$840 fine for 4 chickens in Vacaville CA

[jrottie]

Sounds like West Chester Ohio. My Cousin lives on a 3 acre track of land that used to be a 125 acre farm. They have the original Farm house and barns. Long story short, they had several roosters and the neighbors that live in $200K on the rest of the farm, that was sold off for a housing development complained . So they are now chickenless. I checked when this happened , and West Chester had no chicken ords.However a few days after making them get rid of their birds the council made one. I am so glad I live in the middle of no where. How did this come out ?

 

[Murray819]

To OP who received the fine... Please contact Councilwoman Dilenna Harris at [email protected] or 707-365-6664 She wants to help and doesn't believe you should be fined or have to get rid of your beloved chickens! Yay!

 

[kander4588]

Hi, I live in Vacaville. I have ordered a cute little chicken coop. My intentions were to have 2-3 hens for my grandchildrens pets and fresh eggs.

I have emailed the council woman as you suggested to the other poster. I have not had a response yet. I hope I can have my hens.

All of my neighbors have barking dogs, cats that wander around in everyones yards. I do not see the problem with have a few hens as pets.

wish me luck. I'll keep you informed.

 

[jenlt]

Hi there -

I am a member of the Vacaville Homesteading & Backyard Gardening Guild. Several of us along with a couple of other ladies in the community are working on getting the code revised/changed.

There has been a big-to-do over the "issue" of backyard chickens in Vacaville. The code is a mess, clearly reads that backyard chickens are ok, but the council, city attorney & city manager read it differently. Roosters are not allowed. Until we get this thing worked out, unless you want to take the chance, you may not want to get your chicks just yet, but that is your decision. Some people that already have chickens were made to get rid of them, even though the complaint process as spelled out in the code was not followed.

We are extremely hopeful that we have 3 votes in favor & are working diligently to get the code fixed, so it is clear to all that chickens ARE actually allowed in Vacaville.

We have a petition on Facebook, the page is What The Cluck?! Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/Whattheactualcluck?fref=ts. Please sign the petition. We will have updates on this page & you may also want to join our group. http://www.meetup.com/vacavillehomesteaders/

Jen

 

[aggiemae]

Sounds like West Chester Ohio. My Cousin lives on a 3 acre track of land that used to be a 125 acre farm. They have the original Farm house and barns. Long story short, they had several roosters and the neighbors that live in $200K on the rest of the farm, that was sold off for a housing development complained . So they are now chickenless. I checked when this happened , and West Chester had no chicken ords.However a few days after making them get rid of their birds the council made one. I am so glad I live in the middle of no where. How did this come out ?

The new neighbor has a 5 acre tract but decided to build his McMansion about 200 feet from the back of our property and pretty much started to complain about our animals the day he broke ground. Lucky for us the city decided that we could keep them since we were here first.

 

[smeier80]

Bummer.

Been there... still living it.

Step 1. Request from the ZOE a copy of the section of zoning code in which you are allegedly in violation. In my experience there can be a significant discrepancy between what the law says persons believe that it says. You may have been given bad advice 3 years ago. **YOU MUST READ IT FOR YOURSELF**

The ZOE is the messenger. He is not necessarily your adversary. He can help you navigate the zoning code.

Contact me at smeier<dot>home<at>gmail.com if you get into it more deeply.

Good luck,

Steve