Help Changing Ordinance in Chelsea, AL

[bvak123]

Chelsea is a small town but a fast growing suburb of Birmingham. I live in a residential neighborhood where most lots are .5 acre but ours is .75 acre. We have a privacy fence and lots of trees in front and back yard, very private. I contacted animal control to find out about keeping chickens in the city limits and they sent some of the definitions and ordinances that would pertain to chickens. Here are the facts:

*Livestock is pretty clearly defined as animals raised for commercial use. (which I am not)
*So, in my case chickens seem to fall into the household pet category.
*A fowl house is defined as an agricultural structure used for the keeping of 2 or more chickens or other fowl.
*A fowl pen is defined as a structure used for keeping no more than 1 chicken. (There is no "agricultural" in this definition.)

Section 5.19 - Keeping of Animals: The keeping of household pets shall be permitted in any district...

Section 5.20 - Requirements for Keeping of Livestock:
Fowl Houses - Has to be 300' from any residence, 150' form any property line (no way this would work for us)
Fowl pens shall not be located within any required yard.

I was told that since the use of a fowl house is only defined under 5.20 that I would have to follow the 300' rule. I do not like this since it is defined as keeping of livestock which I am clearly not doing. So, to be legal it seems I either have to have a separate "fowl pen" for each chicken, have them overlook the "fowl house" rules since it is not for livestock or have them define a fowl house for household pet use.

Any opinions how I might proceed?

 

[Lurch77]

The thing about ordinances is no matter how they are written, they will be interpreted differently by nearly everyone, and almost always interpreted to benefit the one doing the interpreting.

My humble opinion: You seem to be out of luck with that current ordinance. You are too close to neighbors to build a fowl house (I assume they mean a coop). And fowl pens are not allowed in a yard. You could do what many people around the country are doing, and petition for the ordinance to be changed. Find other cities around you that allow chickens, and study what their ordinances are, if they have had any issues, how long it has been in effect, etc. Find out who was involved with passing them and talk to them. It's an uphill battle in most locations, from what I have seen. And ironically, the smaller the city is the tougher it seems to get them passed. In small cities everyone knows everyone else's business, and misinformation about urban chickens spreads like a virus.

 

[AntBee]

Please contact me. I am in Alabaster. I'm trying to get a fprce behind me to change these stupid ordinances.

 

[bvak123]

Well good news! I got with the animal control guy and he agreed with me that I would not be owning livestock so the livestock rules would not apply! He said they would in fact be considered house pets and normal noise ordinances would be in affect.