Northboro farm ruffling feathers, causing neighborhood dispute

NORTHBOROUGH, Mass. (MyFoxBoston.com) -- A Northborough man who runs a residential farm complete with fruits and vegetables, goats, chickens and a rooster, is under pressure from neighbors to scale down or get rid of his "sanctuary."

Mike Leonard, 27, started growing plants nearly three years ago on the half-acre of land on Juniper Brook Rd., where his father's house lies. Since then, he has added about thirty chickens, two roosters and two goats.

For Leonard, it's all about sustainability and being one with nature.

"It's my spiritual retreat," Leonard said. "If people can be self-sufficient on food on half an acre - maybe I can't; it's a long-term experiment - then the whole world could be fed."

But what is a sanctuary for Leonard is a nightmare for some of his neighbors.

Many residents have complained to the Northborough Board of Health about the noises and smells coming from the Leonards' farm. Agent Jamie Terry has visited the property several times to investigate the complaints.

"I've witnessed the roosters crowing. The first rooster, the most boisterous rooster, was crowing at a rate of every 11 seconds," Terry said. "I talked to the Leonards and asked them to take action and remove it from the property."

Neighbor Elizabeth Bryant was relieved when the first rooster was gone, but the second quickly took its place, crowing frequently. Terry has again asked Leonard to remove it.

"The rooster was a problem, because it was like every other day at 4:30 or five o'clock in the morning," Bryant said. "There were like 20 chickens coming into our yard, tearing up our yard, tearing up our gardens, defecating all over our driveway."

Leonard admits that the chickens had gotten lose. Terry asked him to secure the fences and he has since done so.

Another neighbor, Barbara O'Brien, is worried property values are dropping.

"The front of his yard is a disaster. The back doesn't look any better," O'Brien said. "If he wants a self-sustaining farm, he needs to move to a place that has five acres of property, where he can plant his fruit trees and have as many animals as he wants."

But Leonard is well within his rights to run his residential farm, Terry said. The town does not have any regulations for farm animals, besides horses, and no permits are required. Officials can only require a farm animal be removed if it is determined to be a nuisance.

But neighbors are hoping to change that. They are asking the town to adopt new bylaws restricting farm animals to larger lots.

The Planning Board and the Board of Health will hold a joint meeting to discuss possible regulations on Sept. 8.

Until then, Leonard plans to expand his farm, with a goal for the property in a decade to become "a woodland; it's going to look like a natural forest."

Cox Media Group