Proposed Zoning Change in Alton

[Gearhead]

Yesterday's Baysider had an article about a petition effort to rezone most of Robert's cove road to Rt. 28 from Rural Residential to Lakefront Residential "because of a recently opened commercial poultry business and the petitioners don't want the area to be overrun by farms and noise throughout the community."

It turns out that the recently opened commercial poultry business is a home with a couple of roosters, which makes me think the problem might be noise.

Perhaps the petitioners should have first considered the following:

1. Call the police and inquire about a noise ordinance. If the abutters complain about the early morning (or all night) crowing, then the police may take them away.

2. Visit your neighbor. Ask if they sell eggs. Maybe if you have a touch of class, you could actually ask politely what the plan is for the chickens. If they plan to keep them, ask if there's a way to insulate the sound.

3.Take up Falconry. At night. Or raise raccoons. I think you can do that in a RR zone.

4. The resonant frequency of a chicken's skull is 7Hz. If you can hear them they can feel seven hertz if you amplify it enough. Bad things happen to chickens at 7Hz.

5. Caveat Emptor. I looked into what covenants were in place on my property and what zone I was in before I bought it.

Obviously you can not anonymously do any of the above now, but there is one option left - You can move to a place that's not overrun by farms. I suggest northeastern New Jersey. No roosters there.

[Slickcraft]

The petition zoning article will have to go to a planning board public hearing after which the board has to vote to recommend or not recommend. In the past the board has voted to not recommend ill conceived petition articles in which case the voters killed such articles. Look for notice of the hearing and plan to attend to voice your opinion.

[Argie's Wife]

There was a hearing on this already and it was not recommended.

One lady, who apposed the zoning change, voiced her concerns about what this would do to her taxes. I think she said she was 90 years old, on a fixed income, and a significant increase in taxes would cause her to lose her home.

The reality of this is not only is this a case of a few chicken and roosters at a residence but it's a kid's 4-H project. I'd wager that as soon as the project is done, the chickens will go to roost elsewhere....

The people driving this petition warrant article would probably use a canon to shoot a fly.


PS
Gearhead... #4 on your list is a bit scary... how do you know that?

[Slickcraft]

Oops, I should have looked at the Baysider article first. The hearing has been held, the planning board voted to not recommend. My guess is that the voters will then kill it. A chicken **** petition.

I did note that the petitioners were represented by Stephen Nix, the same $&#$ lawyer that did in Ames Farm boat launching at a session of the Gilford ZBA.

[nature lover]

