I live in a rural part of town, but I still have to follow the rules, i.e., per City Code get written neighbor consent for everyone within 350 feet of coop. Something REALLY interesting happened yesterday. I found out that the one lone dissenter who shut down my project (a real beey*tch who lived 320 feet away) up and moved! AND the house was vacant. So I took all my year-old consent forms down to Animal Control to file and -- game on! -- get my backyard chicken-for-eggs project going again.
The Animal Control officer wasn't there, but his assistant and the AC supervisor was. Much discussion and I hear "We don't license chickens. We don't confiscate chickens unless they're mistreated. Any violations of odor, noise, etc. are handled by Code Enforcement. We don't want your forms nor do we handle them. We really can't help you." (This was VERY odd considering it was specific in the Code to file the docs with Animal Control). Could it be that within the past year the Codes had changed? I know in my conversation last year with the Animal Control officer he assured me that they don't go out looking to bust chicken keepers unless a complaint comes in that they have to address. They directed me up to City Hall, but not before I had the staff there make a copy of my consent forms for review by the AC officer.
The first stop at City Hall was the Community Services Dept., under whom Code Enforcement operates. They had never heard of the form filing, either. (Could it be I am the ONLY person EVER to try to raise chickens legally in this town??? Really? With all the chicken keepers on the coop tour nobody had ever filed a consent form?) They sent me down to Planning & Development to see if I needed any variances. P&D got into a big pow-wow with the Zoning Dept. and their verdict was that as long as the number of chickens was three or under that they were considered as pets....and no sales of chicken products as that involves a whole 'nother set of licensing with the Business & Commerce Dept. Zoning also pointed out that the coop must be at least 5 feet away from the property line. They were very happy that I was asking for permission rather than begging for forgiveness.
Then we called Code Enforcement into the discussion who reiterated that the chicken ordinances apply (see first line of post here). I pointed out that AC wanted nothing to do with the forms, but my main concern was chicken confiscation and tickets. She scanned the forms into an open file and then labeled it "Closed." The Code Enforcement lady informed me that *if* Code Enforcement appears on your doorstep (and she'll be there for fresh eggs, I'm told) due to complaints of noise or odor or whatnot, they do not confiscate chickens nor write a ticket but would ask you -- the first time -- to remove the birds. (BTW, she also has raised chickens at her previous house and knows the joy of a truly fresh egg.)
Upshot, I basically got the blessing of the City to proceed. (You catch a lot more flies with honey, you know...I kept it all very upbeat). I made sure that all departments scanned and filed my forms just so no fingers of noncompliance could be pointed this way. Just waiting on the HOA to approve the coop and keeping my fingers crossed that all neighbors are still of the opinion that chickens are a good thing. Sometimes you don't have to fight City Hall at all.....
(edited for spelling)
The neighbors behind us so far have been the only ones to talk to us about it and they just said they were adorable and even though they don't personally want chickens they'd love to come visit mine sometimes. I think as long as you are responsible and don't have crabby neighbors, it shouldn't be a problem.
About two weeks later I brought our 14 chicks outside for the first time in an enclosed pen. (They were living in my bathroom until the coop was finished.) He was at my back deck within 10 minutes demanding that I talk to City Hall because they were "not allowed within city limits!!!" He was pretty upset waving his finger around and everything. Thankfully I had done my research and anyone within city limits with at least one acre could have as many as 3 hens per acre but no roosters. After explaining to the woman at city hall that they would be gone in a couple of weeks she basically said as long as they are gone before there are complaints. He mumbled under his breath then gave me some examples of how horrible chickens are to keep. After the move we are all much happier! Id say talk to your neighbors first and always make sure that you have a back up!
