CONCERNS

Koehler, after pointing out his background is in emissions control, stated that he is aware of the “inherent harm these facilities can cause to the environment,” further maintaining the “pollutants can be excessive.” He then inquired about any “due process” that there would be for the proposal, and whether the town could say “time out – let’s investigate” before permitting any pig farm at the site.

“In terms of due process, what typically happens is if they come in for any sort of land use approvals or zoning permission, depending on what they are asking for, there may be something that arises to a certain level where they have to come before the board,” Shamong Township Solicitor Doug Heinold responded.

However, depending on the nature of any site plan and the operation, Heinold noted that a pig farm can “qualify as a commercial farm under the Right-to-Farm Act,” allowing an applicant to “essentially bypass the municipality and go to the County AG Board.”

“So, we still have an ability to appear there, and you would all also have an ability to appear there, but the County AG Board has primary jurisdiction over issues that involve the right to farm,” Heinold advised.

If any zoning dispute arises between the township and a farm, Heinold noted that the farm “can take it up with the County AG Board” and “then we become a participant in that process as opposed to the ones who run that process.”

“All I can say is that in New Jersey, we have a fairly well developed Right-to-Farm law,” Heinold said. “We are a densely populated state, right? And because of that, there are a lot of these conflicts that do arise. There can be a mediation process associated with those issues, and there can ultimately be decisions from the County AG Board. Those are also appealable up to the State Agricultural Commission. It can be a long process.”

The “best that we can do,” Heinold told the residents, “is if we get information relative to the operation, or relative to what they are proposing, is to share that information.”

“Sometimes, as with anything, people may choose to just do what they can do under their rights, or in a commercial farm operation, and then it may be up to either the township or a resident to say they are aggrieved by what is happening on that site and bring the issue to a higher level. So, there is a lot of different ways it can happen. I think we are all sort of operating a little bit in the dark at this point. I think we know the property has been bought at this point, but we don’t know exactly to what extent or what use is going to end up on the site, or how many animals are going to be on site and what type and so forth. I think that is all to come.”

Niculescu, in the April 10 interview with this newspaper, said it was not only a “mystery” to her about how residents have ended up equating her “very small family farm” to a “big commercial farm,” but equally “surprising” is why township officials gave the impression April 4 that they knew very little about her intentions. Niculescu listed the names of a number of township officials that she says she spoke with over the course of the last couple months, including Zoning & Construction Code Official Edward Toussaint, who she maintained is “very aware” of her plans.

She described “still being in the permitting process,” “being very careful working with the township,” and that she has been “several times a week at the township building.”

“I have to put multiple permits in for each type of fence I want to put in, and it is quite a process, but I am doing it because want to be respectful,” she said. “I had asked, ‘Will this be a problem because I want to buy this, and am closing on March 15?’ I am surprised – at least a couple folks at the township should have known about this because I have been there a couple times.”

Niculescu, in maintaining she is “following all the rules and doing the permitting process,” told this newspaper that she was hoping as early as this week to submit the required documents such as a wetlands delineation.

As for the concerns with any waste, Niculescu said she “just can’t see” how a maximum of 20 pigs would generate the kinds of issues some of the residents described, nor can she see how she would even begin to be compared to other bigger pig farms. She maintained she has had no past issues with her current neighbors in Woodland, contending they actually “love her,” and that at the time of the phone call, she was in her backyard at least 300 feet away from her pigs and she could not smell any odor.

Niculescu, at one point during the interview, asked this reporter if any screaming or squealing could be heard in the background of the phone call, to which there was no audible background noise, though she acknowledged “just like dogs or any other animal” there can be “excitement” when pigs eat.

“I am trying to do something to bring small family farming back to the community and I am getting an awful lot of pushback,” she remarked.

“It is a shame because I have a lot of folks in support of this, but at the same time I understand I have to follow the rules. It is not our intention to upset the community in anyway or folks that maybe aren’t on board with farming, but at the end of the day it is a farming community and they should have been mindful of that when moving into town.”

Toussaint, she maintained, purportedly expressed to her that he thought some of the residents might be thinking of her operation as being similar to the one near LeisureTowne in Southampton, with her declaring, “That is not us – certainly not us.”

As for the concern with property values, “if it it was an actual commercial pig farm maybe like the one off Big Hill Road in Southampton, and it was like that one, sure – who wants to live next to that?”

“I don’t think I should lower the value of anybody’s property more than a horse farm, or goats,” she said. “What I have is the same. Why are pigs any different than the goats or horses there?”

Niculescu continued by emphasizing that she plans to be “living there” at 543 Oakshade Road, including raising her two boys there, as well as bringing her elderly parents along and that, “I don’t want to live in poor conditions.”

“I also care about my animals very much, so I don’t want to have too many on a small piece of land,” she said. “We want them to be able to graze and live comfortably. … We are just trying to have a nice property, nice community and farm. And I thought it was a farming community, so I guess I am a little saddened that before I even got the opportunity to introduce myself, to make it my home in the first place, we are feeling a little unwelcomed.”

Niculescu added that “at the end of the day, I will live there,” and that if she can only “have pigs for myself and raise my family there, that is fine, because that was my primary goal with this property,” which she noted “checked off all the boxes” for her family.

“My intention was to not move in there, start a huge pig farm, and have a big commercial operation,” she said, noting that she suspects some of the concerns may stem from the past behavior next-door to her new property, activity she emphasized has nothing to do with her and that she is “very much against” as someone who previously participated in animal rescues. “My family is going to live there and I don’t want a huge stink either.”

She noted she is waiting to receive her permits before relocating to Shamong because, “I want to be where my animals are, and I am not moving in until my animals can come with me,” and that raising a handful of pigs for meat or to put up for sale is just merely about breaking even or making a little bit of money to help with the costs of having a farm.