I just discovered this forum and the comments on this petition to my surprise. As one of those horrible people who supported this petition I would like to defend our position and give you the other side of the story which you are completely lacking. First of all we have been dealing with these roosters (up to 5) for 4 1/2 years. They crow every 2-5 seconds and the sound echoes down across our properties and over Roberts cove. Some of the neighbors who are upset live a distance away. That is how loud they are. They crow starting anywhere from 2Am to 10PM. We have tried to be good neighbors and have called these people to voice our complaints nicely to no avail. All we have gotten is the answering machine and even though we have asked them to call back and talk to us to see if we can come to an agreement to control their nuisance, not once have they done that. So you can't solve a problem when you can't get the people to sit down and talk.
We called the police several times to be told they can do nothing that roosters are agriculture animals and they do not fall under pet complaints (even though recently we have been told they are now pets and that is why they will not get rid of them). We filed a noise complaint to be told that the roosters are agriculture animals and are exempt and we were also told that if we continued to call these people we would have a harrassment complaint filed by the police against us.
These people leave these disgusting things out when they go to work and worse on the weekends when they have gone camping. We all spent last July 4th for 3 hot days with these things crowing early AM to late PM. as an example of the many times over the last 41/2 years. Everyone who has come to our houses is incredulous that there is nothing we can do about them. We have had workmen who refuse to work at our houses because the constant noise is so annoying. Fishermen in the cove and people at the beach have complained and asked us how we can live with it. Some of us have no air conditioning so we can't even shut the windows to try and mute the sound.
This is an area that is all closely settled cottages (lot sizes are 1 acre or less) and has always been this way. Some people have moved here permanently but most are still summer residents. It is not a rural area and in the 60 years collectively that we have all owned our properties there has never been a farm or agriculture animals. Everyone who bought their properties many years ago except for the rooster person did so because of the cove and the marina. We have all lived here with no problems all those years until this person moved in with the roosters 4 1/2 years ago. So you tell us who is being unreasonable.
We have tried every avenue available on our own to solve this. We sent certified letters to every town official to not even get the courtesy of a phone call back. Absolutely nothing. So we had 2 choices hire a lawyer to help us or live with it. Since our complaints have heated up and empowered by the towns lack of response to our complaints our wonderful neighbor decided to harrass us even more by leaving the roosters out pretty much all the time. Her retired next door neighbors who have no air conditioning have found it so upsetting that they have stopped coming to a place they have loved for 25 years and hoped to retire to. Even their family and friends will not visit them because the noise is so bad. Worse they found out recently that a local realtor won't even list their property because he said he couldn't even get someone to look at it with the rooster noise and he couldn't believe there seems to be nothing we can do about it. So you tell me what sort of person does this to a retired elderly couple who have spent their whole lives working and saving to retire.
He also told all of us (this also includes the neighbors who think the roosters are just fine) that we would have to disclose that we have roosters in the neighborhood and that the people on the lake in the lakeshore residential zone would be seriously affected in value and salability. We found out that this is the only place in Alton where a rural zone abuts the lake and as a result some very valuable property that pays very high taxes will suffer as a result. There is no buffer zone and there should be.
So you can see there is far more to this story and we are tired of being made to be the horrible people who are picking on the poor rooster person. She moved in here 41/2 years ago and completely disrupted a wonderful neighborhood and beautiful tranquil cove with her noxious roosters. Had she had one ounce of common sense or consideration for her neighbors or the town had any decency to respond to our complaints we wouldn't have been forced to hire a lawyer at a great expense to help us. We had no choice.
This lawyer found out that this person has an undersized lot and therefore has to get a special exemption from the zoning board to have chickens. If someone in the town had taken the time to talk to us we would have found this out before we were forced to hire a lawyer for thousands of dollars. We have told the code enforcement officer that all we want gone is the rooster noise. We have no complaint about her chickens. They do not make noise. Her response was she was not getting rid of the roosters so now she may lose everything because of her being so unreasonable. This was her choice not ours.
One of the neighbors even recently sent a letter appealing to her to be reasonable once again to just control the noise and everyone could again live in peace with no hard feelings. Her response was to send a disgusting letter defaming the character of his wife whom she has never met.
So if the Roberts cove neighbors want to be mad at someone for changing this area your anger is directed at the wrong people. We chose not to involve neighbors that were not bothered by the noise. We felt it was our problem not theirs.
Unfortunately we just found out that the rooster person is now negotiating with a land owner who does not live here to do a lot line adjustment which will give her the acreage she needs to have roosters. We are beyond discouraged and outraged. We just want to protect our property and have our peace and quiet back.
The neighbor who attended the planning board meeting by herself because no one else could since she was the only one notified on Saturday and the meeting was Tuesday even though the other neighbors were selectively notified with enough time to send letters to the Planning board that they were able to read before the meeting was unable to even speak and tell this story because she was interrupted so many times. And to the Chairman of the planning board if this isn't the place to bring a rooster problem please tell us who we talk to and we will gladly set up an appointment if we can get them to return our calls or respond to our letters this time.
Our petition will likely not pass because it requires a 2/3 vote, but all we ask is that people respect our rights to protect our properties and our peace and quiet as we think you would do faced with a neighbor who could care less about her neighbors and thinks she has more rights than we do. If someone had told us years ago that we would be faced with this problem we all would have said no way. We never would have believed a newcomer would move in here and do this to a beautiful, peaceful and quiet neighborhood.
One more thing, these roosters are not a 4-H project. They were a hatching project at the elementery school and came home with the teacher who decided to give them to her kids as pets. I was a 4-H kid and I can tell you I was taught to respect my neighbors by my 4-H leader, my Grandparents and parents who were NH farmers and raised chickens in the appropriate rural area. I have also taught my own children the same respect. It is too bad that in this world today we seem to have not passed on this very basic respect to the next generations and to top it all off the rest of us have forgotten it. Sadly, this world has become an it's all about me attitude and who cares about anyone else and how my actions affect other people.

Nature lover

[TOAD]

Paragraphs are such helpful things.

[jrc]

You need some pet foxes, they are the cure for pet roosters.

[gf2020]

Holy Wall of Words, Batman!

[NoBozo]

The post was interesting but I had to quit reading about half way through because I was getting cross eyed. Not as young as I used to be. NB

[RailroadJoe]

I had a rooster once. It was so noisy, I killed it and had it for Sunday dinner. Thats about all they are good for.

