Help with presentation to change HOA rule against chickens

[Mtgustaf27]

Hello everyone,


First time on these forums, please forgive any mistakes, typos, and length. I moved into Rim Rock in Driftwood, TX a few years ago and they have a rule against chickens. A neighbor started a discussion on the neighborhood forum about changing this and I have been roped into creating a presentation for that purpose. The forum posts showed one more ‘against’ than ‘for’ but one person sent me a private message in support saying they were afraid of the keyboard ninja abuse so it was even. Unfortunately, our Covenant, Conditions, and Restrictions (CCR) require a supermajority of 67% to change them, an uphill battle. I would love any suggestions from those who have done this process before. I will be making the presentation at the directors' meeting and will ask for a presentation at the annual members' meeting. Hopefully at the annual meeting I can get a gentleman by the name of Jesse Huth to present; he owns Huth Avian Services and has an M.S. in Poultry Welfare and Behavior. I am retired military; Jesse's briefing style is probably much better suited for the target audience of mostly civilian neighbors.
I pulled out the arguments against the chickens from our forums and plan to have a slide addressing each. I also put together some limitations to be included in the CCRs. We live in a ‘rural-urbia’ community of 1+ acre lots for reference.

Arguments against:
- Coop upkeep - "…trusting that your neighbors will be neat and tidy."
- Noise
- Predator magnet
- Rules would be ignored and unenforced
- Slippery slope - next someone will want a cow or goat
- Property value decrease
- The rule was there when you moved here, no need to change that now.
- Dream homes, not full country, too nice for chickens.

Proposed Limitations:
- No roosters
- 100’ from neighbor’s home(s) minimum
- Full fence on neighbor’s side of coop
- Max of 4 hens (6?, livestock min purchase is 4 according to Tractor Supply)
- Fully enclosed coops, no free roaming allowed

What are your thoughts on how to address these? On the limitations? Add a list of pros? Anyone know of a chicken noise chart showing decibels at certain distances? How about pictures of chicken coops in multi-million-dollar neighborhoods to counter the last argument? What can I say to sway the supermajority? Lastly, thank you in advance for any and all advice.

Very Respectfully,
Mark

 

[fullyfleeced]

MIght be a tough sell. (We moved out to the county to get away from a HOA ) As much as I love having chickens, I do have to concede the noise and predator magnet points.
This might be of interest though-https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2018/03/02/feature/the-silicon-valley-elites-latest-status-symbol-chickens/

 

[ShrekDawg]

Chickens are very trendy and popular right now and more and more people are getting them, even in urban and/or wealthier areas, so they’re not really a country or “poor people” thing or whatever if that’s what your neighbors are worried about? Not that they ever were before either but some people might see it that way. But they’re not. And especially now, everybody seems to have them. And there are also some extremely fancy and gorgeous coops out there. Maybe do a Google search for “fancy chicken coops” and use some of those images? I just did and found lots of very nice ones. They may be envisioning some run down eye sore type thing so showing them how fancy and nice some chicken coops can be may help to sway them. Some of them are practically houses and ever Martha Stewart has chickens if they know or like her. I’m sure other celebrities do too. Predators aren’t really a concern if the birds are securely locked up. And just have a rule against other livestock.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Maybe a rule about where the waste can be dumped too or how it’s to be disposed of?

 

[hysop]

Thought more people would have replied.

Maybe propose a trial period of like 9 months starting August or September. If the trial doesn’t work then that will give people a market to sell their chickens and chicken stuff since the trial would be over in late spring/early summer.

 

[Patrick Murphy]

Hello everyone,


First time on these forums, please forgive any mistakes, typos, and length. I moved into Rim Rock in Driftwood, TX a few years ago and they have a rule against chickens. A neighbor started a discussion on the neighborhood forum about changing this and I have been roped into creating a presentation for that purpose. The forum posts showed one more ‘against’ than ‘for’ but one person sent me a private message in support saying they were afraid of the keyboard ninja abuse so it was even. Unfortunately, our Covenant, Conditions, and Restrictions (CCR) require a supermajority of 67% to change them, an uphill battle. I would love any suggestions from those who have done this process before. I will be making the presentation at the directors' meeting and will ask for a presentation at the annual members' meeting. Hopefully at the annual meeting I can get a gentleman by the name of Jesse Huth to present; he owns Huth Avian Services and has an M.S. in Poultry Welfare and Behavior. I am retired military; Jesse's briefing style is probably much better suited for the target audience of mostly civilian neighbors.
I pulled out the arguments against the chickens from our forums and plan to have a slide addressing each. I also put together some limitations to be included in the CCRs. We live in a ‘rural-urbia’ community of 1+ acre lots for reference.

Arguments against:
- Coop upkeep - "…trusting that your neighbors will be neat and tidy."
- Noise
- Predator magnet
- Rules would be ignored and unenforced
- Slippery slope - next someone will want a cow or goat
- Property value decrease
- The rule was there when you moved here, no need to change that now.
- Dream homes, not full country, too nice for chickens.

Proposed Limitations:
- No roosters
- 100’ from neighbor’s home(s) minimum
- Full fence on neighbor’s side of coop
- Max of 4 hens (6?, livestock min purchase is 4 according to Tractor Supply)
- Fully enclosed coops, no free roaming allowed

What are your thoughts on how to address these? On the limitations? Add a list of pros? Anyone know of a chicken noise chart showing decibels at certain distances? How about pictures of chicken coops in multi-million-dollar neighborhoods to counter the last argument? What can I say to sway the supermajority? Lastly, thank you in advance for any and all advice.

Very Respectfully,
Mark

It'll be great to watch your presentation!

