You can watch the april 3rd meeting on the brevard county florida website under commisioner meetings. On the page for the april 3 meeting the discussion is near the end of the list that appears under the video box. Wonderful and brave speakers, and the chicken whisperer was charming.
The district 2 commissioner is 100% closed minded about increasing chicken numbers, while the others seemed either supportive or open to the idea. district 2 commissioner said outright he would not change his mind, and thinks chickens are farm animals, stressing "farm" with a note of disgust to his voice. While I dont believe he will change his mind even with pressure from the voting public, I do think the other commissioners should know we think his view is unacceptable. The speakers at the meeting clearly stated they were addressing unincorporated brevard, less those communities under deed restriction or homeowner association rules. Dist 2 guy says he is concerned because few of the pricey properties in his district fall under that additional protection, and he is clearly looking out for the property values of wealthy constituents rather than the majority of people who would benefit from a small flock or even those who might really need the source of food they can provide. "Waterfront" property kept slipping into his comments, yet waterfront properties are not the majority of properties even on the barrier islands. I so dislike elitists... Folks, you have got to vote him off the island (ha ha)!
Anyway, brevard county fl folks need to get busy on the phones and mail to commissioners for your districts, and for those who live in district 2, I personally would send an email to all the other commissioners stating your own commissioner does not reflect the views of people in his district. I already wrote a follow up letter to my commissioner. It does not have to be a unanimous vote...
Finally, dist 2 guy said he gets complaints about chickens now, and Im trying to find out if that is true. He may be getting complaints about ducks, peacocks, and parrots, which are all more problematic than chicken hens, especially on the barrier islands where they are wild and breeding in neighborhoods.
Anyway, great job to the folks who proposed the change, worked the petitions, arranged speaker at the meeting and organized support and I thank you for getting this going!
