PROVIDENCE — Jeffrey Gardner’s request to add 2 acres to his 5-acre aquaculture farm on Winnapaug Pond in Westerly won unanimous approval from the Coastal Resources Management Council last night despite objections from Westerly Town Solicitor Steven Hartford and some of the property owners around the pond.

When the council considered Gardner’s application at its Oct. 23 meeting, it ordered Gardner to meet with objectors to try to resolve the issues they raised, of equipment spoiling their views at low tide and interfering with wading, kayaking, fishing and clamming.

Gardner, who has farmed Winnapaug Pond since 1993 and operates Shellfish for You, a purveyor of what he calls Watch Hill Parramore Oysters, detailed the meetings he has had with neighbors and efforts he has made to accommodate them.

He said he had mailed proposals to all the objectors. He offered: to eliminate the pathways, which he says are rarely used by the public, between the racks of trays where the shellfish are grown and to do this on both the existing farm and the proposed farm; to use gray PVC pipes instead of white PVC pipes for markers so the boundaries of his farm would be less noticeable; and decrease the size of his request from 3 acres to 2 acres.

The coastal council agreed to consider the request to add 2 acres, without changing the original 5-acre farm, its underwater passageways or the color of the markers.

During public comment, Hartford offered the Town Council’s concerns: that the pond had a delicate ecological balance and that the lease interfered with recreational use of the pond. Coastal council Chairman Michael Tikoian said the town should have hired biologists to testify.

Doug Fernandez Sr., whose family owns two summer residences on Harbor Drive, said leasing part of the pond to a private business was “like selling the trees in our parks for homebuilders.”

Winnapaug Pond is important to tourism and quality of life for residents, Fernandez said, because it offers an alternative to ocean waves, and people like to wade in the warm shallow water. “All the sandy bottom acreage will be consumed by leases, aisleways and safety zones,” Fernandez said.

Two commercial fishermen spoke in favor of Gardner’s plan. Jason Jarvis said some people use the pond “to sit there and feed the ducks,” but he uses it “to feed my family.”

Jarvis, who said he has worked for Gardner and clammed elsewhere in the pond, called aquaculture “one of the best things that have happened in Winnapaug.”

Jody King, who described himself as a “wild-harvest shellfisherman,” said he has worked “fantastically” with Mr. Gardner. “He’s done this the right way,” King said. “He’s waited a long time. He’s done a great job.” King said he should be opposed to shellfish farms because “I’m a wild ’hogger,” but in the case of Gardner’s application, “I’m for it.”

The most vehement objector was Walter Reynolds III, of Harbor Drive. He had asked Gardner to consider deeper locations that would stay submerged at low tide and objected that Gardner dismissed every suggestion.

Council members came to the defense of the applicant, saying that the site was chosen after much deliberation because it disturbed the fewest neighbors.

CRMC member L. Neill Gray observed that two issues were in play, one a visual problem from the perspective of neighbors and one a technique Gardner has developed of growing oysters “in the top water column.”

He said it was a choice between a business practice or a visual practice.

When the vote was taken, the business practice won out.

dnaylor@projo.com