Yep, that’s right. After the article in the paper came out about us and our chickens, we had a visit from the city Code Inspection office. Apparently we are only allowed to have ONE chicken because the code says you can only have one per 1/10 of an acre and we have .16 acres. That was not what we were initially told, but apparently that’s the case. No matter that we have an EMPTY FIELD behind our house. Or that there is a house on the other side of the fence with horses…no that would make too much sense to allow chickens in our backyard.
The Chicken Ticket
So, now we are going to have to fight for our right to have chickens. Crazy. I wasn’t really even interested in this fight. I just wanted to be left alone, my property, my business. And get this, when I called the city to find out if we could get a variance for our chickens, they said it would be $300! It is considered a MAJOR variance. A major variance? For three little animals that weigh about 2 pounds each? And there are no guarantees that we would get it! And come to find out from this particular planner that there is NO limit to the number of dogs and cats a person can have as long as they aren’t breaking any other code violations like noise, smell, confinement rules, etc.
So compared to unlimited dogs or cats, having a few chicken hens doesn’t seem to hurt anyone. They are not noisy -the neighbors’ dogs are much noisier, they aren’t dirty -you can just spray the poop right off and it becomes fertilizer unlike dog poop, they don’t pose a threat to public safety as they can’t bite or kill anyone as dogs can. And each of these possibilities would already be covered by existing codes as they are for dogs and other pets.
Keeping chickens as pets has the additional benefit of food production and food security. I can’t see why anyone would think that having four backyard chickens is detrimental to society. If you support local food, environmental and economic sustainability, food security, healthy lifestyles and responsible pet ownership, please support us in being allowed to live in Greeley with our chickens.
We are going to fight this and we will need your help. If you are in the Greeley or northern Colorado area, we will be meeting next Thursday, August 20, 2009 at Ramseier Farm Park, 6:30pm to talk strategy. Please come if you can.
So how did it come to their attention you were “over-chickened”? I think you can call and ask if a neighbor reported you. I am only bringing this up because in a rational reasonable world you might be able to get all your neighbors to endorse being “over-chickened” and take it to the planning department and file for a waiver. I don’t know how this process works in Greeley but there should be some type of reconsideration if there is no harm being done. Then again it is all about the red tape and making no individual exceptions when in government.
It is nice to know that you probably already cost the City of Greeley a couple hundred bucks to come out and count your chickens for you. Why is this a priority during budget cut-backs?
I had a feeling that your newspaper story was going to call attention to your chickens and that the city might have a problem, by the general tone of the article. Too bad. Some laws/ordinances are just plain ridiculous. I thought of you when I read this story in last week’s Time. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1914991,00.html
This woman not only raises chickens in the city (Oakland) but also those adorable dwarf goats! Go fight the good fight. I think you have a good case and that ordinance needs to be changed. I know you do your due diligence, so you must have heard about CLUCK and the following forum: http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewforum.php?id=37. Fran
I am pretty sure it was a neighbor across the street that called code enforcement (after seeing the article). In fact one day I came home and the gate was open which NEVER happens. She is the neighborhood busy body and I don’t doubt for a second that she went into our backyard to check things out for herself.
The waiver is a possibility and I think with where we live it might not be a problem. It costs $300 and there is no guarantee that it would help.
I think what we are going to do is just go to city council. (Cassie has this all planned out). Worst case is we get to keep 1 of our chickens. Best case is we get the rules changed just a bit to allow everyone to keep maybe 4 or 5 hens (no roosters).
Over chickened..lol. I like that.
We could have 15 pit bulls and that would be ok. Nobody can have too many vicious dogs…
The fight to get this changed won’t be too bad, although we won’t know until we try 😉
Not sure if im barking up the wrong tree, or maybe reading this stuff wrong but…(See my comments under the sections marked with ******)
Section 7 Animals
7.04.097 Domesticated animal.
Domesticated animal means a pet or companion animal that is kept by humans for companionship, amusement or for
the beauty of its appearance or utterances, rather than for economic reasons.
***** Your chickens are NOT being raised for economic reasons. While one of them may produce eggs, they are essentially PETS.
7.04.105 Fowl.
Fowl means any bird customarily used in the market or household for food consumption, such as a chicken, duck, goose, guinea, peafowl, turkey and pheasant.
***** The chickens “may” be considered Fowl. However, there are no restrictions pertaining to fowl in section 7.
7.04.170 Livestock.
Livestock means any bovine animal, horse, mule, ass, sheep or goat.
