Mesa, Arizona- is it doable?

[danarizona]

Hello,
I live in Mesa, AZ, and am interested in having just a couple of chickens ( for now) in my back yard.

Here's the problem- as most people here from Mesa know, city ordinance only allows the keeping of chickens "provided any enclosure is at least 40 feet from any neighboring residence, any coop is at least 75 feet from any other residence"

My lot is 125 feet long, but only 65 feet wide. So, it's not doable, right?

I did see the thread where Mayor Smith was quoted as jokingly mentioning the "Chicken Lobby" in Mesa- but didn't find anything as a follow-up. Does anyone have a realistic idea of what is allowed, or if anything has changed?

Thanks for you help.
Best,

Dan

 

[City farm]

Hello,
I live in Mesa, AZ, and am interested in having just a couple of chickens ( for now) in my back yard.

Here's the problem- as most people here from Mesa know, city ordinance only allows the keeping of chickens "provided any enclosure is at least 40 feet from any neighboring residence, any coop is at least 75 feet from any other residence"

My lot is 125 feet long, but only 65 feet wide. So, it's not doable, right?

I did see the thread where Mayor Smith was quoted as jokingly mentioning the "Chicken Lobby" in Mesa- but didn't find anything as a follow-up. Does anyone have a realistic idea of what is allowed, or if anything has changed?

Thanks for you help.
Best,

Dan

This looks like a old post, but popped up we are in Mesa & have chickens. Come visit the Az fourm here.https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/arizona-chickens.31227/page-7497

 

[jakedaniel]

Hello,
I live in Mesa, AZ, and am interested in having just a couple of chickens ( for now) in my back yard.

Here's the problem- as most people here from Mesa know, city ordinance only allows the keeping of chickens "provided any enclosure is at least 40 feet from any neighboring residence, any coop is at least 75 feet from any other residence"

My lot is 125 feet long, but only 65 feet wide. So, it's not doable, right?

I did see the thread where Mayor Smith was quoted as jokingly mentioning the "Chicken Lobby" in Mesa- but didn't find anything as a follow-up. Does anyone have a realistic idea of what is allowed, or if anything has changed?

Thanks for you help.
Best,

Dan

The answer is “it depends”. The ordinance states “75 ft from any other residence”. It doesn’t include your residence in that so it can be closer than 75 feet from YOUR house AND it doesn’t say “from any other property line” but “from any other residence”. The ordinance where I live is similarly worded and the definition is that no part of the coop/run can be less than __ feet from any part of a neighbors private residence, (detached garages and outbuildings dong count).
When the City changed the ordinance and I haggled, (successfully), with them over getting grandfathered in, one of the things they did was look at aerial shots of the property to see if the coop was there before the change, (it was), and whether it was 100ft from any neighbors primary residence. Since it’s mobile, I asked them to draw out a diagram for me of what part of my yard met the requirements.

so either call the City health department and have them check for you or just get a LONG measuring tape and measure from the back corner of your neighbors homes to where you want to locate the coop. If youve got 75 feet, you’ve got chickens. If you don’t, you don’t.

 

[CaroleW]

The answer is “it depends”. The ordinance states “75 ft from any other residence”. It doesn’t include your residence in that so it can be closer than 75 feet from YOUR house AND it doesn’t say “from any other property line” but “from any other residence”. The ordinance where I live is similarly worded and the definition is that no part of the coop/run can be less than __ feet from any part of a neighbors private residence, (detached garages and outbuildings dong count).
When the City changed the ordinance and I haggled, (successfully), with them over getting grandfathered in, one of the things they did was look at aerial shots of the property to see if the coop was there before the change, (it was), and whether it was 100ft from any neighbors primary residence. Since it’s mobile, I asked them to draw out a diagram for me of what part of my yard met the requirements.

so either call the City health department and have them check for you or just get a LONG measuring tape and measure from the back corner of your neighbors homes to where you want to locate the coop. If youve got 75 feet, you’ve got chickens. If you don’t, you don’t.

You can also do relatively accurate measuring from google aerials. I have drawn preliminary roofs and building footprints for my day job from them to use on site visits just to verify measurements when I was in the field.

If you are on a corner the street or an alley can give you a pretty good buffer. Think about ways to make a coop really blend in. Maybe a front yard could work depending on your neighborhood, the type of fencing you use, and whether there is a prevalence of loose dogs, other predators. If you can't have chickens you might consider quail.

 

[jakedaniel]

That’s how the City verified my claim that I had my coop in before they changed the ordinance. They sent me back a recent overhead shot of my lot and asked me to confirm my coop in the shot. I then asked them to draw an outline of the area of my backyard that complied with the old ordinance so that 10 years from now when Code Enforcement shows up I can just show them a copy and tell them to pound sand.