[Gearhead]

I still can't get past the part about Alton being in danger of being overrun by farms.

If you think like a hick (I'm a hick), the solution will practically appear out of the woods:

Spring is coming, and all the sleeping animals come out of their sleeping places yawning and stretching, and downright famished! As a nature lover myself, there's nothing more exciting about watching a mother bear and her two cubs ambling through my backyard, looking for a bird feeder full of, say, chicken feed. My advice to you is to try and forget about the small, helpless smelly noisy chickens being left outside unattended all day and night, and embrace the thrill of watching a bear feeding herself and her hungry cubs.

Maybe you can snap a picture of them and post it on the forum.

[Rusty]

Five roosters and no hens No wonder the roosters are crowing all the time. Throw a few hens in with them and they will stop all that crowing.

Why would anyone want to just have roosters in the first place Roosters are only good for two things....fertilizing eggs and keeping predators away from the hens....that's it nothing else!

Take my hens away from me and I’d crow all the time too.

[lawn psycho]

Originally Posted by Rusty

Take my hens away from me and I’d crow all the time too.

Are you a mormon?

[Argie's Wife]

Originally Posted by Gearhead

I still can't get past the part about Alton being in danger of being overrun by farms.

If you think like a hick (I'm a hick), the solution will practically appear out of the woods:

Spring is coming, and all the sleeping animals come out of their sleeping places yawning and stretching, and downright famished! As a nature lover myself, there's nothing more exciting about watching a mother bear and her two cubs ambling through my backyard, looking for a bird feeder full of, say, chicken feed. My advice to you is to try and forget about the small, helpless smelly noisy chickens being left outside unattended all day and night, and embrace the thrill of watching a bear feeding herself and her hungry cubs.

Maybe you can snap a picture of them and post it on the forum.

You know something... you may be onto an idea here...

a Lakes Region reality show... hmmmm......

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by lawn psycho

Are you a mormon?

Man is polygamous by nature, or is that promiscuous by nature….heck I don’t know what I am…but don’t take my hens away from me.

[Gearhead]

Has anyone ever been to Fitzgerald, Georgia? The Army Corps of Engineers let loose scads of chickens on the 1960's and the whole town is overrun with them now. They lay eggs all over the place, crow all hours of the day and night and create a general nuisance. I'd venture a guess there are quite a lot of Lakes Region hawks and falcons that vacation in Fitzgerald in the Winter.

By the way, I wonder if the eagles on winni know about the roosters in Roberts cove.

[lawn psycho]

They don't seem to have this problem in Key West?

[NoBozo]

Originally Posted by Rusty

Five roosters and no hens No wonder the roosters are crowing all the time. Throw a few hens in with them and they will stop all that crowing.

Why would anyone want to just have roosters in the first place Roosters are only good for two things....fertilizing eggs and keeping predators away from the hens....that's it nothing else!

Take my hens away from me and I’d crow all the time too.

SO: Are you suggesting that SEX will solve everything...?? NB

[NHBUOY]

...it certainly couldn't hurt...

[nature lover]

Originally Posted by Gearhead

I still can't get past the part about Alton being in danger of being overrun by farms.

If you think like a hick (I'm a hick), the solution will practically appear out of the woods:

Spring is coming, and all the sleeping animals come out of their sleeping places yawning and stretching, and downright famished! As a nature lover myself, there's nothing more exciting about watching a mother bear and her two cubs ambling through my backyard, looking for a bird feeder full of, say, chicken feed. My advice to you is to try and forget about the small, helpless smelly noisy chickens being left outside unattended all day and night, and embrace the thrill of watching a bear feeding herself and her hungry cubs.

Maybe you can snap a picture of them and post it on the forum.

We did not say that Alton is in danger of being overrun by farms. How ridiculous! We said that there is a nationwide increasing popularity in raising chickens in residential areas and as a result towns and cities are not prepared with regulations to prevent exactly what we have occurring in our neighborhood with rooster noise. Just google raising chickens and you will be amazed at the problems arising nationwide and even in NH because of this.

I would love to be able to go out in my yard again someday and enjoy my self planted many gardens, birds and wildlfe without having loud noxious roosters drive me back indoors. In fact you are welcome to come and hear them and we will see how long you make it before you go crazy!

