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Hi Libby ~
I'll send you a private message if that's possible to give you my contact info. Basically, you have two options available to keep your chickens.
1. Get the city to introduce a measure to officially consider changing the law BEFORE your deadline to get rid of your birds, and then anything they've done against you goes on hold until the council votes on whether or not to legalize chickens. (This is the more difficult option)
2. Find out which neighbor squealed on you. Talk to them. Offer them eggs. Ask what their concerns are and see if you can address their concerns between you as neighbors. Then ask them to tell the city that you've gotten rid of your chickens, even though you haven't. The city will never actually come check, I PROMISE. Their only check on it is by asking whichever neighbor complained. And actually, the city doesn't care if you have chickens. They just care that you don't piss of your neighbors.
The main issue going on is that it costs the city $16,000 in fees and staff time to change the ordinance to allow chickens. They don't want to spend it, although they might be moving toward that direction. DEFINITELY tell the city council and mayor that you want laying hens legalized please. I can give you their emails or you can find them on the city site. So it's inconvenient to them that the no chicken law remains standing and they don't see the urgency to change it, so they have to enforce it in the meantime. They basically deal with it by tolerating chickens for anyone unless the neighbors complain. Once there's a complaint, they enforce the law. But they never go check. They just ask the neighbor if the chickens are gone, which basically means "did you resolve your problem" whether the chickens are gone or not.
Some neighbors are reasonable. If you offer to move the coop, give them eggs, tell them you want open lines of communication in case they have any future problems, they might be ok. Some are just psycho. My next door neighbor's landlord is in that category. Not only is she psycho, she lies. She blamed my chickens for HER property's rat problem, even though the chickens are on my property and WE don't have a rat problem. You'd think if the chickens caused the rats, that rats would be over here too. She put rat poison in my compost. She lied to my roommate that she had already called the city (on a SUNDAY when the city is closed) and someone would be out to check our property the next day (which the city doesn't do). Then she lied to me that it wasn't her who complained, it was her tenants. And that's a lie. They put up with our chickens because we put up with their chihuahuas, which are much louder than chickens. And we give them eggs. Ugh. Anyway, it's nasty people like her who are why we need the law changed. Then, if I'm being a good neighbor with my chickens, who don't stink or attract pests or cause disease, who do nothing besides make delicious eggs, it won't matter if the house next door belongs to a nutcase.
I'll send you a private message if that's possible to give you my contact info. Basically, you have two options available to keep your chickens.
1. Get the city to introduce a measure to officially consider changing the law BEFORE your deadline to get rid of your birds, and then anything they've done against you goes on hold until the council votes on whether or not to legalize chickens. (This is the more difficult option)
2. Find out which neighbor squealed on you. Talk to them. Offer them eggs. Ask what their concerns are and see if you can address their concerns between you as neighbors. Then ask them to tell the city that you've gotten rid of your chickens, even though you haven't. The city will never actually come check, I PROMISE. Their only check on it is by asking whichever neighbor complained. And actually, the city doesn't care if you have chickens. They just care that you don't piss of your neighbors.
The main issue going on is that it costs the city $16,000 in fees and staff time to change the ordinance to allow chickens. They don't want to spend it, although they might be moving toward that direction. DEFINITELY tell the city council and mayor that you want laying hens legalized please. I can give you their emails or you can find them on the city site. So it's inconvenient to them that the no chicken law remains standing and they don't see the urgency to change it, so they have to enforce it in the meantime. They basically deal with it by tolerating chickens for anyone unless the neighbors complain. Once there's a complaint, they enforce the law. But they never go check. They just ask the neighbor if the chickens are gone, which basically means "did you resolve your problem" whether the chickens are gone or not.
Some neighbors are reasonable. If you offer to move the coop, give them eggs, tell them you want open lines of communication in case they have any future problems, they might be ok. Some are just psycho. My next door neighbor's landlord is in that category. Not only is she psycho, she lies. She blamed my chickens for HER property's rat problem, even though the chickens are on my property and WE don't have a rat problem. You'd think if the chickens caused the rats, that rats would be over here too. She put rat poison in my compost. She lied to my roommate that she had already called the city (on a SUNDAY when the city is closed) and someone would be out to check our property the next day (which the city doesn't do). Then she lied to me that it wasn't her who complained, it was her tenants. And that's a lie. They put up with our chickens because we put up with their chihuahuas, which are much louder than chickens. And we give them eggs. Ugh. Anyway, it's nasty people like her who are why we need the law changed. Then, if I'm being a good neighbor with my chickens, who don't stink or attract pests or cause disease, who do nothing besides make delicious eggs, it won't matter if the house next door belongs to a nutcase.
