Troy, Ohio Help and Advise Wanted to keep my chickens!

[AngryHippie]

Quote:
At this point I'm still trying to have faith in the city and that the system works. I'm not quite that jaded yet. I'm also lucky that I have friends that keep chickens in a city nearby that I should be able to relocate them to so that I know that they're well taken care of in the mean time. Still doesn't mean I'm not bummed out about the whole situation though. I think the worst part is, if someone would have just come and talked to me instead of running to the city, we probably could have worked something out.

 

[AngryHippie]

Anyone who is in the area; we will be on WDTN Channel 2 News this evening in the 5'oclock hour.

I have also launched www.saveourchickens.com to tell our story.

It is my goal that site will be able to eventually be turned into a site dedicated to all pet chicken owners who are having trouble with the City to be able to post their stories. While I'm an IT guy; I'm not much for web development. If anyone would like to donate time to help me build this domain in this way, I would be happy to take suggestions.

 

[ChickenTender63]

AngryHippie, I am sorry about the trouble you are having and hopefully you can get worked through it. That is one of the reasons we just bought 11 acres. I don't like others telling me what I can do or raise.

I grew up just outside of West Milton, and we were either living next to a farm or working on one while growing up, and I think that is what I am reverting back to.

My experience with dealing with city code enforcers is that when they receive a complaint, they will do a site visit to see if someone is violating the ordinance. Then they send out a notice to correct. Both of these have already occured.

The next step is for yo uto take corrective action, whatever that would be to get yourself back within the guidelines of the ordinance. Once that happens, you then notify code enforcement and they WILL come back out and do another site inspection prior to closing out the case.

If there are no other complaints, then you will have no other problems.

I worked in real estate for a number of years and worked very close with code enforcement officers. Most of them are good people, and you should not be scared to talk to them. Let them know what your plans are, and tell them hey, I need three weeks because I am trying to rehome them, or something like that.

Get rid of roo, and then have your friend hang onto the others. Call them back, let them know you have them rehomed, Call back a week later and say you just wanted to follow-up, was everything up to par when you reinspected?

If they say yes, the case is closed out, then bring the girls home and make sure you have a lockable gate on your backyard fence. They are not allowed to enter a locked gate. Don't ever get another roo, the noise is whats going to get you busted again.

After you have satisfied code enforcement, keep working to get the ordinance changed to allow so many hens to be kept within a residential community. It won't happen over night as you know, but it is very possible to get it done.

Good luck!

 

[phalenbeck]

In one of my former lives I was on the Planning and Zoning comission of a small town in Northern Mn. As such we had hearings on 'variances' to the Zoning code that could only be granted for 'hardship'. It was allways difficult to get people to believe that a residental (often called R-1), the primary goal was to provide conditions for orderly housing for people, not dog breeding, pot bellied pigs or chickens. For that matter business are usually restricted to. Of course domestic animals like dogs and cats were allowed, often in restricted numbers. There are rural areas, with larger lots where chicken/pigs/cows/goats are allowed, normally called farm animals. --When one buys a home in a R zoned district they are, and most want to be protected from there neighbor opening a store, or starting a farm with the conflicts each bring to a area that is intended mostly for residences. They expect domestic animals, not farm or business animals. They bought R zoning protection from this. -After being a city guy, I retired and bought a condo. Often condos do not allow animals of any kind (mine did allow small dogs and cats), and restrict hanging laundry on your balcony, T.V dishes and alot of other stuff. I had the City R-zoning code, plus the condo board restrictions. I got tired of it. --With my move to the mountains we bought a house in a unrestricted (not zoned) area. The up side is I can have livestock, and the down side is my neighbors can have livestock. The other down side is that the store/gas station/plant can also become my next door neighbor, and damage my hope of a quiet home life. There are always trade-offs. I wish I was zoned A- (farm) so I could be protected from stores and factorys, but for now unzoned works ----I have seen here in the hills where city folk have moved to the rural area then complain about cows and roosters so the area is zoned A-something (farm) so that the newcomers and city folk cannot complain as they intrude on farming. ---The short summary is that we have zoning to protect the primary interest in a area R- for housing and people first, C- or commercial for stores and A- for farming and the like. --Where I was I was protect from the disruption of my neighbors rooster, and where I am my neighbor is NOT protected from my rooster, nor am I from his pig farm. ----When I was on the zoning board we did not go looking for little violations, we responded to complaints. I am willing to guess that in the town I was in rabbits, chickens (hens) that remained out of sight would be ignored. We did have to respond when excessive numbers of dogs and cats disrupted the peace, and would have to respond to Rooster complaints. -----Of course if you have farm animals and the city moves in on you and the zoning tightens, your animals would likely be 'grandfathered' as a non-complying use. This only if the non-complying use is continuous. Don't even try the old argument that roosters pre-date R-zoning unless you have had chickens the whole time. ---I could have a Rooster, but do not as this area is getting build-up, and rooster's disrupt residentual uses. ---So really folks, watch your zoning, and if you violate keep it low key, quiet and small scale, and if you get caught, don't complain. Roosters in residental--you got to be inconsiderate, or nuts.

 

[AngryHippie]

I was able to get the video interview from Ch 2's website put up on our website. View our interview online at www.saveourchickens.com