SEYMOUR – About 200 people attended a sometimes heated Seymour Zoning Board of Appeals meeting Thursday (May 7) that pitted a neighbor against a 110-year-old farm.
The neighbors are Al and Kristen Bruno, community leaders who serve on the Board of Selectpersons and the Board of Education, respectively.
The farm is Red Clover Farms at 174 S. Benham Road.
The issue – land use regulations.
The Brunos contend that some of the activities at Red Clover Farms – such as open mic nights, Sunday music jams and food truck appearances – are commercial uses not allowed on the property.
Red Clover Farms, through its owner, Kim Dulka Warner, said modern farms have to do more than grow tomatoes and corn to stay alive in 2026.
Al and Kristen Bruno filed a complaint with the town April 9 about the farm, which triggered a visit from Seymour Zoning Enforcement Officer Mike Marganski.
Marganski issued a cease-and-desist to Red Clover Farms on April 13, ordering the farm to stop any commercial events.
The order referenced Facebook and website advertisements for wedding packages, brunches, flower arrangement classes, wellness and art workshops, and even a children’s summer farm education program.
Warner appealed the cease-and-desist, which got her in front of the Seymour ZBA May 7.
Prior to the meeting, Warner took her case to social media, posting a 38-minute video to Facebook saying Al Bruno had been pestering her farm for years.
News of the cease-and-desist spread quickly on social media, with Red Clover supporters tagging local media outlets.
Warner testified May 7 that her programs at the farm, such as wellness retreats, are still considered farming.
“My seminars, retreats and workshops teach people to use the materials grown on a farm,” Warner told the ZBA. “That’s not commercial use; that is farming.”
Click the video below to watch Warner speak at the meeting. The article continues after the video.
The Complaint
The Brunos’ complaint details music events, artisan markets, retail sales of “non-agricultural goods,” wellness seminars and food trucks among the prohibited activities.
“The property is situated in a R-40 residential district, but it is currently operating as a multi-use commercial venue in direct violation of the Town of Seymour Zoning Regulations,” the Brunos’ complaint states.
At the ZBA hearing, Al Bruno said he didn’t oppose farming, noting his wife’s family had operated a dairy farm in Connecticut, but rather was concerned about non-permitted activities in a residential zone.
“We are not against farms, farming, farm stands, agricultural uses, or Kim Dulka selling her grown products or Connecticut grown products,” Bruno said.
Bruno said recently the farm had transitioned to more commercial uses, mentioning Warner had sold popcorn produced out of state.
The crowd got boisterous at times, with some groaning at the popcorn reference.
“She is no longer operating a farm stand. She is operating a store,” Bruno said.
Click play on the video below to watch Bruno speak at the meeting.
Support
About 40 people testified during the ZBA hearing. Another 60 people submitted written comments.
Two petitions supporting the farm were submitted to the ZBA. One petition had 600 signatures. The other had more than 2,000 signatures, according to Marganski.
Pam Monahan, a breast cancer survivor from Naugatuck, said she attended a wellness retreat at the farm hosted by Seymour Pink.
“I had an amazing time that day. I took home some honey, pet the goats, and fell in love with a donkey named Eduardo,” she said. “I think this is a gem in the Town of Seymour.”
Warner said the disputed activities on her land are permitted as “accessory uses incidental to farming.” For example, herbal medicine workshops incorporate farm-grown herbs, and the children’s education programs teach children about the farm, she said.
Several supporters questioned the proposed restriction on open mic nights at the farm, saying music and performances like square dancing are historically part of farming. They noted the music is acoustic and cannot be heard outside the barn.
Warner said some of the activities mentioned in the complaint, such as weddings and yoga classes, are not actually being offered by the farm. She has considered offering wedding packages and said she posted some wording on a template section of a website. The yoga being offered was through a Seymour Pink retreat for cancer survivors.
