Sacramento County

[gorgeousarmageddon]

I live in Orangevale CA, in one of the unincorporated areas of Sacramento County. I was surprised to find that the local ordinances ban keeping any chickens on properties less than 10,000 square feet which covers pretty much all the houses in my area.

http://www.msa2.saccounty.net/acr/Documents/Chickensand-zoning-letter-English.Edited.06.pdf

I've just contacted Sac County through their website to ask what the process is to change zoning ordinances and for the name of someone I can talk to.

Is there anyone else out there in Sacramento County that is interested in helping trying to get this changed?

Thanks
Lisa

 

[NorTracNY]

Just wanted to make sure you're clear that 10,000sf = 0.23acres. I can't imagine owning any animals with that size lot. I guess you could fit a small coop and run though. I'm a country person as you can probably guess.

 

[congohelium]

The document basically says "don't keep chickens". $4500 for applying to get a permit! Someone doesn't like chickens in the county planning office. Not distinguishing between roos and hens is also suspicious. The county may have had to deal with cock fighting problems in the past. And chose to make it so expensive that no one will apply. The fines must be huge if you don't have a permit.

 

[AngieChick]

Quote:
Many people have smaller lots than this and easily fit a few of hens with a coop and run. I do. You just have to be mindful about cleanliness, like with any animal.

To OP, I agree that someone there is someone seriously anti-chicken in charge down there. There are success stories on this board from those that have successfully pushed for ordinance changes, just use the search feature to find them. Good luck, with education and perseverance it can be done.

 

[gorgeousarmageddon]

I don't know anyone around here who's got chickens but that's probably because of the $4500

. Strangely enough the fines are pretty small but my chickens would be pets so I wouldn't want to have to get rid of them if I got caught.

I'm going to try to get it changed. There's good info in this section so I can draft something appropriate for smaller properties and try to get it heard by the local planning board. Once I figure out what the process is here I'll pull something together and post it her for review and any suggestions.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Good luck!!!

 

[lizardz]

Just move down the road a bit to Fair Oaks - they have their "wild" chickens running all over the place - the middle of the street, the parks, downtown, even have a Chicken Festival every year. Okay, I know that moving isn't really practical, but it's odd how close you are to Fair Oaks and yet the rules seem to be totally different. Good luck.
Liz

 

[gorgeousarmageddon]

Someone just posted this in another thread http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-me-chickens8-2008dec08,0,2224964.story

I hope the guy who moved from Fairoaks because he hated the chickens isn't one of my neighbours now

 

[lizardz]

Quote:

Probably is. My son's girlfriend lives in F.O. and it's fun watching them wander around, but you do have to be careful driving - we had one nearly fly into our windshield one day. Hope everything works out for you. If not, maybe a move is in order. No one would be able to tell if your chickens were your personal chickens or the "feral" chickens (and if you had a roo you didn't want, easy enough to unload him

).
Liz

 

[Barnyard Dawg]

Quote:
We live in Fair Oaks, and currently have over 30 chickens not a problem here, I checked with the county and they told me as long as we meant the size requirement on our property there was no limit on how many hens or roosters we could keep. I have talked with neighbors and they haven't any problems with them, our next door neighbor got two chickens for his daughter who absolutely loves our chickens and built them a little hen house he painted pink, she choose the color. They run wild allover the old town but I have even heard of city folks who have complained about them, there are some exotic chickens mostly rooster that I have seen. Their newsletter is named the ROOST.