Proposed livestock regulations in San Benito County spark community concern
SAN BENITO COUNTY, Calif. (KION) - Tensions are rising in San Benito County as local officials consider sweeping new livestock regulations that residents say could force families to give up their animals and alter rural life.
Karson Klauer, born and raised in San Benito County, says what makes this county unique is the livestock that surrounds it.
"San Benito County is a really special place because it provides opportunities to interact personally with agriculture," Klauer says.
On his property, he and his daughter raise chickens and a goat for a 4-H project. But his animals may soon be at risk.
San Benito County is looking into ways to keep livestock and agriculture safety separate.
"We're tying to work on finding a solution where farmers aren't forced further and further back where they're losing acres and acres of their farming operation because someone put a horse next door," said Dom Zanger, San Benito County Supervisor.
"In our particular zoning designation, livestock at all would be prohibited, which right now you are able to have small and one animal for large livestock per acre," said Klauer.
As a local real estate agent, Karson also fears losing potential clients.
"We have zoning designations that other counties don't that allow you to keep animals whether they be chickens all the way up to horses and a lot of people have invested a good amount of money to be able to do that and if change like this goes into effect, it'll throw a lot of things into the question," said Klauer.
According to Supervisor Dom Zanger, this involves safety regulations.
"This all comes from regulations where you have issues where there's livestock that is you know too close or on top of the ag land because of diseases essentially. E. Coli issues like that, where there has to be a bit of a separation there just for everyone's safety for health and safety," said Zanger.
According to the report, large and small livestock will be prohibited in the zones AR, AP, R, and RT.
And establish minimum setback requirements of 1200 feet between livestock grazing areas and commercial agriculture crops.
Karson understands those concerns and hopes farmers and livestock owners can see eye to eye.
"Try to figure out how we can also be good neighbors to the farmers because they do have an issue that they're dealing with and I think that there's work that we can do together but something this broad and impactful is probably not the exact way to go about it," said Klauer.
Zanger says the board needs to flesh out how to go about the animals already in the zones that are at risk. He says this will most likely impact future livestock owners.
