Odd Question, Situation... Chickens, Animals, etc.

[tamlynn]

http://municipalcodes.lexisnexis.com/

Look here to find your city's municipal codes.

Good luck! And I agree with the others -don't take anybody's word for what the law says. Look it up yourself.

 

[SterlingAcres]

PA is not listed there.
I'll have to call or visit the municipal building myself.

 

[Chick_a_dee]

The four animals sounds ridiculous, when we lived in town we were allowed 3 adult dogs, and howevermany cats we wanted, lol and we were in a subdivision in fascist Durham Region, Ontario!

 

[hennypenny9]

Hey, I googled Poconos township and went to the ordinances section. I found my own town's rules about animals in that section. BUT in yours the only thing I found was in section five regarding horses(1 per 3 acres), wild or exotic animals(1 per acre), and kennels(seriously doesn't apply to you). Also, it says in article 2 that fowl are considered domestic animals, not wild or exotic.

http://www.poconotownship.org/departments.html

I live within the city limits of my town, on a lot less than 1/4 acre and can as many animals as I want as long as they don't cause problems, etc. I'm sure he was just a jerk who has bad memories of the previous owners.

 

[JaneP]

We looked into our local by-laws and missed the relevant bits because there were more than 20 different sets of by-laws for our area. Plus we didn't use the right keywords for our search. So later we were fined $500 for keeping chickens that are not allowed, when all we found were regulations about pigs...

Here's the gist: we looked up the town laws, but we were under a different set - a local area by-law, not the municipal one - be careful about which by-laws apply to you.

Check your zoning - the rules will be different based on the zoning for your property. The property down the street may be "rural" or "mixed use" but not yours, if yours was subdivided at sometime and re-zoned.

Keywords to use: we used "poultry" and "coop" and "hen house" and they used "livestock" and "accessory building" which means we missed finding the restrictions on the above. And in our case, the lack of mention of "livestock" at all in our zoning meant that somewhere else in the by-law it was stated that livestock is agricultural use, and if agricultural use is not mentioned, it is not allowed. i.e. in our area, if they don't say you can, you can't.

So do look it up for yourself, for sure (don't trust the clerk to know this stuff) but look and look in all sorts of different ways, to find out the whole picture. Sometimes the rules are not easy to find, and hard to interpret. Good luck too - (we were the focus of a busybody also)

 

[hinky toes]

Quote:
Absolutely stunning! Did it seem like your chickens did $500 worth of harm to the community? Did you pay it? I wouldn't give them a dime without a fight and I would give your complaining neighbor a run for his/her money. Unless you were abusing your birds, kept a malodorous operation, or were overly pesky to the local residents, you have an argumentable case.

Am I vindictive? Perhaps, but it is this sort of unreasonable busy body regulation that (and over the top fine structure, IMO) really gets me upset.

I argue about this kind of stuff (not local ordinances per se, but environmental regulations) for a living.

 

[JaneP]

Hi Hinky Toes

We were fined $500 by the court after we went in to fight it. If we had not fought, and removed the birds within 30 days we would not have been charged the fine. It still hurts though - we were penalized for disagreeing with the interpretation of the law, and trying to state our case in court. (We tried to argue they were pets, and hence not agricultural any more than a tomato patch in your backyard) It could have been much worse - each of us was charged, my husband and I, and we were charged with keeping "livestock" and having livestock in an "accessory building" - that's two charges each. The fine could have been several thousand dollars, but the judge reduced the fine under his discretion.

The judge ruled our birds were excellently, immaculately kept, were no bother to anyone, and on two and a half acres, not offensive. He also ruled that they were pets. But the bylaw did not allow for fowl as pets, and fowl were on the list of forbidden livestock, so we were out of luck. And fined. We appealed, and lost again.

BTW, the judge at the appeal called the anonymous person who called in the complaint a "busybody" himself! That was at least amusing.

Our case is mentioned under this forum catagory "Nova Scotia rules" etc. - you can read more there if you are still as flabbergasted as I am...

 

[mamaKate]

Absolutely check the regulations. I had a deputy threaten to arrest me because my dog "barked all night". It hadn't happened. After several instances of his harassment, I drove an hour to the county seat to settle it with the sheriff. The deputy was a friend of the neighbor next door who was pretty mad about my color. I'm part Cherokee and it shows. The sheriff called him off. If a privacy fence isn't feasible, you might try planting morning glories and honeysuckle (next spring) on a chicken wire trellis. It looks good and cost very little.

 

[hinky toes]

Thanks for the info, JaneP. Sorry to hear that you fought and lost. The spirit of many municipal ordinances typically allow for flexibility in both directions depending on the situation; judges are supposed to look at the big picture and rule with a reasonable hand in cases like this. I'm surprised the judge didn't just "slap you on the wrist" instead of imposing a heavy fine since it sounds like you are a reasonable person and not operating a sloppy chicken mill...Unbelievable!

Like I've stated in earlier posts: When the poop hits the fan, us small food producers (Read: chicken farmers, urban gardeners, et al) will be the smartest ones out there and they will come to us with hats in hand.

Heartless to say, but I plan to let the busy body complainers starve.

 

[ams3651]

it may have to do with where you live in the Pocono's with the laws. That area is under so much development. But it does sound like you might have inherited the complaint, call up the office and ask.