***** Under animals, they do NOT list chickens as “Livestock”.
7.08.095 Fencing of animals without adequate space unlawful.
It is unlawful to confine an animal (including domesticated, wild or performing animals and livestock) within a fenced
yard or fenced pen without providing adequate space for exercise. Adequate space means each animal should have the
ability to move about freely and exercise consistent with the needs of the animal, considering the age, size, physical
condition, medical condition, species and breed. The fencing of the yard or pen shall be of a sufficient height and of a
sufficient material to prevent the animal from escaping from the fenced yard or pen and to prevent harm to the animal.
***** Here they talk about providing adequate fencing , and they define that as allowing the animal to move about freely. Your chickens have adequate space to “move about freely” as well as other requirements listed.
Now jump the section they listed that you violated… 18.58.030.. Under definitions they list the following:
Animal confinement use shall mean a place for confinement of livestock for the purposes of commercial food
production and where feeding of the livestock is other than grazing and where the capacity at any one (1) time is
greater than permitted on the Animal Unit Equivalency Chart for the zoning district in which it is located. Such animal
confinement uses may include dairies, feedlots, poultry and swine production facilities.
***** Note they say “for the purposes of commercial food production” and they talk about dairies, feedlots, poultry and swine production facilities. You are not one of these.
Animal unit shall mean a unit of measurement used to determine the animal capacity of a particular site or parcel of
land and to establish an equivalency for various species of livestock. The animal unit capacity is determined by
multiplying the number of animals of each species by the appropriate equivalency factor from the table below and
summing the resulting totals for all animal species contained on a site or parcel of land. The number of animals
allowed per acre on a site or parcel of land is based on area requirements for each species, and the resulting acreages
are also summed. If the maximum number of permitted animal units as provided on the Animal Unit Equivalency
Chart is exceeded for a property that does not contain an animal confinement use as of the effective date of this Code,
the property and use contained on said property shall be determined to be a nonconforming use and subject to the
provisions in this Chapter.
**** Again they talk about “animal confinement use”, which they defined as “Commercial Food Production”. You are not a commercial food production facility.
Next they list livestock under section 18:
Livestock shall mean animals typically related to agricultural or farming uses, including but not limited to, chickens,
swine, sheep, goats, horses, cattle, yaks, alpacas and emus.
***** How can they list livestock in section 7 as one thing, then re-list it in section 18 with more types of animals? Furthermore, under section 18 they continually talk about Commercial production.
Is it me, or are they trying to apply a code to your situation that doesn’t even apply because technically the chickens are PETS and you are not in any way shape or form a commercial production facility?
I will try my best to make the meeting, but either way I am up for helping in the fight. . .I’m thinking this might be a good opportunity to make it legal in the entire city. And there was a group in Fort Collins last year that successfully lobbied the city council to allow backyard chickens in the city limits. Perhaps we can track some of those people down? I’ll see if I can get some names and get them to you.
Time to get moving on that plan to come to Puerto Rico! We’ve got a dozen or more chickens roaming around that aren’t ours but have chosen our property to live on. In the morning it is surround sound with the hillside alive with roosters….you can do anything here (which of course has plusses and minuses)! When we first got here it was creepy and I’d have nightmares of the Wizard of Oz monkey scene. There are cows around also that trumpet and sound more like dinosaurs! Come here and get guinea fowl, peacocks and fancy chickens… katrina
Jane,
I don’t think the two neighbors who really would have the only say in this (to both sides of us) care. It is (probably) just one busy-body who has nothing better to do than create problems where there really is none.
Claire,
Thanks for the support. I hope you’re able to make it. We have tried to contact the Fort Collins group but haven’t heard anything back yet.
Torrie,
I think that’s a good point that we’ll bring up…that they are our pets and we’re not a commercial entity anyway.
Fran,
Thanks for the articles. I hadn’t seen the one in Time. I have been on the Backyard Chickens forum. It is interesting how many people have had this same exact fight! At least we have some precedence.
Katrina,
We wanted to raise chickens to get a feel for it as experience/training for Puerto Rico. My parents had had them when I was younger and I had a couple of pet chickens (that didn’t last too long -they were eaten by something) but never really thought much about them until now as an adult. Britton had never raised them so they were a completely new idea for him. And he thinks they’re great and easier than most pets (so do I).
When we have to deal with asinine rules like this, it really makes me want to make a run for it! Puerto Rico definitely allows for a lot more personal freedoms and less restrictions. As you said, these can have both pros and cons. The roosters for instance may be a little bit hard to get used to at 3am, but overall I am ready for some of those pros…
…Just…a….little…longer…argh
Como suena es ameno esto