Friends of Rural New York

06/02/2005
Barton, N.Y., residents dodge chicken farm
By Patrick Abdalla

BARTON, N.Y. - Local residents in the Town of Barton appear to have stopped a chicken farm from coming into town.

At a meeting held by concerned citizens, attended by more than 60 residents voicing concerns over the farm coming to the area, two residents announced they had a possible answer to the problem. Donald Foster said he would purchase the property the chicken farmers were interested in that was owned by Ralph Porter.
“We dodged a bullet but there could be another one in the gun,” said Tioga County Legislator Dale Weston, who was in attendance along with Town of Barton Supervisor William Hotchkiss. Weston said that just because the family might not be moving to that site it could find another local place to open up. Weston said the town should look into zoning or having a moratorium on the farms.
Local realtor Tom Mullen told the residents he had been contacted by the family of Peter Drost, who owned the chicken farm.
“If they’re not welcome, they won’t come,” Mullen said of the Drost family.
Several residents expressed concern over the fact that Weston and Hotchkiss said they did not know about the project that the county’s Department of Economic Development and Planning had been working on.
Hotchkiss said he felt the whole thing was underhanded.
Weston said the only part the county had in the process was trying to bring in the business. According to Weston, the county cannot regulate what businesses are coming in, but that it is the town’s decision whether to have zoning or not.
Hotchkiss said he had not known about the farmer’s intention until the last couple of days.
“We were in the dark,” he said.