I'm not in Ridgefield but it sounds a little like Spokane WA's new rule: 90 feet from the center of the street AND from any property line.
Think about these numbers. At minimum size, city lots are often 4,000 or 5,000 square feet. Some cities can apparently afford (or want residents who can afford
) lots of about twice that size at 8,500 or 9,000 square feet. Those are not uncommon
suburban lots.
So, you have a large suburban-sized lot of 9,000 sqft and think you could have some chickens. That lot is probably 90' x 100'. Where on it can you put a coop that's 100' from a residence. Of course, you can't
.
Let's say you have
two of these large lots. Unless yours and your neighbors' houses are very oddly sited - you still can't get 100 feet from a residence!
Spokane's rule, adopted a year or 2 ago, has your coop 90 feet from a property line. Go back to that
double suburban-sized lot. There's no way in heck you can get 90' from a property line. You would need to own 4 lots of that size - on 2 streets
- to get a coop that far from a property line. That would be
city property amounting to nearly an acre!
There are probably few people who could afford so much city land who would have an interest in raising chickens. I'm sure others have made the case here: these kinds of ordinances are simply to deny the keeping of chickens while not actually "forbidding" them. The result is the same.
Steve
