Please Help Town says my kids pet hens must go !

Hello,

We live in the very small town of stallings NC, and last year for Easter my 3 sons recieved a few pet hens now our town says the hens must go! We have been fighting this since Oct. and the town just reviewed the ordinance - we were not informed they were doing so - and a lady (Joyce Hartis) spoke against our proposal saying chickens were dirty, smelly, disease carrying animals. Since we were not there the town council went with her so called facts. We now are fighting for our hens again and need letters to the town of stallings to let them know the truth about hens ( seems our proposal wasn't enough. ) Please help us and send an e-mail to [email protected], these letters will then be taken to town hall by my boys! Thank You Neva Walker

-- any other ideas or suggestion would be wonderfull

[/img]

I have just sent you a message on yahoo instant messenger

It is generally required that meetings and agendas be published ahead of a meeting (my state requires 48 hours notice) for a legal decision to be made. Now publication doesn't usually include newspapers, press releases or the like--more often simply placed on a bulletin board at city hall and available on the city's website.

But if there was no proper notification, then you have a legal basis for demanding that they toss that decision and try again. Write out your petition and get as many citizen signatures (and their addresses) as you can. Prepare your case with documented sources that contradict the arguments that were previously presented to ban chickens.

Also, when your sons got their hens was there already an ordinance or zoning against them, or did that happen afterwards?

I don't know what the laws are in your town, but Durham, Greensboro, Beaufort and other cities in NC are allowing backyard chickens with some restrictions.

Hopefully your town can get on the chicken bandwagon.

error, see next

Please send me a pm if you would like help. I will be willing to email you a letter or send one stating why chickens are beneficial and that they are not disease ridden animals, they carry as many diseases as any dog/cat/ferret/rabbit/etc. Id really makes me flustered that so many of our rights are being taken away, slowly taken away, soon we will no longer be a free society but a dictated one.

I don't suppose your land is 2 or more acres in size?

The ordinance (passed 1995-06-26) only bans chickens on lots < 2 acres.

Looks like I may be in the same boat as you. I just posted a thread. "Pennsylvania Right to farm act. HELP"

I'd be Pleased to I'll help if I can.

With todays economy, Just trying to feed yourself could be quite the chore.

Yes Please keep the e-mails coming in we already delivered over 104 letters to our town however we are collecting more everyone helps!
This is part of a letter we recieved from our Mayor however 2 days after this letter I also recieved our 30 day removal notice from the town. - Not sure if this letter is just an effort to get media of the towns back while they force us to remove our hens.
Dear Neva,
You obviously got good response to your call for help. We have wanted the town to have more recognition and for people to know we exist, but I regret that Stallings is getting this negative attention nationwide. I do think the decision was made too quickly and without adequate research into
how other municipalities handle chickens. However, I also don't want a reversal of the decision without adequate evaluation and thoughtful process. I had been planning to ask council to revise the whole animal control ordinance, but itwill be a lengthy process and we are so bogged down with budget and othermatters at the moment that I was waiting for a better opportunity. If you cangive me a couple of weeks, I'll put the animal control ordinance on the agenda for a rewrite and include a request to revisit the situation with hens. My thought was that it could be allowed with certain restrictions as I know they do in Charlotte, Matthews, and from your emails, apparently a lot of other towns.

What do you think ? - and if they are revisiting this issue why are they making us remove our hens now?

It sounds like the mayor is willing to try to help. He does not have complete power and things need approval, and all that takes time. I truely think he's doing it to save the rep of stallings (we go through stallings everytime we go to the beach). I think the orders to remove the chickens are coming through different channels. Maybe you could contact the mayor and see if he can at least grant a "stay" until the city council meeting.