[Gearhead]

Sorry for the implication. I quoted the Baysider (Jan. 20) and I don't know who it should have been attributed to but when I read it I laughed! Am I correct that you live somewhere else (Connecticut?) and don't get our illustrious paper? Here's the link for the story:

http://www.newhampshirelakesandmount...2011.01.20.pdf

GH

[Argie's Wife]

Here's what the paper said:

According to Nix, the main reason for the petition is because of a recently opened commercial poultry business and the petitioners
don’t want the area to be overrun by farms and noise throughout the community.

Are you saying the paper got it wrong?

If so, contact The Baysider and ask for a correction.

[nature lover]

You are forgiven. I have not read the article because when I was told about it, I was so upset at some of the untrue things said that I made the decision it wasn't worth my time. The meeting was upsetting enough and I had had my fill. And no I am a born and bred NH girl and proud of it. I have been coming to this area for 50 years and personally owned property here for 28 years. It shouldn't make any difference where people come from, they should all be welcome. But heaven forbid in Alton if you are not born here or even worse own that property on the lake. It makes me just laugh that they don't mind collecting the taxes so they all can get a huge tax break. Talk about taxation without representation since most of those "awful" lake people are not full time residents and can't vote. It is also interesting that all the meetings are held in the dead of winter when most of them are not up here. Maybe we need to get a group together to do something about this!!!

[Argie's Wife]

Not to belabor the point but... there's a lot of rumors going on about this in town - which is where I got the info about 4-H in my first post. Sorry for the misinformation but that's the word around town, I'm afraid. The Baysider article isn't helping... (it's my opinion the editor is willing to print corrections - I've found him to be very fair.)

It is still my opinion that the zoning change proposal is extreme, but I grew up on a farm and I'm used to hearing roosters... so I can't relate to what you're going thru. But that's my opinion...

[nature lover]

Originally Posted by Argie's Wife

Not to belabor the point but... there's a lot of rumors going on about this in town - which is where I got the info about 4-H in my first post. Sorry for the misinformation but that's the word around town, I'm afraid. The Baysider article isn't helping... (it's my opinion the editor is willing to print corrections - I've found him to be very fair.)

It is still my opinion that the zoning change proposal is extreme, but I grew up on a farm and I'm used to hearing roosters... so I can't relate to what you're going thru. But that's my opinion...

We know there are a lot of rumors being circulated by the rooster person and for now we are waiting for the town to do what they need to do before we respond. When this is all finished we will definitely write to the editor of the paper to give our side. For now we have decided to be the nicer people and take the high road. The reason for the extreme zoning proposal is that this town zones by roads and not lot lines which was said at the meeting. You tell me how fair it is that someone pays extreme taxes just across the road from other cottages who pay a pittance. And then that lakefront land owner has to put up with all the things allowed in a rural zone which are many including roosters. All of this seriously devaluates that lake property and in this market the ability to sell. This whole thing is about protecting very valuable property that these people have spent their entire lives working very hard for. Unlike a lot of the neighbors this property was not handed down to them. They worked and saved to afford this on their own. Most of the property affected by this zoning change is in current use and owned by one family who have no plans to sell it or develop it. Also all of the people for it own property on this rural side and would be affected by this zoning change, even the lake front people do too. Exactly what we were afraid would happen with the rooster person negotiating with the main land owner (who doesn't live here) for a lot line adjustment is now happening. All she needs is 2 acres to have her ****** roosters in a rural zone. So you tell me what you would have done???

[Argie's Wife]

Not a thing. I wasn't about to cry foul.

I've got a third of an acre and had a neighbor with chickens and roosters - just 100ft from my door. It didn't ruffle my feathers... I can sympathize that it might bug others... but not me. (I admit the smell was ripe in the summer, but only when a storm was coming... it wasn't frequent, in other words.) I'm not saying this to egg you on... honest.

[BroadHopper]

As a NH native, roosters are nothing to crow about. Nor is the fresh smell of animal dung. If you don't like NH atmosphere 'GO HOME'. Leave our state alone! It was rural in the past, let it be rural in the future!

Seems like Robert Cove is smelling like MONEY! Lets the NH natives in the area change the zoning from residential to agricultural!

[gokart-mozart]

Allow me to be the first to comment on the irony of "Nature Lover"s handle.

What is more natural than that roosters should crow?

[Gearhead]

I'd have thought that if there are five roosters in one pen that they would have killed each other by now!

[SIKSUKR]

I say have Ward Bird over for dinner one night.

