[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township Committee
of the Township of Kingwood 9-21-1989 by Ord. No. 6-15-1989. Amendments noted where applicable.]
The right to farm land is hereby recognized
to exist in this Township and is hereby declared a permitted use in
all zones of this Township, notwithstanding specified and prohibited
uses set forth elsewhere in this chapter.
A.Â
In accordance with the purposes and preambles set
forth herein, the following farming activities shall be deemed established
as acceptable, recognized and entitled to encouragement and protection
as the collective embodiment of the right to farm, subject in all
cases, however, to any supervening applicable federal, state, county
or municipal laws or regulations respecting the public health, safety
or otherwise:
(1)Â
Producing agricultural and horticultural crops, trees
and forest products, livestock, poultry and other related commodities.
(2)Â
Providing for the wholesale and retail marketing,
including U-pick marketing, and sales of the agricultural output of
the farm and related products that contribute to farm income, including
the sale at the owner's farm stand of agricultural products so long
as at least 75% of the products being sold at the farm stand by the
owner of the farm have been grown on said farm where the stand is
located.
(3)Â
Replenishing soil nutrients, including but not limited
to the spreading of manure and applying environmentally approved chemical
and organic fertilizers.
(4)Â
Using federally approved products, in accordance with
labeled instructions, as recommended by the New Jersey Agricultural
Experiment Station and the United States and New Jersey Environmental
Protection Agencies for the control of pests, predators, varmints,
diseases affecting plants and livestock and for the control of weed
infestation.
(5)Â
Clearing of woodlands using accepted techniques and
installing and maintaining vegetative and terrain alterations and
other physical facilities for water and soil conservation and surface
water control in wetland areas.
(6)Â
Using irrigation pumps and equipment and undertaking
aerial and ground seeding and spraying, consistent with state guidelines,
using tractors and other necessary equipment.
(7)Â
Hiring and utilizing necessary farm labor.
(8)Â
Constructing and maintaining fences for the orderly
control of livestock.
(9)Â
Transporting large, slow-moving equipment over roads
within the Township.
(10)Â
The use of farmland for a limited recreational use
(noncommercial and non-income-producing), e.g., snowmobiling, shall
be done only with the permission of the farm owner. Any expanded recreational
use of the farmland which changes the underlying agricultural nature
of the use shall be subject to the usual prior site plan review, variance
application and all permits where otherwise required.
B.Â
The foregoing uses, activities and rights when reasonable
and necessary for farming, livestock or fowl production and when conducted
in accordance with generally accepted agricultural practices may occur
on holidays, Sundays and weekends by day or night and shall include
the attendant or incidental noise, odors, dust and fumes associated
with these practices.
C.Â
It is hereby determined that whatever nuisance that
may be caused to others by these uses and activities is more than
offset by the benefits from farming to the neighborhood community
and society in general by preservation of open space, the beauty of
the countryside and clean air. The preservation and continuance of
farming operations in Kingwood Township and New Jersey is a source
of agricultural products for this and future generations and saves
a nonreplenishable resource, i.e., the land.
For the purpose of giving due notice of nearby
farming uses to proposed new residential areas adjacent to unimproved
land then being farmed or suitable therefor, the Planning Board shall
require any applicant for an adjacent major or minor subdivision,
as a condition of approval of such application, to include a provision
in each and every deed conveying all or any portion of the lands thereby
subdivided, as well as on filed final subdivision maps, the following
record notice to and waiver by grantees of such present or future
proximate farming uses, which provision shall be made to run with
the land. The grantee hereby acknowledges notice that there are presently
or may in the future be farm uses adjacent or in close proximity to
the within described premises from which farm use may emanate noise,
odors, dust and fumes associated with agricultural practices permitted
under the Kingwood Township Right to Farm Ordinance, and, by acceptance
of this conveyance, the grantee does hereby wave objection to such
activities.
For purposes of interpretation of this chapter,
the following definitions shall apply:
The production, principally for sale to others, of plants
and animals or their products, including but not limited to forage
and sod crops; grain and feed crops; dairy animals and dairy products;
livestock, including beef cattle, poultry, sheep, horses, ponies,
mules and goats; the breeding and grazing of such animals; bees and
apiary products; fruits of all kinds, including grapes, nuts and berries;
vegetables; and nursery, floral, ornamental and greenhouse products.
An area of land of single or multiple contiguous or noncontiguous
parcels which is actively devoted to agricultural or horticultural
use, including but not limited to cropland, pasture, idle or fallow
land, woodland, wetlands, farm ponds, farm roads and certain farm
buildings and other enclosures related to agricultural pursuits.
The production principally for home use or consumption of
plants, animals or their products or bees or their products and for
sale to others where such sales are incidental, including but not
limited to gardening, fruit production and poultry and livestock products
for household use only.
[Added 7-5-2005 by Ord. No. 13-6-2005]
A.Â
Establishment. There is hereby established an Agricultural
Advisory Committee to identify, review and recommend agricultural
properties for preservation as farm properties, and to review and
recommend changes to the Kingwood Township ordinances for purposes
of facilitating and enhancing the viability of agricultural activities,
all within the Township of Kingwood.
B.Â
Membership.
[Amended 2-4-2008 by Ord. No. 15-3-2008]
(1)Â
The Agricultural Advisory Committee shall consist
of five members to be appointed by the Township Committee. The members
of the Agricultural Advisory Committee shall consist of:
(a)Â
The member of the Township Committee that is
not appointed as a member of the Open Space Advisory Committee; and
(b)Â
Four members of the general citizenry of the
Township with a requirement that a minimum of three members of the
general citizenry be actively engaged in agricultural activities.
(2)Â
The Township Committee member shall be appointed annually.
The members who are appointed from the general citizenry shall have
terms of three years, however, the initial public members appointed
shall have the following terms as designated by the Township Committee:
C.Â
Duties and functions.
(1)Â
The Agricultural Advisory Committee shall annually
review, update and submit to the Township Committee the Farmland Preservation
Element for the Township of Kingwood. It shall review and update the
inventory of agricultural properties within the Township and reevaluate
and prioritize such agricultural properties for preservation through
the criteria established by the Agricultural Advisory Committee. It
shall review, update and recommend to the Township Committee the parcel
ranking as well as make recommendations concerting the nature of the
interests in such real estate to be acquired and the purposes for
which such land should be utilized.
(2)Â
The Agricultural Advisory Committee shall provide
guidance and support to the Township Committee and Planning Board
an issues and matters of agriculture and farmland.
(3)Â
The Agricultural Advisory Committee shall periodically
review its functions and submit recommendations to the Township Committee
as to whether additional duties should be assigned or delegated to
the Advisory Committee.
(4)Â
The Agricultural Advisory Committee shall select from
among its members a Chairperson and a Vice Chairperson to serve as
the presiding officer in the absence of the Chairperson. The Committee
shall also select a Secretary whose function shall be to maintain
minutes of the Committee's meetings and records of the proceedings
of the Committee.