 

[Patrick Murphy]

It's obvious, that you have prepared very thoroughly. And your presentation testifies to this. Somehow, I also had to prepare a presentation on a similar topic. The process of preparing the presentation itself caused the most difficulties. And the information on this blog https://slidepeak.com/blog/powerpoint-charts-and-tables made my task a little easier. I tried to use charts and tables, and I correctly applied this knowledge in my presentation.

 

[celliott24]

Hello everyone,


First time on these forums, please forgive any mistakes, typos, and length. I moved into Rim Rock in Driftwood, TX a few years ago and they have a rule against chickens. A neighbor started a discussion on the neighborhood forum about changing this and I have been roped into creating a presentation for that purpose. The forum posts showed one more ‘against’ than ‘for’ but one person sent me a private message in support saying they were afraid of the keyboard ninja abuse so it was even. Unfortunately, our Covenant, Conditions, and Restrictions (CCR) require a supermajority of 67% to change them, an uphill battle. I would love any suggestions from those who have done this process before. I will be making the presentation at the directors' meeting and will ask for a presentation at the annual members' meeting. Hopefully at the annual meeting I can get a gentleman by the name of Jesse Huth to present; he owns Huth Avian Services and has an M.S. in Poultry Welfare and Behavior. I am retired military; Jesse's briefing style is probably much better suited for the target audience of mostly civilian neighbors.
I pulled out the arguments against the chickens from our forums and plan to have a slide addressing each. I also put together some limitations to be included in the CCRs. We live in a ‘rural-urbia’ community of 1+ acre lots for reference.

Arguments against:
- Coop upkeep - "…trusting that your neighbors will be neat and tidy."
- Noise
- Predator magnet
- Rules would be ignored and unenforced
- Slippery slope - next someone will want a cow or goat
- Property value decrease
- The rule was there when you moved here, no need to change that now.
- Dream homes, not full country, too nice for chickens.

Proposed Limitations:
- No roosters
- 100’ from neighbor’s home(s) minimum
- Full fence on neighbor’s side of coop
- Max of 4 hens (6?, livestock min purchase is 4 according to Tractor Supply)
- Fully enclosed coops, no free roaming allowed

What are your thoughts on how to address these? On the limitations? Add a list of pros? Anyone know of a chicken noise chart showing decibels at certain distances? How about pictures of chicken coops in multi-million-dollar neighborhoods to counter the last argument? What can I say to sway the supermajority? Lastly, thank you in advance for any and all advice.

Very Respectfully,
Mark

Hi Mark,
We just moved into Howard Ranch in Driftwood and are having a similar issue. What ever came of your presentation? Any advice?
Thanks!

 

[littlecoopnextdoor]

Hi Mark,
We just moved into Howard Ranch in Driftwood and are having a similar issue. What ever came of your presentation? Any advice?
Thanks!

Hey Mark
I am not the OP but wanted to let you know what we did in our town to change the bylaw in 2021, that now allows folks in town to have up to 6 hens.

We wrote to the town council and proposed changes. This area, though now very residential, was historical farm land. We cited food security, increasing soil health and access to fresh food/connection to food. The rules are very few, basically we are not allowed roosters in town, up to 6 hens, and they must be fenced in (not ranging on the roads etc). So far we've had only positive feedback, great compliance and it's been successful. There have also been successful pilot programs in major cities like Toronto and Kingston Ontario, both which managed to change for the better bylaws through pilot projects. You are best to cite successful projects, what went super well and what can be written in to avoid. We don't have minimum distances etc as it's an old town and neighbours are close. 100ft would be impossible to be from most neighbours as the lots are most often under 50x80. I think most of the time the folks that want chickens are very responsible, have read and researched a lot and really want to care for the animals. Hope that is all helpful.

 

[Pojojuniper]

Hello everyone,


First time on these forums, please forgive any mistakes, typos, and length. I moved into Rim Rock in Driftwood, TX a few years ago and they have a rule against chickens. A neighbor started a discussion on the neighborhood forum about changing this and I have been roped into creating a presentation for that purpose. The forum posts showed one more ‘against’ than ‘for’ but one person sent me a private message in support saying they were afraid of the keyboard ninja abuse so it was even. Unfortunately, our Covenant, Conditions, and Restrictions (CCR) require a supermajority of 67% to change them, an uphill battle. I would love any suggestions from those who have done this process before. I will be making the presentation at the directors' meeting and will ask for a presentation at the annual members' meeting. Hopefully at the annual meeting I can get a gentleman by the name of Jesse Huth to present; he owns Huth Avian Services and has an M.S. in Poultry Welfare and Behavior. I am retired military; Jesse's briefing style is probably much better suited for the target audience of mostly civilian neighbors.
I pulled out the arguments against the chickens from our forums and plan to have a slide addressing each. I also put together some limitations to be included in the CCRs. We live in a ‘rural-urbia’ community of 1+ acre lots for reference.

Arguments against:
- Coop upkeep - "…trusting that your neighbors will be neat and tidy."
- Noise
- Predator magnet
- Rules would be ignored and unenforced
- Slippery slope - next someone will want a cow or goat
- Property value decrease
- The rule was there when you moved here, no need to change that now.
- Dream homes, not full country, too nice for chickens.

Proposed Limitations:
- No roosters
- 100’ from neighbor’s home(s) minimum
- Full fence on neighbor’s side of coop
- Max of 4 hens (6?, livestock min purchase is 4 according to Tractor Supply)
- Fully enclosed coops, no free roaming allowed

What are your thoughts on how to address these? On the limitations? Add a list of pros? Anyone know of a chicken noise chart showing decibels at certain distances? How about pictures of chicken coops in multi-million-dollar neighborhoods to counter the last argument? What can I say to sway the supermajority? Lastly, thank you in advance for any and all advice.

Very Respectfully,
Mark