Please read the exact meeting minutes as copied from the Town of Gorham Planning Board Meeting December 19, 2011. These are especially disturbing as the applicants stated they would not allow anyone into the building who was not an employee:

Application #22-2011, Curtis & Jolene Martin, owners of property at 4446 State Rt. 247 requests a special use permit & site plan approval for a kennel facility.

     The public hearing was opened and the notice, as it
appeared in the official newspaper of the Town, was read.
     Curtis Martin & Daniel Long, Architect, were present

and presented the application to the board.
     Mr. Long stated that the onsite waste water treatment

system is currently being reviewed.  They are now working
with New York State Department of Environmental
Conservation Department and George Barden, Canandaigua Lake
Watershed Inspector.  There will be two septic systems, one
for the bathroom and kitchenette and one for the kennel
area.

     Chairman Harvey asked if they would be disturbing more
than an acre.

     Mr. Long stated that they are only disturbing about 3⁄4
of an acre.

     Chairman Harvey asked what the construction of the
building was.

     Mr. Long stated that the building will be insulated
concrete form.  The roof system will be an insulated truss
metal roof.  The layout of the interior will be
departmentalized, to minimize the noise and to deal with
the health aspect of the animals that are kenneled there.
Since there is no municipal water they will have holding
tanks for water that will be used to flush and clean out
the kennels.

     The drainage from the roof and around the building
will be directed to the existing pond.  They will be
digging the pond out so that it has a little more capacity.

     Chairman Harvey stated that their obligation is to
take a look at the hard surfaces and make sure that you do
not discharge more than what is currently discharging.

Planning Board 12/19/2011 4

     Mr. Long stated that the exterior of the building will
be a metal panel system.  It will be a two color system,
green and tan or putty.

     The interior of the building will have sanitary panel
system on the walls, so the walls can be easily washed
down.

     Mr. McCadden asked what sound levels they expect
inside the building and what sound levels outside the
building.

     Mr. Long stated they have a lot of hard surfaces in
the interior.  One thing that they are mitigating is the
ceiling surface, which won’t be flat it will be an angle
surface, which will help mitigate a lot of the sound.  The
ceiling will be a perforated ceiling system.  This helps
reduce the noise level.  The substrate behind the
perforations will be hush board, which is 1⁄2” thick recycled
panel system above that is insulation.

     Mr. Long stated that the noise on the outside will be
below 60 decibels.

     Mr. McCadden asked how the in wall exhaust fans with
louvers were going to be baffled so as not to transmit the
sound outside.

     Mr. Long stated that they will have sound absorptive
baffles on the outside louvers.  The use of the wall fans
will be seldomly used to bring fresh air in.  The facility
will have an air conditioning system.

     Ms. Watkins asked what the maximum capacity that the
barn will hold.

     Mr. Long stated that with the USDA regulations it
varies as to what size dogs they have.

     Mr. Martin stated that it will be somewhere around 500
dogs.

     Mr. McCadden asked if they could define a little bit
more of what they anticipate doing.

     Mr. Martin stated that it will be a USDA regulated
business.  Everything will have to be under USDA
regulations.  They will come in and do inspections for the
health of the dogs.  They go through the business with a
“fine tooth comb”.  This is a wholesale breeding facility.

     Ms. Watkins asked if there would be any outside kennel
facilities.

     Mr. Martin stated no.  The kennels will all be
interior.  There are exercise runs inside the building.

     Mr. Fladd asked if there would be a lot of trucking
activity to move the dogs.

     Mr. Martin stated that he does all the transporting.
     Mr. Farmer asked if there would be a lot of employees.

Planning Board 12/19/2011 5

     Mr. Martin stated that they will have whatever the
USDA requires.

     Mr. Frankish asked who would manage the facility.

     Mr. Martin stated that he will be the manager.  He has
8 years’ experience in the kennel business.  Currently they
have up to 400 dogs.

     Ms. Watkins asked what their plan was for the disposal
of dead animals.

