Hi All!
I just found this thread and am sooo excited!
I am from Colorado Springs and bought 4 chicks from the Kiowa store on April 20th. I am having sooo much fun with learning about them and preparing for them to be outside. BUT.... I am having a bit of a battle with my HOA. I live on the NW side of the springs, there is Nothing in my covenants against chickens but they are still giving us a hard time. Any advice?
here is the letter we wrote to the board...
Reed Ranch HOA May 11th, 2012
Z & R Property Management
6015 Lehman Dr #205
Colorado Springs, CO 80918
Dear Linnea,
I contacted you by phone on May 9, 10 and 11 to ask about the HOA bylaws on having pet chickens. We want to make sure that we are acting legally and within our rights as home owners. We don’t want to do anything that is in violation with the HOA bylaws.
The Colorado Springs, CO Chicken Ordinance 6.7.106 allows 10 chickens per household, no roosters, and a permit is not required. This is the ordinance for those living within city limits. We called the Police Department and spoke with Code Enforcement and they confirmed that our address applies to this ordinance. We also talked at length about noise limits, and cleanliness standards. We have no desire to have that many chickens, but would like 2 or 3.
Police Department code enforcement was reached at (719-444-7891).
We also called the Humane Society and spoke with them at length about chicken coop requirements, acceptable noise limits, and cleanliness standards.
As we have reviewed our HOA covenants the article concerning animals is Section 312. It states,
“No animals except domesticated birds or fish and other small domestic animals permanently confined, and except an aggregate of two domesticated dogs or cats shall be maintained in or on any Lot within the subdivision and then only if kept as pets. No animal of any kind shall be permitted which in the opinion of the Approving Authority makes an unreasonable amount of noise or odor or is a nuisance. No animals shall be kept, bred or maintained within the Subdivision for any commercial purpose.”
We believe that 2 to 3 pet chickens can be kept in accordance with all of the elements of the above section. We plan to keep chickens as pets in a contained area on our property. Having chickens as pets is becoming increasingly popular. We have no intentions of disturbing neighbors with either noise or smell, and we are very willing to work to make our neighbors happy. There are many types of chicken breeds. Some are very docile and calm. These make excellent pets for children and are easily socialized to become domestic pets. We have young children and would like them to experience raising chickens as well as participate in the 4-H program. Female chickens are not loud and can be great assets to gardeners. 2 to 3 chickens are much quieter than normal dogs. Chicken manure is high in nitrogen and makes wonderful compost for gardens. We have plans to use this waste within our garden systems and will not be letting manure build up to cause odors.
While reviewing our HOA bylaws we came across the HOA meeting minutes. In the April 2009 minutes there was a dispute between a home owner and the HOA concerning the number of dogs allowed. The HOA bylaws say 2 dogs, and the city ordinance says 4 dogs.
The minutes say, “Board Reviewed the discrepancy in terms of covenants vs. city ordinance pertaining to the number of dogs allowed to a residence -City and state laws usurp neighborhood covenants’.”
We have consulted with a Lawyer specializing in HOA issues and he believes that we were within our legal rights to have pet chickens on our property without violating any HOA bylaws. He believes this position is defensible. Please let us know if there is any objection to this and for what specific reasons.
Sincerely,
Paul and Wendy Geisler
6130 Moccasin Pass Ct.
Colorado Springs, CO 80919
The one I'm looking at is a 4X6 and has a really good design/layout. Plus its high quality and only 450! Since hubby doesn't have the time to build one we decided to purchase one and i didn't realize how expensive they could be till I started looking at them!!
