CAPE ELIZABETH – Austin and Mary Ellen Chadd, who own the Green Spark Organic Farm in Cape Elizabeth, are now allowed to build a small greenhouse on their residential property, following a Zoning Board of Appeals meeting last week.

The Chadds went to the board after Code Enforcement Officer Brian McDougal denied their application for a building permit for the greenhouse, which would be used to grow produce that the couple would then sell.

The Chadds received a lot of support from other farmers in town, who told the Zoning Board that ordinances adopted during the last comprehensive plan update were clearly designed to ensure that farming would continue to be a viable industry in Cape Elizabeth.

The Zoning Board met on March 25 and McDougal opened the deliberations by stating that he wants the Chadds to “be successful farmers here” and “I truly want your produce business to thrive in Cape Elizabeth.”

Austin Chadd and all those who spoke after him were then able to convince the Zoning Board that the less-than-2,000-square-foot greenhouse he wants to build did not require site plan review from the Planning Board, as McDougal initially believed.

Jim Rowe, a member of the Cape Farm Alliance, told the board that the driving factor of the alliance’s formation about eight years ago was to “help town leaders understand that Cape Elizabeth must take every opportunity it can to promote agriculture.”

Rowe said agriculture is an important industry because it preserves open space and provides jobs, as well as a sustainable source of local, fresh and healthy foods.

John Green, another member of the farm alliance, who also helped draft the new agriculture-friendly ordinances, added that “we (re)wrote the (rules) to be as liberal as possible with the farms in town.”

Penny Jordan, a fourth generation farmer in Cape Elizabeth, told the board, “in 2008 we worked diligently with the Planning Board to ensure the future of farming,” which, she said, “is a vital part of our community.”

Jordan added that, “we need to minimize the barriers to farming” and keep alive “our history of working farms.”

Other farmers who spoke to the Zoning Board talked about the expense and time required to go through site plan review and argued that the town’s ordinances clearly state that the Chadds only needed a building permit to put up their new greenhouse.

The board was also told repeatedly that the Chadds are an asset to the community and that Cape Elizabeth has a stated policy of preserving its rural character.

– Kate Irish Collins