My town has stupid rules about owning chickens

[chickachicka3]

Okay, so my town has some stupid rules about how far away a coop should be from any house and how far it has to be from property lines.
Thing is, my town isn't that big, which means that most of the properties aren't big enough for the coop to be 75 ft away from all houses and still 10 ft within property lines.
However, my property is pretty big, and I measured my backyard and there is one place where i could put a small 3'x6' coop for three chickens.
When I handed in a survey of my property to get it approved by the zoning department, they said our backyard wasn't big enough, so I'm going back to town hall to try and convince them to allow me to own chickens.
I was hoping that I could get some helpful advice on how to persuade them to allow me having chickens (benefits to owning chickens and reasons why they don't have to be so far from the house would be nice, please and thank you

).
There would only be 3 hens (roosters are illegal) and I would keep the coop very sanitary.
In addition to this, the coop would be as far away as possible from my neighbors to the left (they're really nosy and picky and would definitely complain, even though the hens wouldn't bother them) and my other neighbors don't mind.
Thank you so much! If I can get my hens, I will be sooo happy! I've wanted chickens for several years now, but I've just gotten around to it and I was so excited and I did so much research for a whole month while my survey was getting processed.

 

[b.hromada]

I wish you the best of luck convincing your town to let you have some chickens!

Here, where I live, we aren't allowed to have them either. I keep them pretty much hidden most of the day. So far, so good, with no more animal control coming over now for over a year!

And I'd like to keep it that way too.

 

[littlegorb]

small town + huge power trippers

what we have to go through just to be a little itsy bitsy self sustaining!

 

[nonseq]

www.chicken-revolution.com has an info packet that is very helpful.

Also, be charming, slightly apologetic and very, very polite when dealing with zone, code or council. Demeanor means a lot.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Recheck your measurements. It the coop is indeed 75 ft from all adjoining homes and at least 10' from property lines, then I don't see their issue? If you have followed all their rules, they cannot legitimately then say, oops, here's a new one to follow, too.

 

[theFox]

Quote:
If you have clean hands and know for a fact that what you wish to do is legal there is no earthly reason to be apologetic in any manner at all.

 

[MuranoFarms]

Quote:
Yes, there is. You get more bee's with honey

 

[theFox]

chickachicka3,

Since I haven't seen the laws in your town nor have I seen the survey of your lot I have two questions:

1: Would the proposed coop location be 75 feet from your house at its closest point to your house?
2: Is the requirement only on the coop or is it on coop and run, please see above?

 

[theFox]

Quote:
Yes, there is. You get more bee's with honey

Honey would be being polite, the OP hasn't done any thing to apologize for.

 

[fiberart57]

I agree with being polite and courteous when asking for favors; it does tend to get you farther and it's less stressful. I think what you may be asking for is a zoning variance; a permit to build despite the zoning laws. If you do, arm yourself with research, pictures of the future coop and why it would be better where it is.

Also, when you go to talk to the zoning department, it might help to have a sort of permission letter from your neighbors supporting you. Go around, talk to the neighbors and tell them what you have in mind, why you want chickens, offer some extra eggs and all that.

Good luck, Mary