Sustaining a homegrown life in Cedarhurst

Despite complaints from neighbors about a local family’s brood of chickens, the Cedarhurst village board voted unanimously to renew their permit to raise the animals at Monday’s meeting.
Trustee Ron Lanzilotta explained why the board renewed the permit for the Mark family. “I grew up around chickens, raising them during the war,” he said. “I know how it is to raise them. It’s rare to see this in Cedarhurst today.”
Since 2009, David and Lisa Mark have had a village permit to maintain up to 10 chickens at their Trysting Place home, where they also grow vegetables and fruits. They have eight chickens, which lay eggs daily.
Mark said that they produce their own food for health reasons. “Eating your own homegrown eggs and food is really satisfying,” he said. “I love my village. I love where I live. If anyone has any issue with what we’re doing here, they’re more than welcome to come to me and address their concerns.”
Mark is a school psychologist for the New York City Board of Education, has a private practice and teaches Advanced Placement psychology at Davis Renov Stahler Yeshiva High School for Boys in Woodmere.
He has a permit to maintain chickens and a chicken coop, which is required by village code to be renewed annually. The code dates back to 1932, when Cedarhurst was more rural and when it was not uncommon for residents to keep chickens and ducks in their yards, village officials said.
“There have been almost no complaints in the past …,” said Mayor Benjamin Weinstock. “However, two months ago, I received a few verbal complaints from the Marks’ neighbors. Therefore, we deemed it appropriate to have a public hearing for the renewal application, so that anyone objecting would have a forum in which to state his or her questions and grievances.”
Those who complained, Weinstock said, said that that the chickens were harming their quality of life. “There was no evidentiary weight in their comments,” he said. “There was no specific complaint, no factual substance. They didn’t say, for example, ‘At 3 in the morning, the chickens were clucking loudly.’”