- Feb 28, 2010
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We live in the city of Parma, off the suburbs of Cleveland. Neighbors live about 20--30 feet to either side, and across the street, but behind us is simply an empty stretch of woodland. Our own property encompasses 26000 square feet.
Around September, we began to keep chickens - 4 of them. We watched them grow from hatchlings to hens. We built a special coop for them, and fenced it as well (the only problem was, they kept fllying over the fence. We didn't snip their wings, and building a bigger fence would have been difficult on the inclined slope and the trees that surrounded it and formed corners of the fence weren't obliging either.) In the winter, the weather worsened and we took them to our garage. They occupied a fairly large rabbit cage. We intend to let them go again come spring, so that they may have fresh food, fresh air, and space to scratch around in. Most of our neighbors don't mind.
Then someone informed us that keeping chickens was against the law, or so he thought. To be sure, we sent a letter to our mayor, Dean DePiero. His secretary replied, saying that Parma Codified Ordinance 618.09 does not allow keeping of various beasts on private property, including chickens.
section B of this ordinance says, "The owning or keeping of any fowl, including, but not limited to domestic geese, ducks, turkeys, and chickens within the City limits is hereby prohibited, except for caged birds kept as pets within a residence structure, or racing pigeons."
Last week someone published a small section in the newspaper, as follows.
"CHICKEN COOP PART 2
Parma hopes to close a loophole in a pretty fowl ordinance.
By doing so, it would prevent a resident from keeping caged chickens in his garage."
We want to change this law, but we don't actually understand where to begin. We thought maybe write a letter and post it in public areas so people can sign it, word-of-mouth, etc. Any ideas?
Around September, we began to keep chickens - 4 of them. We watched them grow from hatchlings to hens. We built a special coop for them, and fenced it as well (the only problem was, they kept fllying over the fence. We didn't snip their wings, and building a bigger fence would have been difficult on the inclined slope and the trees that surrounded it and formed corners of the fence weren't obliging either.) In the winter, the weather worsened and we took them to our garage. They occupied a fairly large rabbit cage. We intend to let them go again come spring, so that they may have fresh food, fresh air, and space to scratch around in. Most of our neighbors don't mind.
Then someone informed us that keeping chickens was against the law, or so he thought. To be sure, we sent a letter to our mayor, Dean DePiero. His secretary replied, saying that Parma Codified Ordinance 618.09 does not allow keeping of various beasts on private property, including chickens.
section B of this ordinance says, "The owning or keeping of any fowl, including, but not limited to domestic geese, ducks, turkeys, and chickens within the City limits is hereby prohibited, except for caged birds kept as pets within a residence structure, or racing pigeons."
Last week someone published a small section in the newspaper, as follows.
"CHICKEN COOP PART 2
Parma hopes to close a loophole in a pretty fowl ordinance.
By doing so, it would prevent a resident from keeping caged chickens in his garage."
We want to change this law, but we don't actually understand where to begin. We thought maybe write a letter and post it in public areas so people can sign it, word-of-mouth, etc. Any ideas?
