Eastonites want to ‘Stop the Slaughterhouse’ in neighborhood
EASTON — Joseph Calzone doesn’t want chickens for neighbors.
Specifically, longtime Easton resident Calzone doesn’t want a chicken slaughterhouse built on the property at 59 Tranquility Drive, just up the road from where he lives.
Last year, the town issued a zoning permit for the property to build a twobedroom modular house — and a 10-foot by 10-foot chicken slaughterhouse.
To Calzone, who has lived in Easton since 1983, the idea of a slaughterhouse in his neighborhood is “wrong in many ways.”
He is an avid opponent of the project, and has crafted “Stop the Slaughterhouse on Tranquility Drive” signs — with the word “slaughterhouse” in red and appearing to drip blood — to distribute around town.
“It certainly seems out of code and out of zoning,” Calzone said. “What’s (a slaughterhouse) going to do for traffic? It’s a family neighborhood.”
He and other area residents are contesting the approval of the structure. Their complaint was originally scheduled to be heard at Monday’s Zoning Board of Appeals meeting, which takes place at 5:30 p.m. at the Easton Public Library.
However, Easton zoning enforcement officer Phillip Doremus said last week that the item will be tabled and discussed at a meeting on May 3. That meeting will take place at 5:30 p.m. at Samuel Staples Elementary School, which is a larger venue and better able to accommodate any crowds that might show up to contest the project, he said.
In a message to the town posted on the Easton website Thursday night, First Selectman David Bindelglass mentioned the slaughterhouse matter, adding, “I do not want to comment on this prior to their rendering a decision.”
Doremus is defending the approval of the slaughterhouse, stating that it “met the zoning regulations so I approved it. It was an acceptable structure to be installed at the location.”
He said he can’t comment directly on the concerns of neighbors who are opposed to the slaughterhouse. But Charles Willinger, the Shelton-based attorney representing Calzone and the other neighbors in the appeal, maintains that the slaughterhouse shouldn’t be allowed.
“The whole purpose of zoning is to preserve the character of the area, protect wetlands, promote health and safety and (preserve) the general welfare of an area,” Willinger said. “That’s what zoning is supposed to do — protect the integrity of a neighborhood. The impacts if (the slaughterhouse) were to be approved are significant to the neighborhood.”
The zoning permit for the modular home lists Sueide Salha as an owner and the permit for the slaughterhouse lists both Salha and an Andrew Blum as owners. Contact information for Salha couldn’t be found and attempts to contact Blum were unsuccessful.
Town records show that Salha sold the property to a company that was identified as the Connecticut State Police Barracks Trust, but Willinger said, “we don’t believe the state police have anything to do with this.”
A memo sent to the zoning board by Willinger in February states that, while Easton Zoning Regulations “allows the keeping of chickens as an accessory use to a residence, the raising of chickens must be incidental to a residential use, i.e.: for consumption by the homeowner, not for the establishment of a commercial poultry business.”
Though Easton is known for farms and farming, Calzone said, he isn’t aware of any other slaughterhouses in his neighborhood. “Nobody else does this,” he said.