Poultry Market Proposal Slaughtered

The Board of Zoning Appeals denied a proposed poultry market with on-site, on-demand chicken slaughtering on Tuesday night, following a stream of contentious public testimony that invoked concerns about Islamophobia, bird flu, and the wellbeing of the neighborhood.

Milford-based entrepreneur Mirza Hafiz had planned to open a live poultry market at 74 Kimberly Ave., a triangular building in Kimberly Square that once housed Tip Top Market. The business would have kept up to 120 live chickens at a time, which customers would hand-pick for slaughter. In order to do so, Hafiz needed a special exception from the Board of Zoning Appeals to allow a poultry market in a BA (business) district.

The proposal had sparked opposition from a number of Hill alders and residents, who expressed concerns about potential odors, pests, noise, and public health conditions. 

In response, Hafiz’ attorney, Ben Trachten, detailed plans for daily trash containment and disposal as well as industrial-grade roof fans to mitigate any smell. He argued that similar businesses in other cities have not posed problems for residents living in close proximity. The business would be ​“under strict supervision” from public health regulators, Trachten said.

Trachten has pitched the business as a way to serve immigrant and religious communities that value selecting poultry to eat while the animals are still alive, especially certain Muslim and South American communities. 

At Tuesday’s Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) meeting, he also framed the proposal as an example of the kind of ​“urban agriculture” that the city has professed to support. The business, he argued, would provide ​“access to healthy foods” in keeping with the goals of New Haven’s Food Policy Council.

Trachten pointed out that while many (including this reporter) have referred to the project as a ​“slaughterhouse,” the city’s zoning code actually makes a distinction between an industrial slaughterhouse and a ​“poultry market, including slaughtering of poultry for sale on the premises.” Trachten had classified the business within the latter category.

“Calling this a slaughterhouse is totally off base,” he said, arguing that slaughterhouses would operate ​“on a scale far greater than this.”

When asked about the difference between these two designations, which are not explicitly defined in the zoning code, Deputy Zoning Director Nate Hougrand elaborated in an email on Wednesday that ​“poultry markets” are listed under the ​“sale of food, drink, and pharmaceuticals” — indicating, in his interpretation, ​“a smaller scale operation being sold to the general public and is specific to just poultry.” Meanwhile, slaughterhouses are classified as ​“industrial” in the zoning code, he wrote, and would more accurately apply to ​“a much larger wholesale type of operation with no limit to the types of animals (most likely cows, pigs, etc.) that would supply restaurants or grocery stores and wouldn’t be available to the general public on a retail basis.”

About ten people came out to the meeting to testify against the proposal, while three people spoke out in favor of it. 

Meanwhile, neighbors cited concerns about how a poultry market would affect nearby residents, businesses, and the children who play in the park across the street, pointing to the density of the location in Kimberly Square.

“We have a bad vermin problem in the Hill,” said Jamilah Rasheed of New Haven Inner City Enrichment (NICE). She said she doubted that the plans that Trachten outlined to contain trash and smells would be completely effective, noting that trash can be dropped and accidentally spilled. ​“The smell of raw meat” could make pest problems in the area worse, Rasheed argued.

Several testifiers brought up concerns about avian illnesses, pointing to a New York Times article published just the day before about live poultry markets in New York City where bird flu has been detected. The article cited public health scholars and officials who expressed concerns about these markets’ potential to spread disease to humans.

“You are so close to people living there. You are endangering their health,” said Thomasine Shaw, who cited the Hill neighborhood’s higher rates of illness and lower life expectancy than the city and state at large. 

Who Gets To Speak For The Hill?

Opponents of the proposal also expressed anger at past insinuations from Trachten that opposition to the project might be motivated by Islamophobia. 

“We welcome everyone. Everyone is welcome here. Slaughterhouses are not welcome here,” declared Leslie Radcliffe, a Hill resident who happens to be the chair of the City Plan Commission.

Rasheed, who is herself Muslim and an opponent of the project, said that ​“my relationship with my non-Muslim neighbors is one of mutual respect.”

In response, Dwight resident Kate Walton argued that welcoming a culture entails allowing businesses driven or inspired by those cultures to take root. ​“We have to understand that when you say, ​‘I accept other cultures, we totally embrace them’ — well, having fresh chicken is part of some cultures,” she said.

Former Downtown/Yale Alder Hacibey Catalbasoglu said that approving the business would be a signal to Muslim families like his own that ​“they’re welcome in the city, that they have places to shop in the city, that this place is welcoming to them.”

The dialogue morphed into an all-too-familiar debate over who should have a voice in determining what a neighborhood wants and needs.

Real estate agent Jeff Granoff, who said he worked with the owner of 74 Kimberly Ave. to facilitate the business plan, argued that a poultry market would be better for the neighborhood than a vacant storefront — or even some of the alternatives businesses that would not need approval in order to open up in that location: ​“I don’t think the neighborhood needs another convenience store.”

Both proponents and opponents of the market gathered numerous signatures from residents on each side of the debate: the applicant obtained 44 signatures in support of the plan, while two letters of opposition had garnered 126 signatures and 47 signatures, respectively. 

But critics of the proposal pointed out that neither Hafiz nor the people who testified to support him on Tuesday reside in the Hill.

“This is unfair that our children have to live with the ideas of people in other neighborhoods,” said Hill Alder Carmen Rodriguez.

Tuesday’s advocates for the proposal ​“don’t have to wake up… and smell those odors,” argued Miguel Pittman, a Ward 3 alder candidate and co-owner of the Hill restaurant Sandra’s Next Generation.

In closing remarks, Trachten framed these arguments as NIMBY-ism (neighbors crying ​“Not In My Backyard”), arguments he believed were insufficient for a denial of a special exception. ​“You need some kind of compelling evidence,” he said, not ​“simple declarations that you don’t want it.”

In the end, however, the zoning board unanimously sided with the neighborhood residents opposed to the market.

“Seeing the amount of testimony from people who have to live there” motivated Chair Mildred Melendez to make a motion to deny the application, she said.