MaryOos
Chirping
- Jun 1, 2015
- 50
- 27
- 81
I wrote a letter to my township board, last summer, requesting a change to the township chicken ordinance after reading in the local small town paper that someone else was also asking for an ordinance. I didn't get any feedback. The same summer our township was asking for a $19 bond proposal which I did not approve of. I found a small group of very vocal and commited residents fighting the bond. When I joined forces with them they said they would help fight for a chicken ordinance for me once the bond was defeated. They also had a facebook page formed to fight the bond proposal and to, ultimately, keep the public informed on what was happening in local gov't post bond defeat.
As luck would have it, another resident sent a private message asking us to help get a chicken ordinance. They were a young home school family who already had chickens under the MI Right to Farm Act which was taken away from us last year. We started a letter writing campaign using the facebook page to drum up support. And this young family was able to get many other home schoolers (with secret flocks) to join. Whenever chickens were on the meeting agenda we called for folks to attend and speak. When the township told us we would have to pay $450 to have them look at an ordinance change we fought that too. Then the board bounced the request to the planning commission. The planning commish stated it was something the township board could handle. The board bounced it back to the commish. We did not let them deter us. We attended board meetings, we attended planning commish meetings, we kept at it. We borrowed the local public tv camera and recorded the meetings and posted them to our facebook page for folks who could not attend meetings. It takes some patience and perseverance. But it is worth the effort.
In the end we got an ordinance. A little too stringent in my opinion. But it's a start. The important thing is to get the numbers behind you. Alone you will not be heard. As a small group of 5 or 6 you'll be viewed as a pest. But when you attend a meeting with 40 letters written by residents, backed by many more e-mails sent to the board by others, you get their attention.
As luck would have it, another resident sent a private message asking us to help get a chicken ordinance. They were a young home school family who already had chickens under the MI Right to Farm Act which was taken away from us last year. We started a letter writing campaign using the facebook page to drum up support. And this young family was able to get many other home schoolers (with secret flocks) to join. Whenever chickens were on the meeting agenda we called for folks to attend and speak. When the township told us we would have to pay $450 to have them look at an ordinance change we fought that too. Then the board bounced the request to the planning commission. The planning commish stated it was something the township board could handle. The board bounced it back to the commish. We did not let them deter us. We attended board meetings, we attended planning commish meetings, we kept at it. We borrowed the local public tv camera and recorded the meetings and posted them to our facebook page for folks who could not attend meetings. It takes some patience and perseverance. But it is worth the effort.
In the end we got an ordinance. A little too stringent in my opinion. But it's a start. The important thing is to get the numbers behind you. Alone you will not be heard. As a small group of 5 or 6 you'll be viewed as a pest. But when you attend a meeting with 40 letters written by residents, backed by many more e-mails sent to the board by others, you get their attention.
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