Goshen Planning and Zoning Commission: Draft POCD Agriculture Section Aims to Discourage Roundup-Ready GMO’s

9/29/26 7:30 p.m.

Present: Chairman Jonathan Carroll, Vice Chairperson LuAnn Zbinden, Shilo Garceau. Zoom: Jared Denis, Patrick Lucas.

Absent: Jerry Abrahams, Christopher Hurlburt, Dustin Mosley.

The Goshen Planning and Zoning Commission (PZC) held this special meeting to collaborate on fine-tuning the Goshen Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD). First up was a short discussion on the Housing section.

“I went through the notes; I didn't find anything. It looked good,” Zbinden said. “Everything was good.”

The final draft of the Housing section then was unanimously approved after a motion by Zbinden and second by Garceau. (Note: On October 28, The Goshen News received a copy of the draft POCD Housing Section in a response to an earlier FOIA request. It details the Goshen-specific challenges to meeting legislated Housing goals, and will be reviewed in the next edition of The Goshen News.)

The Agriculture portion of the POCD was next for review, and Commissioners had a lengthy discussion on several points in the plan.

“Is the Farmers Market at Scoville Park still happening?” Garceau asked. “I'm not sure if we put that in there.” Carroll said, “Should we just say the Goshen Farmers Market and take out the 'at Scoville Park'?" Members agreed to remove “Scoville Park” after the “Goshen Farmers Market,” as well as from all other sections.

Carroll complimented the beginning of the Ag section in particular.

“I liked it. I thought that it was nice that in the second paragraph section that you actually put the percentage, you know, it's 57% of Goshen's land area,” Carroll said. “That's a massive amount.  And then when you tie this knowing we're just coming out of the Housing section, and you tie that back into it, that really kind of puts it in perspective.”

(Note: The limited amount of land suitable for building additional housing in Goshen has long been a topic of discussion with respect to State housing mandates.)

Zbinden zeroed in on another portion of the Agriculture portion of the plan: Currentuse tax law, known as Public Act 490, which allows qualifying farm, forest, and open space land to be assessed at its use value rather than its full fair market value for local property tax purposes, according to the Connecticut Department of Agriculture.

Zbinden wondered about connecting Act 490 penalty money to Title 45, which in Goshen is to establish an Agricultural Land Preservation Fund. She said, “I just thought because they do talk a lot about the Public Act 490, one of their recommendations is to fund that Title 45. Just my thoughts on the penalties for this — could they go into that Title?”

Carroll said that suggestion could go into that portion of the POCD, and members discussed the issue. Carroll explained where the penalty funds originate.

“So typically, the fee is incurred when you have a parcel of farmland and it is subdivided and turned into building lots,” Carroll said. “So, if it was within the PA 490 and the timetable, which might only be that same calendar or that same fiscal year, then the tax savings that you got for that year, you would owe the balance thereof. It's very straightforward.”

Zbinden said, “But it also shows that if it's subdivided for development, it's not being conserved for agricultural use.” “Hence why you have to pay the entire tax back,” Carroll said.

Zbinden noted, “In Goshen, there’s more forest land than there is farmland in Public Act 490.”

After further discussion, members agreed to add a section to the POCD regarding active administration of Public Act 490 to route the penalties to the Town general fund.

Commissioners then discussed some visual graphics in the POCD and information presented on maps.

“I don't know how this could be worded or put in there, but beyond supporting the local food system, the working farms are also important in the state because I think the State of Connecticut imports a lot of food,” Zbinden said. “I don't know how you could add that in there too. It's important …  for our own food security, right?”

The PZC also agreed to add a new section to precede the Conservation & Stewardship and Energy & Sustainability sections. The new portion relates to protecting against Roundup-Ready seed crops, and it was added under the plan segment with topics ranging from protecting prime agricultural soils from conversion to commercial solar generation facilities.

Roundup-Ready seed crops are genetically modified to resist glyphosate, the active ingredient in the weed-killing herbicide Roundup.

“We can either try to promote the use of non-Roundup-Ready or not using Roundup-Ready seeds,” Carroll said. “I think that's important to the future for soils and water and even us.”

Another new section was placed under the part of the POCD relating to promoting Goshen’s agricultural identity through community events. This addition details ways to support farm succession to the next generation.

Commissioners noted farm succession is becoming more difficult, with Carroll calling the data in the POCD “staggering information.”

“It's unfortunate. It's harder and harder to make that work and get better,” he said of transitioning a farm from one generation of a family to the next. “Especially in our town in the last five years, it's really, really become challenging.” “But good information that people need to know,” Musselman said.

After agreeing on new sections, revised wording, and other recommended changes, Commission members tasked Musselman with drafting the new language, adding it to the document, and emailing it to Commissioners. A vote on the revisions will come later. For the upcoming Oct. 27 meeting, the panel agreed to consider meeting at Camp Coch due to early voting at Town Hall.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:20 p.m. on a motion by Garceau, second by Zbinden, and unanimous vote. The next PZC meeting was set for 7:30 p.m. Oct. 27