Five-minute read
Asbury Park Press
Julia Angelov thought her nonprofit animal sanctuary had successfully fended off Howell Township’s quest to shut it down.
The township, apparently, has other ideas.
This past fall, Howell officials took Samrock Farms to state Superior Court in Monmouth County, claiming it was operating as a school and not a farm, but a judge dismissed the case, ruling the township lacked the standing to make that determination.
The township appealed — and has been granted a hearing at the Superior Court’s appellate division. No date for that hearing has been set, but in the meantime, Howell’s council has passed farming ordinances that Angelov says specifically excludes Samrock Stables from right-to-farm protections granted to other farms in the municipality.
“We’re being targeted,” said Angelov, who co-owns the farm with husband Angel.
The two-front battle unfolding between Samrock and Howell — one in court, the other in council meetings — is a rough edge in Howell’s evolving attempt to manage the hundreds of farmers in town.
A school, or not a school?
Samrock Stables Not So Ordinary Farm is home to 60-plus animals, many of them rescued. These horses, cows, sheep, donkeys, mules and chickens participate in animal-assisted therapy programs for people who need them, including veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, kids with autism and students at the Collier Middle School — a school in Marlboro for at-risk youths from throughout New Jersey.
Earlier this month, the farm got a clean bill of health after inspection by Bill Errickson, an agriculture agent with the Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Monmouth County.
“In my observations, best management practices were being implemented throughout the property,” Errickson wrote in a report that he shared with the Asbury Park Press.
Samrock Stables also has a program for home-schooled students — a point of contention in Howell’s lawsuit against the farm.
“They've been accused of running a traditional school, and that's inaccurate,” said Betty Velez-Gimbel, leader of the advocacy group Howell Farmers United. “I’ve visited the farm on multiple occasions to speak with Jules and Angel and walked through the farm to discuss the agricultural management practices. The learning centers around agriculture. The children garden, work with the animals, and learn livestock care and equine skills.”
A state superior court judge in Monmouth County dismissed Howell’s lawsuit in November, but the township appealed.
“The township is continuing this litigation to ensure zoning regulations are fairly and consistently enforced across town,” township manager Joe Clark said in a statement to the Asbury Park Press. “Notably, the Monmouth County Agricultural Development Board has intervened in this litigation and supports the township’s position regarding the need to follow the proper local approval process.”
Julia Angelov called that "a deflection from the core issue – that farm classes are permitted by law and any complaints against a commercial farm must be heard in the first instance by the Monmouth County Agriculture Development Board" and added, "We are confident in our identity as a legitimate farm, with practices deeply rooted in agriculture and in compliance with state laws and regulations."
Velez noted that Howell’s point person on the issue, director of community development and land-use officer Matthew Howard, has not been to Samrock Stables.
“This is a frivolous lawsuit based on a false narrative derived from advertisements,” Velez-Gimbel said. “Howell Farmers United has repeatedly requested a non-adversarial approach. If Mr. Howard had visited the farm, this could have all been avoided.”
Velez-Gimbel added that “Samrock Stables is an asset to the Howell community” and has “overwhelming support” from fellow farmers and townsfolk.
“This is unacceptable,” Velez-Gimbel said.
Angelov said township administrators asked her to “put a disclaimer on our advertising that says we don’t teach academics” and she declined.
“If you’re going to karate school, the flyer doesn’t say on the bottom,’ we don’t teach academics,’” Angelov said. “No other farm in the area that has riding lessons says, ‘we don’t teach academics.’”
Such a disclaimer, she said, would be “an admission of guilt when we didn’t do anything wrong. No student who has ever come to the farm has ever received any kind of academic credit.”
A question of authority
The ordinance matter is more complicated. For the past few years, Howell farmers and township officials have butted heads over the right to hold events. The farmers contended that an inability to host weddings, showers or other parties — or even smaller-scale events like farm-to-table dinners, yoga class and educational workshops — without navigating a thicket of permits and fees threatened their livelihoods.
The new right-to-farm ordinances, passed by the township’s council, aim to address that.
“The township has labored with the farming community for over a year and a half to get these ordinances across the finish line, and we are looking forward to seeing the farming community flourish in Howell as a result,” Clark told the Press in a statement. “These ordinances are the first of its kind in the county, and to the best of our knowledge, the first in the state. They are designed to expand the rights of farmers substantially.”
The ordinances will implement an administrative permit process for small-scale events without the need to obtain site-plan approvals. The ordinances also modified some zoning regulations, “thereby removing the need for residents to seek approvals from the zoning board,” Clark said. “This will save farms time and money.”
Angelov said the fine print in the ordinances exclude Samrock Stables from their protections because it was not previously designated as a commercial farm. Velez-Gimbel said the Monmouth County Agricultural Development Board's recent passing of a governance change known as Policy 6 “surrendered the farmer to the mercy of the municipality and all of its regulations” instead of being able to rely on the agricultural board for mediation when conflicts arise.
“Samrock Stables feels excluded from Howell's new Right-to-Farm Ordinance because they have not had an opportunity to seek the assistance of the Monmouth County Agricultural Development Board to qualify as an ‘already designated’ commercial farm as a result of Policy 6,” Velez-Gimbel explained. “So they are in limbo right now, and Mr. Howard did not hesitate to tell me they would not be in compliance.”
So the standoff between Howell and Samrock Stables continues, with the nonprofit animal rescue farm’s future uncertain.
“We’re really struggling,” Angelov said. “I just want people to understand what’s happening.”
For more information about Samrock Stables and its programs, visit https://ourfarm.world/.
Jerry Carino is community columnist for the Asbury Park Press, focusing on the Jersey Shore’s interesting people, inspiring stories and pressing issues. Contact him at [email protected].