     Mr. Martin stated that he will either bury them in the
ground or in compost.

     Chairman Harvey stated that the burial area will need
to be identified on the site plan.

     Chairman Harvey asked what kind of deliveries they
have.

     Mr. Martin stated that the feed is stored in a trailer
that will come in on a truck.

     Chairman Harvey asked where the trailer would be
parked.

     The location where the trailer is going to be parked
needs to be shown on the plan.

     Mr. McCadden stated that he would like to know what
Mr. Martin’s plan is going to be.  What kind of dogs is he
going to breed and how many dogs he plans on breeding?

     Mr. Hoover stated that he believes that the market
would determine that.

     Mr. Martin stated that they are going to have some
small dogs, some large dogs.  They will have different size
dogs.  The numbers, there should not be over 500 dogs.
There will be mostly small dogs.

     Mr. Farmer asked if that number is breeding dogs.

     Mr. Martin stated that there will be not more than 500
breeding dogs.

     Mr. Farmer asked how many puppies there would be.

     Mr. Martin stated that it depends on how many the dogs
have.  The puppies do not take up that much room.

     Mr. Fladd asked how often the USDA inspects the
facility.

     Mr. Martin stated that it depends what kind of job
you’re doing.  If you are not doing your job right they
will be there all the time.

     Mr. Fladd asked how often Mr. Martin is inspected.

     Mr. Martin stated that within the last year they have
been to his facility two times.

     Mr. Atkins asked how long the puppies stay at the
facility.

     Mr. Martin stated that they stay from birth to eight
weeks old.

Planning Board 12/19/2011 6

     Ms. Watkins asked if they have a plan in place for
contamination control.

     Mr. Martin stated they do not let anyone in that is
not an employee.

     Ms. Watkins asked what the plan was for keeping those
who do enter the premise, whether it is one of the workers,
what prevents them from bringing diseases into the
operation.

     Mr. Martin stated sanitizing their hands before they
come into the facility.  No one should be coming in that
came from a different facility.  When people come in they
are only allowed in the office area.

     Chairman Harvey asked if there are any signs on the
building.

     Mr. Martin stated that there is a sign that states “No
Admittance without Kennel Personal”.

     Mr. Frankish stated that he knows when you go into
other pig or chicken facilities that you have to walk
through a pan of disinfectant.

     Mr. Martin’s Veterinarian stated that “Curtis has a
very explicit vaccination program for his dogs.  No one
enters Curtis’s present facility without Curtis with them.
There are no public entrances.  I am there at least once a
week.  I wash my boots when I go in and I wash my boots
when I leave.  Curtis’s facility is probably the very best
kennel facility that any of you will ever have the
opportunity to see.  The reason that he said that he only
has two USDA inspections a year is because he has the
cleanest operation maybe in the State.  The dogs are
immaculate.  They are groomed.  Their nails are trimmed.
They are well fed.  If there is a sick dog I hear about it
the day it is sick.  The dogs are quarantined when they are
first brought in.  The dogs are tested before they are
allowed to breed.  This is a very very clean facility.  I
would fully expect that the facility that they build now
will be a notch way above what they presently have.  Their
disease control is immaculate.”

     Chairman Harvey asked if there were any comments from
the public.

     Bill Glitch – “If all of a sudden the United States
goes crazy for small dogs and all you are going to have is
small dogs what’s the number.  Seriously, I am not trying
to give you a hard time.  All you’re going to breed is the
smallest the USDA will let you house in your facility.  How
many dogs are you going to have there?  I’m not trying to
give you a hard time.  I am really curious.”

Planning Board 12/19/2011 7

     Mr. Martin stated that even if he only had small dogs
it still would only be around 500 dogs.

