Yeah, it’s ridiculous. The old law, (for those not in modern subdivisions with HOAs and the law that I’m still under because I’m grandfathered), was 100ft from neighboring homes only, and roosters were OK as long as they weren’t a nuisance plus no limit on number of hens unless they became a “nuisance”. That 100ft setback kept most folks from having them but some of the oldest neighborhoods in town, (like mine), were subdivided back in the 30’s on 1/2 acre lots specifically so that residents could plant “victory gardens” and have chickens. It was a big deal at the tail end of the Depression and the ramp up to WW2 to be able to do this, and after the 50’s or 60’s most folks stopped but there were still a few who kept it up and the laws were never changed.
Then COVID happened, there were shortages of eggs in the stores, then a run on all the chicks and coops at the feed stores, then a Councilperson had a neighbor who moved chickens in next door, the Councilperson called Code Enforcement to take care of it for him, and Code Enforcement informed the Councilperson that what his neighbor was doing wasn’t actually illegal. As soon as they were told that, they voted in the changes at the very next meeting. The agenda wasn’t announced or discussed beforehand. The public wasn’t notified of the proposed changes beforehand and couldn’t have attended the meeting anyway due to COVID, it was 2 months later before I found out about it and I immediately approached them demanding, (and getting), it in writing that I’m grandfathered but most of the other folks in town have no idea that the law was changed and 5-10 years down the road when a neighbor complains how hard will it be to prove that they had the coop in before the change? I mean prove it to the City’s satisfaction?
They wanted to outlaw chickens while avoiding the bad press from officially doing so, and they succeeded for the most part. I’ve still got them, and got the City Attorney’s signature on paper stating that I’m OK, but one-by-one they’ll start picking off the other chicken owners over the next few years while denying anyone else the right to start up and within a few years there’ll be no more live chickens within City Limits, (except mine, of course, because I damn sure won’t be getting rid of them), just the way City Govt wants it.
