A controversy over farm animals, property rights and land use briefly divided a community near Hamilton Branch before neighbors came together in a compromise.
The agreement they reached allows Jason and Nicole Staniger to raise up to 10 pigs or cows on their 16.9-acre residential property at the base of Little Dyer Mountain. After neighbors raised objections, the Stanigers reduced their original request from nine acres, allowing as many as 18 hooved animals, to 5.2 acres, allowing no more than 10.
The Plumas County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the zone change Aug. 5, allowing farm animals on residential land as an ordinance, which they found exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act.
“I have never seen a situation that ended up with such agreement by all parties.”
Tom McGowan, Plumas County supervisor
“I have never seen a situation that ended up with such agreement by all parties,” said Plumas County Supervisor Tom McGowan, who represents the Hamilton Branch area.
A plan to live sustainably
The Stanigers’ proposal to county planners in September 2024, requested the addition of a farm animal overlay zone on their property on the slopes above Lake Almanor’s east shore. They wanted to raise animals on nine of their 16.9 acres for educational activities for their six children as well as for growing their own food. They planned to feed their family off their “small homestead,” Nicole Staniger told the county supervisors April 1.
Neighbors living in an adjacent residential area on State Route 147 objected to 18 pigs or cows grazing on the hillside above their properties. Along with raising concerns about the noise and odors, they complained that an adjacent farm would impact the value of their homes.
The Plumas County Planning Commission recommended approval of the farm-animal overlay March 20 on a 3-1 vote. Lake Almanor-area representative Jack Montgomery cast the lone no vote. The Staniger property lies next to an area zoned for parcels one-acre or more in residential use since the 1950s. The proposed zoning represents “a radical change of use,” he said.
At their April 8 meeting, the county supervisors were poised to vote on the controversy before a crowd that included Nicole Straniger and many angry neighbors. Planning Director Tracey Ferguson recommended the zone change, bolstered by 92 pages of documentation representing the research she and her staff have conducted since July 2023, when the Stranigers first proposed the change.
Before she expressed her own position on the issue, Supervisor Mimi Hall suggested looking for “middle ground.” She proposed expanding a 100-foot buffer zone between the farm and residential properties to 150 feet. That would reduce the area allowed for large animals from 18 to 10 — the plan eventually agreed to.
Without a board vote April 8, the crowd moved into the hallway of the Plumas County Courthouse and began discussing a compromise. Several site visits to the land itself eventually resulted in the new zoning proposal. The four members of the planning commission adopted it unanimously June 18. The supervisors’ Aug. 5 approval made the new zoning ordinance official.
Homeowner Cindy Mansel attended that meeting and thanked the Stanigers and county officials. “It all worked out,” she said.
Nicole Staniger, who also attended, said “we are content.”
“You give me a lot of hope for the future of our community.”
Mimi Hall, Plumas County supervisor
Hall called the zone-change compromise an example of good government. “You give me a lot of hope for the future of our community,” she said.
Salary study funded
In other action Aug. 5, the supervisors unanimously approved a contract with Regional Government Services for a comprehensive countywide salary study. The contract, not to exceed $154,000, is intended to identify comparable job classifications in other counties, collect salary data, and make salary recommendations for Plumas County.
In their July 1 discussion, the supervisors outlined the process the study would use. Plumas County has not conducted a salary study since 2022. That study was handled by the county human resources department. The current HR department has three of its five positions vacant and does not have the staff to do the study in-house, said Deputy County Counsel Sara James, who is temporarily serving as HR director.
