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Committee reviews bill limiting municipal control over farm structures, debates narrow "right to grow" protections
Summary
A legislative committee reviewed changes to a bill that would generally preempt municipal bylaws on farming while allowing towns to regulate construction of farm structures in designated tier 1a areas; members debated a grandfather clause for existing structures, whether household gardening should be protected, and how livestock and land-base rules would be implemented.
A legislative committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency, & Forestry on Friday reviewed a draft bill that would limit municipal regulation of agricultural activity while allowing local zoning control over the construction of farm structures in designated tier 1a areas.
Bradley Shelman, of the Office of Legislative Counsel, told the committee the bill "focuses solely on municipal regulation of agriculture by by law" and described a proposed grandfather clause: "Municipality shall not regulate by by law the construction repair improvement of farm structures built in a tier 1 area prior to 07/01/2026," a placeholder date Shelman said could be changed by the committee.
The committee debated the scope of that protection. Representative Bartholomew asked, "If it's already there, why would you be constructing it?" to highlight whether "construction" would cover rebuilding, repairs or additions. Shelman said the word was intended to capture reconstruction or repair after events such as fire or flood and that the text could be broadened to include "expansion" or explicitly name "reconstruction" to avoid confusion.
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