Farm tourism becoming an attractive option for farmers

By Peter Marteka

Editor

John Yushkevich, the grandson of Joseph Preli, does just about everything on the farm from beekeeping to growing fruits and vegetables to restoring antique tractors. Now he’s hoping to bring a tourist home to the Joseph Preli Farm & Winery on Hopewell Road.

The Schneider Family Living Trust is applying to make the house at 58-60 Tryon St. a tourist home. (Marteka)

Tourist homes and agribusinesses are becoming popular in town with local farms looking to supplement their income. Last year, the town plan and zoning commission approved an agribusiness special permit for Killam & Bassette Farmstead, LLC and Killam Farms LLC allowing them to host farm tasting events, a year-round roadside stand and a tourist home. The John Hollister House, located on the farm - and the oldest house in Glastonbury at 350-years-old - is now an Airbnb.

Now two more tourist home proposals have come before the commission for review including the farmhouse on the Preli Farm at 279 Hopewell Rd. and an application by the Schneider Family Living Trust for the house at 58-60 Tryon St.

“One of the reasons the tourist home was an attractive option for the property owner is that there’s no real way to separate this house from the rest of the farm,” attorney Meghan Hope said of the farmhouse at the Preli Farm.

Hope noted the farmhouse also provides access to the farm pond and fields.

“So being able to receive some income from this existing property while still being able to operate the farm was an attractive option. The income rental is vital to help sustain this multigenerational farm,” she said. “It’s obviously an old structure. Having it operate as a tourist home puts less wear and tear on the property than does a long-term rental.”

According to the zoning regulations a tourist home is allowed if it’s “a dwelling, part of which is occupied by the owner as his permanent residence, in which overnight accommodations are offered or provided as compensation to two or more transient persons up to a maximum of six persons.”

Shelley Caltagirone, director of community development, said since the house is currently unoccupied, it “may be a stretch.”

“But because the owner does live on the property...they are residing on the property,” she said. “We’ve debated on whether this should be presented as an agribusiness or as a tourist home, but because the nature of the use is as a tourist home it seems to fit more squarely under that definition...There’s some difficulty with our definition of a tourist home.”

Commission vice-chairman Sharon Jagel disagreed.

A family history of the Joseph Preli Farm & Winery. (Attorney Meghan Hope)

“Just because we think it’s a great idea – which we do – doesn’t necessarily mean we can ignore what we’ve already written in our regulations,” she said.

“Our regulations are our regulations. I don’t like bending them,” commission member Andy Zlotnick agreed.

Town Planner Gary Haynes said the proposal could have come forward as an agribusiness.

“But the problem with the agribusiness regulation is you have to have 50 acres,” he said, noting the Preli Farm is 22 acres. “We were trying to think of that as being another creative way for them to come in, helping to support agritourism and agribusiness and preservation of an historic farm structure...It’s one of the scenarios where it’s not perfectly written.”

“I think the spirit of this is positive,” commission chairman Robert J. Zanlungo, Jr. said of the regulation. “This is why people hate the government and bureaucracy.”

 Commission member Philip Markuszka said it’s a “very poorly written definition for the times.”

The Hollister home, the oldest house in town, is now an Airbnb. (Marteka)

“Because it makes no sense. I mean, if they had two or three homes that were one bedroom and one bath to say that they have to live in each single one, that makes no sense because no one would ever do that. I want people to come forward and actually apply and let us know what’s happening as opposed to doing this in secrecy,” he said.

Hope said that is the goal of the application to bring the home into compliance with regulations.

“I’ve had a number of clients who are farmers in town. This is especially attractive to them to sort of maintain these farm compounds and not have to subdivide or break off pieces for additional income and also maintaining some control over their sites,” she said. GL