DUI Lawyers in Alpha, NJ

Keeping farm animals violates local laws, officials are reminding Alpha Borough residents

Mayor Joseph Schocko III and animal control officials said they’d received several complaints in recent weeks. The mayor posted to the borough Facebook page on Monday citing the prohibited use ordinance and warning scofflaws against housing chickens.

“These complaints ranged from noise, to odor, to residents seeing rats on and around their properties,” Schocko said.

He warned that keeping chickens in residential areas can cause disease transmission, noise and odor, potential damage to gardens and the need for maintenance and cleanup. Chickens also attract pests and predators.

“My goals are to make Alpha clean, safe, and fun. I will need everyone’s help and cooperation,” he said.

The mayor’s online statement received a rapid lashing from responders who were in favor of residents keeping the chickens and their quality eggs.

Robert Langonera is the borough’s animal control official. He’s been the one to respond to the calls by disgruntled neighbors to capture loose chickens in the borough. He’s responded to fewer than a dozen calls to wrangle birds.

“It’s not as bad as it could be,” he said, but the ordinance explicitly states that farm animals aren’t permitted without a farming permit. In a town as small as Alpha, “it should be okay but it’s not.”

He is required to notify offenders to rehome their flock and disassemble their coops within 15 days. Residents who fail to follow the order will receive a summons for a court appearance.

“If the public wants this, they should ask for it,” he said.

Langonera co-authored an amendment to the borough’s ordinance to permit up to six chickens, based on property acreage, but it failed to gain support from borough directors in 2024. It was based on similar legislation in Washington Township and Belvidere.

Municipal attorney Joseph Tauriello said he believes the ordinance establishing the prohibition “has been around for a while.”

“Generally, if a use is not expressly permitted it’s prohibited in New Jersey. Here it’s expressly prohibited,” he said.

A deep dive into the Express-Times archives proves this may be at least the second time this issue has reared its head in the borough within a decade.

A borough resident complained in 2012 that she’d been ordered to give up her chickens and ordered to pay a fine of $1,250.

None of her neighbors expressed concern about the neighbors’ chickens, she argued. The matter was postponed to a later meeting.

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Glenn Epps can be reached at gepps@lehighvalleylive.com or at glenn_epps_ on Instagram, Facebook and Threads.

PHILLIPSBURG, NJ – The Alpha School District sent out an email to parents and guardians March 15, 2024 in regard to an emergency early dismissal.

The email read that Alpha School would be having "early dismissal due to 30% of the scheduled teaching staff out with an illness". The end time was 12:35 for grades K-5 and 12:40 for grades 6-8.

“In my seven years at Alpha, we have never had this issue,” Assistant Principal Seth Cohen told TAPinto.

Cohen explained that earlier in the week, almost 20% of the students were out with an illness. Throughout the course of the week, illness worked its way through the staff. With only one substitute responding to the building, Alpha was left with a lack of teaching coverage to accommodate its students.

“If this had happened earlier in the week when some of our part-time staff were scheduled or even had two more substitutes, we would have been able to hold a full day. This week, illness in the building simply made the usual efforts impossible,” shared Cohen.

A lack of substitutes is not just an issue for Alpha, but a Warren County-wide issue. The Board of Education has raised the substitute rate to $150 a day, one of the highest rates in Warren County. “We train and support our substitutes and advertise often,” expressed Cohen. I cannot tell you why there are so few willing to do the job.”

Career search engines, such as Indeed, break down that the estimated average base salary for a substitute teacher in New Jersey is $123 a day, with $83.02 being the lowest and $181 the highest rate.

Cohen explained that Alpha did not have enough teachers to start the day, which is why the school had an early dismissal. By allowing certain staff members to move around, they were able to have enough supervision to open the morning. Additionally, Cohen shared that staffing for a school goes far beyond the classroom. The school must prepare for unstructured times such as lunch and recess. This requires an adequate number of adults to monitor the children.

“Anyone in my district knows I eschew anything that negatively impacts instructional days. We were certainly aware of the scramble we were foisting upon our parents just as we ourselves scrambled to make sure we could conduct a safe, properly supervised early dismissal day,” said Cohen. “Unfortunately, this is the essence of school leadership: decisions must be made that prioritize student safety and good educational practice that may negatively impact the larger school community.”

Going forward, Cohen is not concerned that a lack of staff will become a regular practice.