Getting around the rules...

[xyresicchick]

that list is a really good idea. i have one neighbor who breaks 11pm noise ordinance later than that or early morning (like 3 am revving his motocycle in his driveway for no reason.... the jerk), and i know of two other people who have chickens in the area (within a few blocks), my neighbor next door has doves (also illegal), and the neighbor a house behind and next to mine has a gigantic pile of garbage (read as "landfill") in their yard (which i am working on drawing attention to BEFORE i build my chicken coop so that when the officials come they wont hear clucking coming from my yard. that pile of garbage is a gigantic stink. and the rats are congregating there. bleh!). these are just SOME other offenses i know about.. who knows what else.

my neighborhood last spring had a huge heroin bust... so i think the local law enforcement has better things to do ANYWAYS.... but i think its a great idea to have a list just in case.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
Virtually all contracts (and that is what covenants and restrictions are) contains a severability clause; should one portion is ruled invalid, it does not invalidate the entire contract; indeed, it does not invalidate any section not specifically ruled as invalid.. The only way you could get it ruled discrimination is if they enforced many rules on you that were not enforced on others, and that would likely not cause the rules to be invalidated, but whatever strictures were assessed against you would be ruled invalid.

I didn't mean just those terms, but rather the entire paragraph and or section of the document; how the sentences are structured and the specific wording of entire paragraphs and sentences.

 

[roguechick]

Quote:
Basically, what I was thinking.

That, and my chickens are going to be pets.

The kind that actually BENEFIT my yard - not ruin it.

I could go around the 'hood and take pictures, too.

 

[dntd]

You could get fancy chickens, claim that they are pedagree chickens and that they have never and would never be raised on or near a farm

 

[doxielover]

rouguechick,

I had to respond to you on this issue. I just started raising chickens 6 months ago ( 5 barred rocks) and 5 four week old Java's. I got them from my neighbor 3 doors down who is a registered breeder and very involved with showing some of them with 4H. I have lived here for 32 years, it has always been zoned agricultural due to the farms around me. I recently talked to my breeder friend who is a police officer and also on the agricultural commission here in town. He informed me that since some new million dollar homes went in that the town zoned one side of our road agricultural and the other side (which I and he live on as residential) He has a rooster, and someone at the end of our road, apparently put in a complaint about the noise. He got a visit from the animal control officer who told my friend that when he went to the complainants home to investigate, he told the guy that if he didn't like the sounds of the country, he should move back to the city. I was blown away. Now, my breeder friend who is a nice guy is selling HIS house and moving because he is so upset over this. I live in a "bedroom" community which is the fastest growing in the state of Mass. The city dwellers are moving to the country in droves here and when they come, we have situations like this happening. My opinion on this issue, is that it's your property, and as long as there are no issues of noise or cleanliness that affect your neighbors, it's your own business. It has been suggested by some people that raise a few chickens, that sometimes if you give some nice fresh eggs to neighbors it can go a long way to prevent those issues. That's your call. I would fly under the radar, that's what I'm doing. Just let them try to cause a problem. Sounds like animal control is on our side. At some point the laws have to change, it's a matter of personal liberty as long as your not interfering with other people's comfort and you certainly are not doing that. Just my opinion.