before the meeting.  Pick a
    spokesperson to do the talking and make sure that you stick to the
    strategy.  If one person shows up and starts making a scene, you will
    make the board go on the defensive and all forward progress will stop. 
    This does not mean that you have to back down from anything they say
    but if you want to change their minds you need to be well informed and
    respectful.
       I'll post the final results when we have finished our negotiations
    but at least for now it is not a problem to own horses in Sterling.
    
    Bob
    

>    Stables, paddocks, and corals must be located no closer than 400 feet
>    from any stream, pond, or drainage easement.  (This exceeds the state
>    limit which specifies 100 feet and only streams which flow into a resevoir)

    I know I read that 1 years waste from a horse contains the same
    chemicals as 1 100 pound bag of fertilizer.

    Can you imagine the uproar if a town passed an ordinance like this
    regarding fertilizing our lawns ?

    I'll try to find the exact quote.