     Hella Santee – “I’d like to say one thing.  If this
paper had stated where this kennel is going to be situated,
there would have been a lot more people here tonight.
Unfortunately everybody figured it was at 4520 not at 4446.
I unfortunately live next door, and I have a shallow well.
So my concern is very real as what’s going to happen to my
drinking water.  What is it going to do to the value of my
house?  People don’t even want an adult handicap home built
anywhere near them.  They struggle and fight and say I
don’t want it.  Now I am going to be living next to an
extremely large kennel.  If I had to buy a house I wouldn’t
buy it.  When I sell it I can see my value going way down.
I am sure we are all getting the water from the same water
table and if you are composting dogs or burying dogs I am
sure we’re going to get some of that runoff into our water.
It is hard enough now to get clean water and I sure don’t
want to keep buying it.”

     Margaret Brewin – “I own the 100 acres that butts up
to your 20 acres.  Like Dale says this is extremely wet.  I
have rivers sometimes running through my hay field.  My
concern is the compost.  We have a lot of fox and coyotes
around.  When I have chickens die I not only compost them I
bury them 3 or 4 feet down.  I have had them dug up even
through composting.  My concern with the amount and the
fact that it is so clay, there is so much heavy clay over
there.  Is there a size requirement as far as if he does do
composting and we don’t know how many animals a year, is
that also regulated by the USDA if there are x amount of
dogs die how does anybody know how many dogs are going to
die?  You don’t know that so is there a size of an area
that needs to be required for the composting?  As far as
the water runoff from this building and running through
that property and leaching into other peoples properties
when they are composting animals, I have a concern about
that.  Are there requirements for that?  The other question
I have is with the USDA over seeing so much of this; if
there are problems who do we have to go to the USDA?  Good
luck with the USDA.  You guys are passing it so they can
have the facility but once that’s done we have to deal with
a whole different agency if problems arise from that.”

     Mr. Hoover stated that “Cornell has recommendations
with composting and I never saw any leachate or anything
like that leave my property. You wouldn’t know walking next
to it that there are dead cows other than if I pull a bone

Planning Board 12/19/2011 8

out and say this was my cow last year.  It is amazing how
fast a cow disappears and a cow is huge compared to a dog.”

     Margaret Brewin – “But who regulates that?”

     Chairman Harvey stated that “as far as we know there
are no regulations.  We will certainly check.  Obviously
there are things that USDA licenses that preempts local
regulations.  We are not going to set here and establish
size of kennel requirements and runs and all that.  What is
in the board purview are the details on the site plan.  We
have already said that we want to know where the compost
pile is to be located.  We are going to look at drainage
around that area, etc. etc.  If there are Cornell standards
or suggestions for size of areas we are going to want to
know those and know that they comply.  The other part of
this is they need a Special Use Permit.  The board will
consider having conditions on the Special Use Permit.  They
may include things like an annual review or certain sound
level requirement.  All those types of things are included
in the purview of the board.  If they don’t meet them then
they lose their Special Use Permit and can’t operate the
facility.  That is why we have a review process and we
appreciate the public hearing snafu and it’s probably going
to be something that we are going to have to rectify.”

     Bill Glitch – “I know you’re working real hard to keep
the noise down and they are going to be inside and I get
that.  Should the noise be an issue, have you like a plan B
to help mitigate any other noise outside the facility?”

     Mr. Martin stated that he will be planting trees
around the facility.  “There are a lot of pine trees for a
buffer.  We might even plant more if we need too.”

     Chairman Harvey stated that it may be real helpful if
they had an aerial photo of the area.

     Mr. Farmer stated that his Veterinarian stated that
she has an incinerator.  “Would it be a problem to not
compose on your property?

     Mr. Martin stated that he does not think it would be a
problem.  He has never tried the incinerator.

     Ms. Watkins stated that it would be an additional
expense.  “Whereas composting is not as big of an expense.”

     Mr. Atkins asked how many dead dogs they have a year.

     Mr. Martin stated that he really does not keep close
track of that but it is not a big amount.

