Southold Neighbors Fight NYU Student’s Chicken Farm Plan

At the end of Jasmine Lane, a cul-de-sac in Southold on Long Island’s North Fork, a wall of greenery once marked the edge of reforested farmland. The land is protected so that it can be used only for farming. According to a report by Curbed, a buyer paid $650,000 for the site, though not the development rights, and this year revealed a plan that has divided the town.

The proposal for “Rejuvenate Farms” calls for an organic poultry operation with 6,000 pasture-raised hens roaming among six mobile shelters, plus a barn for supplies. By spring, trees on the property had been cut down. Neighbors, who live in two-story colonials built in the early 1990s under a middle-income program that capped prices below $100,000, say they are alarmed. Some fear the farm will make their homes harder to sell and harder to stay in.

At the first public meeting, resident John Reichert said he could not use his backyard “if I’m going to smell chicken manure all day long,” Curbed reported. Neighbors have asked the planning board for an environmental review of groundwater, runoff and air quality, and one letter cited an asthmatic child living close to the site.

The town’s options are limited. Southold has adopted New York’s Right to Farm Law, which protects farmers from undue interference by adjacent landowners. The planning board chairman told attendees in January that the town cannot deny an application simply because it is controversial. Planner Mara Cerezo later said the town may weigh in on only two matters: traffic and street impact, and the location of structures. The fight has therefore centered on the barn, which would sit against the cul-de-sac. In June, Reichert’s daughter spotted temporary coops going up before a permit had been filed and posted a video online. The town then issued a stop-work order.

Supporters see classic NIMBYism. Resident Pat Kelly asked what kind of farm neighbors would accept if not one with pasture-raised hens. Bill Zalakar, executive director of a nonprofit supporting Long Island farmers, called the battle “disturbing” in a letter that compared it to a dispute over an oyster farm elsewhere in town.

Questions about the operation itself have complicated the debate. The land was sold to an LLC registered to a P.O. Box, and the farm’s plans were filed by an LLC with the same address. Its authorized representative is Grant Callahan, a 21-year-old NYU student who grew up in Old Westbury and, per his LinkedIn page, focused on real estate in college. He co-founded the Human Connection Club, which organizes phone-free outings, and is a member of the Young Republicans. Curbed said its attempts to reach him were unsuccessful.

The purchase involved a $190,000 down payment, and locals have speculated about who else is involved. According to Curbed, a North Fork attorney, Benjamin J. Schwartz, heard a town planner describe the farm as a father-and-son operation and saw the name of Grant’s father on a document’s cover page. Curbed reported that Brian Callahan and Grant’s uncle, Adam Manson, were arrested in 2013 over what federal prosecutors called one of the largest Ponzi schemes in Long Island history, a $118 million operation. Curbed did not establish the elder Callahan’s role in the farm, and the full extent of the backing remains unclear.

For now, the case shows how far a town’s authority can fall short when state farming protections collide with neighborhood fears, and how little the public may know about who is behind a project.