Grand Prairie poultry ordinances

[babalubird]

Sorry, I hate this town. One reason, their chicken ordinance says no poultry within 150 feet of another residence. Our yard is huge. I took heart. I asked the lady behind the desk, "What is your definition of 'residence'? Do you mean their house or their yard and fence?" She said "yard and fence." Does that really sound logical for a definition of residence? Is this really true or did she just make it up?

If it was "house" we could do it. Yard, we can't.

Anyone else live in Grand Prairie w/chickens? Clarification please.

Thanks.

Connie

 

[hinky toes]

If feasible, I would create a fenced run within your property that satisfies the ordinance, i.e. 150 ft away from the edge of the neighbors property line.

Do you know if your neighbors object to you having chickens? If they don't care, you keep the coop tidy and they don't make a lot of noise, I don't think you'll have much to worry about.

Municipal busy bodies make the silliest rules...my two cents.

 

[Poulets De Cajun]

Grand Prairie Texas???

 

[babalubird]

Yes, GP, Texas. Sorry. I forgot to put state.

Our yard is very very long, but not much wider than your normal suburban yard. I don't believe there is any way to put a run in that would be 150 feet from her darn fence.

No, she is not a friendly neighbor and a trouble maker. I was between her and a neighbor who got a pig behind their privacy fence. It didn't bother me a bit. She turned them in just because you're not supposed to have pigs and that neighbor always thought I did it. It rarely made any noise and they sure didn't have it long enough to make any smell because she sicked the city on them right away.

We call her "Walter Croncite of XXX Street because her nose is always in other people's business and she has to always broadcast that business. :0)

 

[Poulets De Cajun]

According the Grand Prairie Municipal code that can be seen here...
http://www.municode.com/RESOURCES/gateway.asp?pid=10142&sid=43

Here is your Ordinances on keeping fowl...

(b) Fowl.
(1) It shall be unlawful for any owner to keep or harbor any fowl within the corporate limits of the city in any pen, stable, shed, coop or enclosure, if any part of such enclosure or structure is within one hundred fifty (150) feet of any residence, business or commercial establishment or office, (other than the owner's), grocery stores, restaurants, schools, hospitals and nursing homes.
(2) It shall be unlawful for any owner to keep or harbor any fowl within the corporate limits of the city where there is less than five hundred (500) square feet for each twenty-five (25) fowl, being twenty (20) square feet for each fowl.
(3) A person commits an offense if he possesses or harbors a live rooster (male of the domestic fowl) on any premises within the city.
(4) It is a defense to prosecution under section 5-26(b)(3) of this section that the rooster was:
a. Possessed or harbored by the person on the premises before February 6, 2001, except that this defense does not apply after May 1, 2001;
b. Being exhibited at a special event conducted with written permission of the city;
c. Owned, possessed or harbored by a governmental entity or participating in a health, research, educational, or similar program conducted by a governmental entity;
d. Owned, possessed or harbored by a medical, educational, or research institution operating in compliance with all city ordinances and state and federal laws; or
e. Being held for slaughter in a slaughterhouse or meat packing plant operating in compliance with all city ordinances and state and federal laws.
f. Owned, possessed or harbored by a person who meets all of the following requirements:
i. Any land utilized shall be zoned agricultural.
ii. The land area shall be greater than forty (40) acres.
iii. The owner of the rooster(s) shall reside on the property.
iv. The number of roosters must not exceed a density of one (1) per ten (10) acres.
v. The raising of roosters for the purposes of cockfighting or similar endeavors is prohibited.
(5) A person who possesses or harbors a live rooster in the city commits an offense if he:
a. Fails to confine the rooster at all times within an enclosure that is of sufficient height and strength to retain the rooster;
b. Maintains the enclosure in which the rooster is confined in a manner that creates offensive odors, fly breeding, or any other nuisance or condition that is injurious to the public health, safety, or welfare; or
c. Allows the rooster to violate the noise restrictions contained within the Code of Ordinances.

And their definition of a residence is...

Residence, permanent. A place where a person abides, lodges, or resides for fourteen (14) or more consecutive days.
Residence, temporary. A place where a person abides, lodges, or resides for a period of fourteen (14) or more days in the aggregate during any calendar year and which is not the person's permanent address, or a place where a person routinely abides, resides, or lodges for a period of four (4) or more consecutive or nonconsecutive days in any month and which is not the person's permanent residence.

Now what all this tells ME is that your birds and coop or (enclosure) has to be 150 from a Residence, which is actually a BUILDING. Residence describes a place where a human resides, and unless a human is residing in a fence line, then residence cannot be claimed.

But thats just my twisted head working... I could be totally wrong.

 

[purr]

I googled a on line dictionary and it said a residence is a structure where a person resides

 

[hinky toes]

Quote:
I am not a lawyer, but an environmental regulatory compliance specialist. I read contorted regs all day. I agree that a residence is the actual building, and not the property line...I think it is a justifiable argument. It depends how far you want to take it though. Your bad neighbor might have enough gumption to complicate the situation, so a little sweat equity might come into play. Good luck with him/her.

I apologize for sounding like a jerk, but I actually love to debate this kind of stuff with municipalities. It's usually pretty easy to get them to come around by using their own language against themselves.

 

[NorTracNY]

Residence is the building, so just be aware if your neighbor wants to build a long building on their property line (obeying setbacks) they could possibly cause you to have to get rid of your chickens after sleeping there 14 days.

 

[babalubird]

Thanks guys. Great research.

Yeah, it only works one way. Her son was living in a tent camper which is also supposed to be against city codes. But now he has a small apartment built there instead. It is behind her garage so I suppose now that would make anything within 150 feet of a "residence." I didn't even think about that, darn it!

We checked with the city before buying a van and turning it into a small RV. No problem, they told us over the phone. We took their word for it. Well, then we had the city all over us, we suspect it was this same neighbor. We then learned there were regulations which they handed us, so to make matters worse, the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing at city hall.

We JUST want to move to our acreage away from here soooo bad!!! But getting the money together to build is our hold-up.

 

[babalubird]

PS

We don't have any chickens yet. We wanted to make sure we were within city codes. Well, you see the result. No chickens!