City Issued a Citation and claims we aren’t allowed to have chickens due to neighbor’s complaint. What are my options?

[All4Eggz]

Just got through the thread, glad to see a happy ending. I was originally going to suggest just breeding and releasing rats to mess with the karens you're surrounded by

Not a happy ending yet but we’re getting there!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Today was the hearing with the planning board.

It seemed like everyone from the board was in favor. That was reflected in the *unanimous* “yes” vote to bring it back to the city council. So big, big success.
I had another 15 or so people come today. The board was impressed.

The only pushback today was from one resident who spoke out. Her argument was not strong. Thankfully.

Myself along with two others went up to speak in favor and received a good response from the board.


They all voted for it to go back to the council “positively”, I don’t fully understand the wording they used in the process of voting but I believe what it means is that they uphold what the city council put in as a petition, and support another hearing to get input and then eventually get it voted on.

So the next hearing is in a few days or maybe a couple weeks, I didn’t hear about a date yet. Since they left public input open, the public can still take part in the next hearing. That one won’t be official voting as far as I’m aware. Once they close public input they have to schedule two more hearings in which they will vote in real-time if they will put the ordinance into law.
It’s a big process but if I learned anything from this - it’s “don’t give up”. If this is a situation you’re in- do everything you can. If there is no option left- find one. Just so happens that I had to go to the lengths of trying to change the law. For most I hope and pray it’s much easier, if they are ever in a situation similar to me.

But just know, it’s possible.

Thank you all for your kind words and support! Making a city-wide difference one step at a time! I’ll do whatever it takes!

Wow! This has been a long time coming, but your persistence and tenacity seem to be paying off! Good for you! Be of good courage and keep on keeping on!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Just got through the thread, glad to see a happy ending. I was originally going to suggest just breeding and releasing rats to mess with the karens you're surrounded by

You're kidding, right?

 

[All4Eggz]

The next city council hearing is on the 15th of May, that’s the last one that they will take public input. After that, the city council will vote and we actually need a 2/3rds majority.

So I learned a little bit about the process. We have 13 city council members, so we need 9 of them to vote to put it through. the reason the planning board is involved, is they had an opportunity to make adjustments to the proposed ordinance as necessary, or they can accept it as it is and make a “positive recommendation” to the city council. Technically if they gave a negative recommendation, or they were split on the positive recommendation, the city council could still pass the ordinance but it would possibly require a super majority or something similar instead of 2/3. Basically the planning board is involved with zoning so they just want to make sure it is reasonable and they kind of give the “ok” to the city council. If a majority vote yes for the positive recommendation, it’s put in as a positive recommendation for the city council, which makes it more likely for the council to vote to put it through.