HOA vs. local ordinances

[deonnek]

I live in unincorporated Washington county in Portland, Oregon. While our address is Portland, we are in Beaverton district for just about everything else (including voting for representatives). It is a bit confusing. My address is Portland, but we are not in their district for schools or law enforcement. Anyhow, the city of Portland allows 3 hens. Beaverton allows 4 hens. We are in a grey area for jurisdiction, but regardless, both municipalities now allow chickens. Yes!

A friend of mine reminded me today that I may violate my HOA by getting a few chickens, even though I am following city code. The copy of my HOA document is dated 1996 and prohibits poultry.

I don't have chickens yet, but plan on getting at least three.

Anyone deal with this? I don't want a huge fight with my HOA and I don't want to wage a long battle to get them to change their stupid paperwork. I am all for following what the city says we should do (setbacks, coops, number of birds, no roosters...).

I would appreciate any thoughts. This is my first post here. I've been picking out chickens for days and was hoping to have a brooder setup and with chickens by 4/15. Now this! I'm steaming with frustration.

 

[dsqard]

Since you don't have the chickens yet, you could approach your HOA and see what you need to do to either change the rules or get a "varience". I am not really sure what way is easier. I think Sonoran Silkies used to be president (or whatever they are called) of one and knows a lot about them. You could PM her and ask. I know that one of the HOA's I lived under in Florida years ago, "evicted" someone out of the neighborhood after breaking the laws of the HOA. This might be a time when it is better to ask permission first instead of begging for forgiveness. Good luck!

 

[deonnek]

I emailed an HOA representative this morning, but she's out until 4/5, and I was planning on getting chicks 4/15. I didn't tell her that part!
I really doubt they have changed the HOAs since they built this subdivision 14 years ago.
We are owners, so can't get evicted. But I'm sure we could get fined.
I'm hoping for a positive response. I'm just so involved in other community events and a business, I can't tackle another project and try to get the rules changed. It just never occurred to me that my HOA could stop me from getting chickens when we've had all this positive press about the city changing to allow them!

 

[dsqard]

Quote:
Um the people I was speaking about were owners. They were made to move after breaking the rules and refusing to fix the problem. It was a long and drawn out process with lawyers involved but the owners were forced to move. I would read your HOA closely. I am not saying yours is the same as the one I was under in Florida but it never hurts to read them again.

 

[Stacykins]

If you think the HOA can't evict you just because you own the home, you couldn't be more wrong. The HOA contact you sign is binding and powerful, and if you break their rules, they CAN force you from your home with no compensation. They win their court battles on such matters all the time.

The only way to avoid it is to never, ever buy a house in an HOA neighborhood.

 

[peep-a-boo]

OMG - My situation sounds so much like yours (the city, the district, the hoa)! I wrote a semi-formal letter to the board of directors asking them to revisit and reconsider that part of the CC&Rs and to allow homeowners to have a small flock. I sent that letter in the beginning of March. I haven't heard anything back. The mgmt company told me it could take years. What to do? I'm just gathering as much info on chickens in the meantime and fingers crossed that they'll allow us to go ahead. Good luck to you!

 

[deonnek]

Well I certainly don't want chickens bad enough to wage a court battle and potentially get evicted out of my home.
What I was hoping for from the forum were some ideas, thoughts, support, brainstorming on approaching my HOA IF they won't allow hens. I'm still trying to get a copy of the most recent HOA requirements. I have a copy of the original and various updates. I am not sure if they have updated since the city has changed their ordinances and started allowing chickens.

 

[dsqard]

Which is where you will probably have your best strength on getting the CC&R's changed. I would think that if the local ordinances have only recently changed, then the CC&R's probably haven't caught up with the ordinances yet. I really think you could get good advice from Sonoran Silkies. I have read a few posts where she has discussed what you are trying to do.

 

[HEChicken]

I wish I could offer you positive support but from what I've heard from others, HOA's generally have far more stringent requirements than city ordinances and are (mostly) inflexible about changing them. Here in Wichita we are allowed 5 hens without a permit and up to 12 with a permit. I have no HOA where I live. However I have a couple of friends who do live in subdivisions with HOA's and while they would like to keep chickens, they can't despite Wichita's city ordinances, because of the HOA's far stricter rules. Don't get me started on HOA's LOL. IMO, they day they start paying my mortgage they have a right to tell me what to do on my property but until then, my property, my decisions. I will never live where there is an HOA if I can help it.

Do you know the president or anyone else on the board of the HOA? It might help to have an informal chat with them before making your formal request. They might be able to advise on your chances of getting a variance, as well as how long it might take.

 

[CODevlin_4]

Our HOA has a "nuisance" covenant, but nothing specifically prohibiting poultry. I know that they could stretch the nuisance thing to include chickens if my neighbors raise a stink though... that being the case I've been brainstorming things to say to the HOA in the event it does happen.

I think you could focus on all of the reasons that you wanted to have chickens in the first place, and the reasons that they are becoming more popular in urban areas. Having reliable and healthy food sources is a very persuasive argument these days. At first glance it does seems like backyard chickens would be a nuisance, but then after doing minimal research it's pretty obvious that the good outweighs the bad. As far as noise goes, there seems to be a pretty solid argument comparing hens to dogs. Our neighborhood is full of noisy dogs (ours included).

I know here in Denver there definitely seems to be a pretty big movement towards incorporating chickens in urban and suburban areas. They are even planning out new subdivisions where veggie patches and chicken coops come standard. Lots of effort is going into changing some city ordinances. I think that it might be effective to approach an HOA with the idea that they can be on the "cutting edge" of housing for the next generation of home buyers. That the change will actually be attractive to new homebuyers. Spin it to your advantage! You could easily cite to some news articles on urban homesteading, in your area or around the nation, to prove your point (there are a lot of them!). Good Luck!