Skowhegan, ME Right to Farm: Agricultural Zoning Protection (2026)

Skowhegan has no townwide agricultural zoning district in the ordinances staged for this record. Farming is regulated through Section 15(N) of the Shoreland Zoning Ordinance, amended through June 5, 2021, which applies within 250 feet of a great pond, river or freshwater wetland and within 75 feet of a stream (Section 3). Table 1 in Section 14 lists Agriculture as a land use, and its district entries are not reproduced here.

The plan trigger comes first. Agricultural activities involving tillage of soil greater than forty thousand square feet in surface area, or the spreading, disposal or storage of manure within the shoreland zone, require a Soil and Water Conservation Plan filed with the Planning Board. Non-conformance with the plan is a violation of the ordinance.

Tilling setbacks follow. There shall be no new tilling within one hundred feet, horizontal distance, of the normal high water line of a great pond classified GPA, within seventy-five feet of other water bodies, or within twenty-five feet of tributary streams and wetlands. Operations in existence on the effective date of the ordinance and not in conformance can be maintained. That grandfathering is the closest the ordinance comes to a right-to-farm protection, and it protects only what already existed.

Grazing has its own setbacks. Newly established livestock grazing areas are not permitted within one hundred feet of a great pond classified GPA, within seventy-five feet of other water bodies, or within twenty-five feet of tributary streams and wetlands. Grazing tied to ongoing farm activities that does not meet those setbacks can continue, but only when conducted under a Soil and Water Conservation Plan.

Manure is handled by two standards. Spreading must follow the Manure Utilization Guidelines published by the Maine Department of Agriculture on November 1, 2001, and the Nutrient Management Law (7 M.R.S.A. sections 4201-4209). Manure cannot be stored or stockpiled within one hundred feet of a great pond classified GPA, or a river flowing to one, or within seventy-five feet of other water bodies, tributary streams or wetlands. Storage areas in the zone had to be constructed or modified within five years of the effective date to produce no discharge of effluent or contaminated storm water.