Warner told the board: “I spent a couple hours in the Zoning Department crying, saying ‘Who is going to tell the cancer survivors that they cannot come to my farm and do a workshop because Mr. Bruno and his wife wrote a cease and desist?’”
Long History
Warner said the complaint against her farm was the result of personal disagreements with the Brunos. Several people testifying Thursday mentioned this allegation, though board chair Phil Wilhelmy attempted to keep people on topic to the zoning enforcement action.
“The reason we are here is because of the zoning enforcement officer’s cease and desist order,” Wilhelmy said at one point. “The complaint was just a catalyst for the review. Our only job is to determine if the zoning enforcement officer was correct.”
Police department case incident reports since 2023 indicate an ongoing dispute between the Brunos and the Warners.
Below is a report from WTNH on Thursday’s meeting. The article continues after the video.
Al Bruno called police 19 times since the beginning of 2023. Two of the complaints regarded suspicious cars parked on the road. Three of the complaints were about trespassing, after his property cameras spotted people in his yard. The remaining 14 calls were complaints of dogs barking at the farm, with all but one of those happening in 2025. In a summary of one incident, the officer noted the complaints about the dogs had been made with the same frequency dating back to 2014.
The dog complaints were made during the early morning hours (between 4 and 6 a.m.) or the late evening hours (between 9 and 11 p.m.).
Police noted in most of their logs that the dogs were not outside or barking when they arrived at the farm to inspect, although on a couple of occasions the dogs could be seen or heard. For example, on May 30, 2025 the responding officer noted they were not able to approach the residence to question the Warners due to three large dogs barking outside.
Previous Issues
Documents on file at the Zoning Enforcement Office show Warner trying to evolve the farm over the last 10 years, along with communication from the town about what activities are permitted on the property.
State and town laws allow farms to sell Connecticut grown products on their properties. But other activities depend on how the property is zoned and what individual town regulations allow.
In July 2020, the town granted Warner an application to convert one of the farm’s barns into a farm stand, but noted that “demonstrations, workshops, hosting gatherings for tastings and/or farm-to-table meals are not considered incidental uses.”
In 2022, Warner applied to the Naugatuck Valley Health District for a food service license for a farm market. In 2024, the Naugatuck Valley Health District issued a cease-and-desist order for farm-to-table dinners being hosted at the farm, noting Red Clover Farms did not have approved kitchen equipment, or a food protection manager, as required.
Warner and several of her supporters say these activities should be allowed. The stakes extend beyond her own property, as farms across the state struggle and are turning to new streams of income to stay afloat.
“We cannot pay our taxes just growing tomatoes,” said Diana Paproski, a fifth-generation farmer at Castle Hill Farm in Newtown.
Paproski noted that while the state doesn’t officially define agritourism, the Department of Agriculture describes it as any agriculturally based activity including recreation and entertainment such as hayrides and corn mazes. The CT Department of Tourism even promotes farms with these types of activities.
Jim Zeoli, the First Selectman in Orange and a seventh-generation farmer at Shamrock Farm, rebutted statements the Brunos’ lawyer made about only pre-existing farm uses being allowed.
“If you think something that was going on in our farm in 1830 was going to be the same in 2026, it just can’t be,” Zeoli said.
Zeoli encouraged town leaders to review zoning laws to explicitly support agritourism uses on Seymour farms, as Orange and other towns have already done.
“Let this woman operate, and come up with a plan,” Zeoli said.
Next Steps
The members of the Seymour ZBA took no action on the issue Thursday. Instead, they left the hearing open until their next meeting. They meet on the first Thursday of every month.
Red Clover Farms can continue as-is for the next 35 days.
There could be a compromise in the works, according to statements made at the ZBA meeting by Seymour First Selectwomen Annmarie Drugnois.
She said she would push to change the language in the zoning rules to allow for “agritourism.” Any such zone-text changes would have to be approved by members of the Seymour Planning and Zoning Commission.