[Slickcraft]

In Today's Baysider:

Vote against Amendment 8
To the Editor:
Amendment 8 will set a dangerous precedent for the entire town of Alton. This citizen’s petition based amendment proposes to change zoning of nearly 400 acres of land along Robert’s Cove Road from Rural to Lakeshore Residential. The town did not start this proposal. This is a situation where one summer-use family’s personal vendetta against year-round neighbors has turned into something that impacts many more people than it should. Instead of talking things over with the neighbors, they started a petition among their friends to rezone the entire area.
Other than the one bullying neighbor, not one family within the affected area signed the petition. Several property owners in the area are committed to keeping the land relatively undeveloped, forested, and comfortable for rural living. Restricting this land to Lakeshore Residential land use would make this difficult and impractical to maintain, not to mention the fact that for all practical purposes the affected land is nowhere near the lake. I live in the affected area of Robert’s Cove Road, and no one I have spoken to about this rezoning thinks it’s a good idea. When we organized the protest petition, more than 393 acres of property, more than 80 percent of the affected land and owners, was against this change. The planning board also unanimously does not support this rezoning. If the town had done a study, or if someone had genuine reasons why this change should happen, it might be another story. But, this petition to rezone was pushed upon us by people, most of whom don’t even own property within two miles of us. These neighborhood bullies had enough friends willing to sign a petition that tries to change Alton into the city it is not, but imagine the precedent this sets for our town.
Rural areas are relatively undeveloped compared to Lakeshore Residential zones, but once rezoned they would have not only the same land use restrictions, but developers would be allowed to potentially triple the population density. A three-acre lot in Rural could be broken into three single-acre lots in Lakeshore Residential. More houses on fewer acres of land would devastate the rural character of our town, and be a crushing burden on our year round residents who have chosen not to live in the city. The town was required by law to accept the citizen petition since 35 people signed, several of whom were husband and wife doubling the numbers. Now it is presented for the town to vote upon and it is up to the common sense of the people of Alton to set this straight. Please keep in mind that several owners of 393+ acres of affected property are actively working against this proposal, and consider the precedent this sets for other Rural areas of the town.

Amanda Eason Alton

[MAXUM]

What I find amazing with stories like this is how some people can be so, what's the right word I'm looking for here, inconsiderate comes to mind. Now granted obviously the chicken woman legally has the right to own those chickens, but really if it's that much of a problem with the neighbors, clearly it is if 1/2 of what nature lover said, why be a complete (bleep) about it? I have no idea what's up with people these days, but everyone once in a while you hear of stuff like this and it leaves me to wonder why. I just can't even comprehend doing this to my neighbors, has this woman completely lost any sense of decency? Sad to see - and worst off it's so avoidable. Nothing is worse than a crappy neighbor especially when they are that obstinate.

[Argie's Wife]

...remember, you're only hearing one side of the story.

There was a public hearing about the zoning amendment already - both side had the opportunity to present their cases; the ZBA did not recommend the proposed zoning change.

I've been in a very similar situation but maybe I'm a country girl - it didn't bother me... I have a third of an acre, and my neighbor probably has less land... I don't recall a big din of noise... (but then I have kids...)

[Rusty]

The problem would go away if that lady in Alton would only get her roosters some ladies.


The rooster in this video stops crowing once his ladies are home:

[nature lover]

Originally Posted by Slickcraft

In Today's Baysider:

Unbelievable!! There would have been no petition proposed had this person just once in the last 41/2 years made one effort to sit down with her neighbors to discuss how much they bothered people. She was called many times, the police tried to get her to sit down with the neighbors, and letters were written and she either didn't respond or wrote a nasty letter back saying she was not going to do anything because she had the right to keep the roosters because she lived in a rural zone. Unfortunately that rural zone abuts the lake and that meant that everyone in the lakeshore residential zone right across the street has to put up with all the rural uses including crowing roosters. So if the neighbors in the rural zone want to be angry at someone your friend the rooster lady is your gal. We have all lived here for 50 plus years and no one had a problem with the rural zone or with each other till this person moved in and brought her 5 roosters 41/2 years ago.

As for the people who signed the petition they are all registered voters and many have been to our houses and couldn't believe what we have all had to put up with and worse that the town of Alton was basically ignoring us. We exercised our democratic right to do this petition and the rural people exercised their right to counter it. We respect their rights to protect their property and we only ask they respect our right to protect our properties. We also ask that they get both sides before they rush to a judgement and hate their neighbors for doing what we think they would have done if they had to put up with what we have all had to endure for the past 41/2 years.

