SALEM, N.H. — The Planning Board will talk about chickens, donation bins and electric vehicle charging stations as its next meeting on July 9 to flesh out some hot topics for zoning ordinances and possible amendments to existing ones.
“We’ve been talking about some of these for a while so it will be a good opportunity to dive in and make a determination how to handle them,” Salem Planning Director Jacob LaFontaine said.
The Planning Board will first decide if it wants to move forward with either an amendment or create a zoning ordinance at the workshop. The recommendations then need to go before the Town Council in two public hearings before they are approved or denied.
The ordinances do not need to be voted on during the March election.
“Salem has traditionally had a strong agriculture tradition, but over the last 50 years, it’s been built out.”
LaFontaine said the focus will look at determining the appropriate lot acreage needed to keep chickens and explore how surrounding communities are handling the issue.
The town’s zoning ordinance regulates what areas of town residents can keep livestock and chickens, the land needed for that use and conditions for enclosures and coops where they are kept.
LaFontaine said it’s an ordinance which comes up for discussion every few years, but one gaining more attention now as residents become interested in homesteading. Under Salem’s ordinance, residents need to have one acre of land and be in a rural zoning district.
“There have seen people interested in homesteading and they’ve been disappointed when we have to notify them that they’re not permitted to keep chickens,” LaFontaine said.
The zoning ordinance originally required two acres of land to keep chickens, but was reduced in 2016.
Planning Board talks have revolved around allowing chickens on properties outside of the rural district, opening up residential and recreational districts with one acreage for use. But the board didn’t move forward with the change.
While the Planning Board will discuss possible amendments to how the ordinance stands, it won’t give roosters a break. Roosters, along with pigs, are two animals which Salem does not allow residents to own.
“It’s tough to be a rooster in Salem,” LaFontaine said.
“We do receive a lot of complaints involving chickens, but they are almost solely because of roosters,” LaFontaine said. “The majority of complaints are regarding the noise.”
Donation bins will also be on the table during the Planning Board workshop.
LaFontaine said he believes the board is more open to potentially allowing them, or accommodating them, in town. The goal would be to regulate the amount of bins on a property and their location and to set policies in place for property owners to manage the bins so they don’t overflow.
Right now, if someone wants a donation bin on their property, they need to go before the Planning Board with a request under public matters.
But the planning director said he thinks the best move would be to adopt regulations surrounding donation bins.
“It just makes the process predictable for the applicants and property owners, staff and the community,” LaFontaine said.
He said the ideas of adopting regulations also apply to other areas of business and interest in town and finding consistency across the board on how to accommodate them.
They could benefit food trucks and electric vehicle charging stations, the latter being a more emerging technology.
Charging stations are found at The Mall at Rockingham Park and throughout Tuscan Village as well as dealerships in Salem. Nouria was approved for two charging stations, but did not install them. The gas station at The Salem Depot was also approved for one.
Charging stations aren’t included in the town’s zoning ordinance, but again, LaFontaine said it’s about planning for the future and making the process to set up potential charging stations more predictable with set regulations. Changes could regulate how and where EV charging stations can be accommodated. Zoning could also regulate digital technology with the chargers, like TV screens similar to ones viewed when pumping gas now, LaFontaine said.
“I don’t think we’d want to see something like that along Route 28,” LaFontaine said.