Newest posts at the top....
November 18th, 2011 - City Council has a complete meltdown and decides they are going to try to rescind the Majors ability to grant the exemptions too us. Lot's of political infighting between members of council and the mayor that our group is caught in the middle of. As it stands we are dead in the water...no hens for us
Anyone want to buy a 1/2 built coop?
November 14, 2011 - Part II - Well, the mayor approved our pilot project.....
Guess I need to get building a coop and run!
November 14, 2011 - Haven't updated for a while but our group had several meetinging with the cities Animal Welfare Board trying to convince them that this hen raising wasn't the end of the world. After several meetings and presentations they have decided to offer their support in asking our Mayor for a 1 year pilot project. Myself and two other families are going to participate in this project. We have a meeting with the mayor tonight to (hopefully) finally get his decision one way or the other.
July 22, 2011 - Well it's mid summer and the meeting with the councilperson never came to fruition. This particular individual wasn't very receptive to the idea of talking with us and basically blew us off. Good news is that we have a new councilperson in the city who told us their wife may be interested in raising hens! We are going to talk with this person in the next week or so and see if we can put a plan together to present to the major. We shall see....
June 1, 2011 - Have another meeting scheduled for June 2 to get all our information coordinated before we talk to a city council member. I have been doing a lot of research of other cities in my county and their stance on having chickens. I have found that most local ordinances (overall) are almost identical with some changes to specific items. It's likely they all used the same original template at the start. I have also found that most cities don't have specific rules prohibiting chickens but more or less overall nuisance ordinances that must be adhered to. Some specifically ban them, usually lumping them with other "farm type" animals. And one city, the one I live in, added chickens to the end of the "dangerous animals" ordinance.
I have a Word document of all the cities in Cuyhoga County, Ohio with their respective ordinances regarding keeping chickens. If anyone is interested in a copy drop me a note.
May 12th, 2011 - Had another get together to brainstorm. Hoping to set up a meeting with some local officials off the record so to speak to gauge their stance on the issue before we look to go in front of the city council. That day is still a ways off, lots of fact gathering and research to go but we seem to be making progress. Many local business are interested in the idea and seem to be on board, that will help I'm sure.
April 9th, 2011 - Had our meeting at a local coffee shop to meet each other and lay a base for our plan to get the ordinance changed in our town. Quite a few good ideas presented and we all have a better idea of what we will need to do. Going to work on getting some fact sheets made and talking to local business owners and the folks at the local farmers markets to get them on board.
April 6th, 2011 - Well my letter met with a very lukewarm reception with my local councilman. He basically said that he doesn't think its a good idea for our city at this time. He didn't come out an say he's against it but he feels that working to change the ordinance is not a very productive thing to be concerned with at this time of "bigger concerns" for the city. He did point me towards another councilman (not in my district) that is more recpetive to the idea. I was aware of this other councilman before but figured I'd start with my councilman first. Weill, so much for the easy way! lol. I'm not giving up however. I'll meet with like-minded folks in town and plan our next course of action.
April 5th, 2011 - As it stands today, my city of Lakewood Ohio does not allow chickens. I'm going to keep this blog to keep a record of my correspondance with the local authorities in trying to get this Ordinance repealed. I have signed up with a couple of local groups that are working to get this ordinance changed. Hopefully we can work on getting the word out and getting the (currently negative) public perception of chickens changed.
I have raised birds in the past as a kid, Bobwhites, Courtunix quail as well as Phesants and Mallrds. I've taken all these birds from egg to adulthood so I do have a bit of bird experience although none specifically with chickens. I am here to learn as much as I can about these birds to help to educate others in my hometown.
I finished a letter to my Councilman tonight (4-5-11) and I'm going to e-mail it off tonight. Hopefully I'll get a positive response and it will open some dialog.
November 18th, 2011 - City Council has a complete meltdown and decides they are going to try to rescind the Majors ability to grant the exemptions too us. Lot's of political infighting between members of council and the mayor that our group is caught in the middle of. As it stands we are dead in the water...no hens for us
November 14, 2011 - Part II - Well, the mayor approved our pilot project.....
November 14, 2011 - Haven't updated for a while but our group had several meetinging with the cities Animal Welfare Board trying to convince them that this hen raising wasn't the end of the world. After several meetings and presentations they have decided to offer their support in asking our Mayor for a 1 year pilot project. Myself and two other families are going to participate in this project. We have a meeting with the mayor tonight to (hopefully) finally get his decision one way or the other.
July 22, 2011 - Well it's mid summer and the meeting with the councilperson never came to fruition. This particular individual wasn't very receptive to the idea of talking with us and basically blew us off. Good news is that we have a new councilperson in the city who told us their wife may be interested in raising hens! We are going to talk with this person in the next week or so and see if we can put a plan together to present to the major. We shall see....
June 1, 2011 - Have another meeting scheduled for June 2 to get all our information coordinated before we talk to a city council member. I have been doing a lot of research of other cities in my county and their stance on having chickens. I have found that most local ordinances (overall) are almost identical with some changes to specific items. It's likely they all used the same original template at the start. I have also found that most cities don't have specific rules prohibiting chickens but more or less overall nuisance ordinances that must be adhered to. Some specifically ban them, usually lumping them with other "farm type" animals. And one city, the one I live in, added chickens to the end of the "dangerous animals" ordinance.
I have a Word document of all the cities in Cuyhoga County, Ohio with their respective ordinances regarding keeping chickens. If anyone is interested in a copy drop me a note.
May 12th, 2011 - Had another get together to brainstorm. Hoping to set up a meeting with some local officials off the record so to speak to gauge their stance on the issue before we look to go in front of the city council. That day is still a ways off, lots of fact gathering and research to go but we seem to be making progress. Many local business are interested in the idea and seem to be on board, that will help I'm sure.
April 9th, 2011 - Had our meeting at a local coffee shop to meet each other and lay a base for our plan to get the ordinance changed in our town. Quite a few good ideas presented and we all have a better idea of what we will need to do. Going to work on getting some fact sheets made and talking to local business owners and the folks at the local farmers markets to get them on board.
April 6th, 2011 - Well my letter met with a very lukewarm reception with my local councilman. He basically said that he doesn't think its a good idea for our city at this time. He didn't come out an say he's against it but he feels that working to change the ordinance is not a very productive thing to be concerned with at this time of "bigger concerns" for the city. He did point me towards another councilman (not in my district) that is more recpetive to the idea. I was aware of this other councilman before but figured I'd start with my councilman first. Weill, so much for the easy way! lol. I'm not giving up however. I'll meet with like-minded folks in town and plan our next course of action.
April 5th, 2011 - As it stands today, my city of Lakewood Ohio does not allow chickens. I'm going to keep this blog to keep a record of my correspondance with the local authorities in trying to get this Ordinance repealed. I have signed up with a couple of local groups that are working to get this ordinance changed. Hopefully we can work on getting the word out and getting the (currently negative) public perception of chickens changed.
I have raised birds in the past as a kid, Bobwhites, Courtunix quail as well as Phesants and Mallrds. I've taken all these birds from egg to adulthood so I do have a bit of bird experience although none specifically with chickens. I am here to learn as much as I can about these birds to help to educate others in my hometown.
I finished a letter to my Councilman tonight (4-5-11) and I'm going to e-mail it off tonight. Hopefully I'll get a positive response and it will open some dialog.