The town of Alton is at fault too for having a noise ordinance that exempts roosters. Our hands were tied and this petition was one way to get them to pay attention to a serious problem of very valuable property and as a result very high taxes, not being protected due to unfair zoning.

This lady is angry right now because the lawyer found out that she has a nonconforming lot and now she either has to go before the Zoning board to get a special exemption to keep her chickens and roosters or get a lot line adjustment to get the 2 acres she needs to keep them. If the town of Alton had just once responded to our letters and phone calls they could have told us this before we spent thousands on a lawyer to help us and felt we had no choice but to do this petition. If she had not ignored our numerous calls and letters she would have her chickens (we have no complaint with them and never did), there would be no petition, and this neighborhood would not be torn apart. She might even have kept her 5 roosters because we were willing to agree to ask her to just let them out 1 or 2 hours a day. We are tired of being villified. We think we have been more than patient and have tried every way possible to solve this neighborhood nuisance. And just to let everyone know, several of the people complaining live in the rural zone.

Nature Lover

[Jonas Pilot]

You should live near me! My neighbor has horses, ducks, geese, a donkey that braes and peacocks that make the weirdest sound you can imagine. Another neighbor has chickens and a rooster. Almost every neighbor has at least one dog. Another neighbor drives a school bus. In the summer time an ice cream truck comes around playing loud music. These are the sounds of my neighborhood. I look forward to all these "noises". I guess if I let it bug me it would lesson my enjoyment of the time I spend outside. But I like it. It makes my neighborhood different and therefore special.

[Argie's Wife]

By the way, this failed at the polls yesterday... no zoning change.

[ghfromaltonbay]

Heard this report earlier in the week on the radio. The town of Howell is in central NJ west of the shore area. This area and Toms River had been very rural 40+ years ago, and there used to be a lot of poultry farms there. When I was a kid back in the late 50's and early 60's we would stop for eggs on the way back from a day at the beach. Today I saw that the ordinance was passed and is now the law.

(CBS/AP) HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) - A New Jersey town is considering an ordinance that would regulate when a rooster can doodle doodle do.
Officials in Hopewell Township say they need to do something to keep the henhouse noise down in a suburban town with agrarian roots.
The rules would apply to roosters and hens on properties of less than five acres.
Small properties would be allowed to keep up to a half-dozen hens. But roosters would be allowed only 10 days a year for their conjugal chicken visits. And they'd be barred from crowing (cock-a-doodle don't).
If a rooster is too loud, the property wouldn't be allowed to host any roosters for two years.

[Kamper]

I'm glad everyone here is being respectful of the legal process. Nature Lover, you and your neighbors should be careful not to leave your bird-feeders out too long. You might be blamed if a bear wanders through your neighborhood and eats a few chickens, when it's probably the chicken-stink that attracted the bear to the vicinity of your bird-feeder.

Good luck! I hope it all works out for the best.

[nj2nh]

Originally Posted by Gearhead

You can move to a place that's not overrun by farms. I suggest northeastern New Jersey. No roosters there.

Um, excuse me, but I live in northeast NJ and we have lots of farms in this area. I am 20 minutes from the city, too. So, be careful who you bash - you might get someone like me reading your posts.

Seriously. Enough ragging on NJ. It gets tiresome in the extreme.

nj2nh

P.S. I grew up in equally maligned Massachusetts and I suppose you like bashing that state, too. So, stop.

[ghfromaltonbay]

Originally Posted by nj2nh

Um, excuse me, but I live in northeast NJ and we have lots of farms in this area. I am 20 minutes from the city, too. So, be careful who you bash - you might get someone like me reading your posts.

I live about 15 minutes from nj2nh here in northern NJ and yes, there are many farms in northern NJ. My nephew works on a 35 acre farm (Abma's Farm) right here in Bergen County which is only 20 minutes from the GW Bridge. The farm has greenhouses, a petting zoo, and a wonderful farm store where they sell locally grown veggies and fresh eggs from their own chickens. Abma's has been featured on several cooking shows on the TLC Channel and supplies many of the local restaurants with their produce. Sussex County here in northern NJ is almost entirely rural, sort of like the Berkshire region of western Mass.

[SIKSUKR]

As a NH native I say it's fair game to bash any state that is not my own.