     Margaret Brewin – “Question on your business plan.  I
don’t want to know your numbers or anything but I use to
write business plans for businesses.  If you already run a
facility now that and you have been doing it for eight
years I would think all those numbers would be there as far

Planning Board 12/19/2011 9

as how many animals a year - approximately how many animals
a year you’re losing.  Approximately how many puppies and I
know you’re saying depending on the size of the dog I
understand that but, to be honest with you if I was with a
client and I was walking up to a Planning Board my business
plan would be far more specific than what you are giving
us.  Maybe I am out of line in saying that.  It just seems
like there are a lot of gray areas.  For a facility as
large as this is, the amount of money that you are going to
put into it, I would think that you would know, to be
honest with you, almost to the dollar of what it is going
to cost on a yearly bases to pay back this facility.
Everything that you are going to put into this is costly.
To me it is very vague, which scares me a little bit.  Is
what you are telling us really what it is going to be in
the end?  I don’t want to know dollar amounts I just would
like to know.  You can put a plan out there without putting
the dollar amounts out there.  Being more specific it seems
like if you have already done this for years that you could
rattle these numbers off.”

     Mr. Fladd stated that “yeah you’d know on an average
every year how many dogs died.  That is just what people
are interested in.”

     Margaret Brewin – “How many puppies did you say
approximately what 1000?”

     Chairman Harvey stated that is what is going to be
important to think about that specific issue.  “I think
that is going to drive what you’re looking at for putting
on your plan for compost area.   And making everyone
understand is it, large enough to meet your requirements
for your business.”

     Chairman Harvey asked if there were any more comments
from the public.  Hearing none the public hearing was
adjourned to be re-opened January 23, 2012, at 7:30PM in
the Gorham Town Hall.

     The application will be re-published in the official
newspaper with the corrected address.

     Some of the things that the board would like to see on
the plan are:  1. A hard engineering estimate on what the
sound level will be to the closest property line.  2. What
are the recommendations that Cornell makes on composting?
Show that you comply with these recommendations.  3. Show
grading around the compose area, making sure there is no
runoff from that area.  4. Deliveries & Storage - Show
where the food trailer is going to be parked.  What kind of
bedding material and how does it come in?  Is there a
loading area?  5. When someone goes into the facility how

Planning Board 12/19/2011 10

do they decontaminate themselves?  How do you address these
issues?  6. An aerial photo is very important to the Board
to see what vegetation is on the property.  7. The board
needs to know what your flow rate is and if a DEC permit is
required.  If DEC does not have to issue a permit for the
disposal system there will still have to be an engineer
stamp on the design system.  8. The board would like to see
what the water usage calculation is.  9. The board will
want to see a design calculation for the runoff.  The board
wants it understood that there is going to be no increase
in the quality or quantity of runoff after construction as
occurred before.  10. The utilities will be underground.
11. The number of breeding dogs that will be on the
premises be more defined.

     Mr. Frankish made a motion to adjourn the meeting at
9:12.  Ms. Watkins seconded the motion, which carried
unanimously.

The article is on http://www.lifewithdogs.tv/2012/02/gorham-ny-welcomes-new-puppy-mill/

I want to share this with you to make certain you are also aware of this issue as we ALL need to act on this immediately. Please share with any of your contacts or friends in New York. 

 

The following hyperlink in the forwarded message is regarding a new puppy mill setting up shop in Gorham, NY with a capacity of 200 to 600 dogs. The owners were previously cited for USDA violations. The Town Supervisor and Planning Board Chair are supportive of the new facility.  Action needs to be taken immediately by all of us contacting our State Representatives AND please sign the petition appearing on Change.org located at this hyperlink-- http://www.change.org/petitions/fred-lightfoote-supervisor-stop-the-building-of-the-wholesale-breeding-facility-in-gorham-ny#

 

Additionally, the Planning Board can also be contacted via http://www.gorham-ny.com/contact/index.html.

 

Both our State Senators can also be contacted to voice our opposition. 
Senator Schumer http://www.govtrack.us/congress/person.xpd?id=300087

Senator Gillibrand  http://www.govtrack.us/congress/person.xpd?id=412223