Tryon Oklahoma Chicken Ordinances are making me crazy!

[troeseler]

 

[chfite]

After reading what you posted, I have to ask if you have seen the ordinances or zoning laws that regulate chickens? Until you know what is in print, you have nothing.

Chris

 

[troeseler]

I talked to the town clerk who is also the wife of the chief of police. She read them to me. The ordinance on chickens is 25 per dwelling and they have to be cooped.

 

[akelley]

Is that chicken dwelling, or human dwelling?

If that's all it says, it seems awfully vague and open to interpretation to me.

Can you get your property to be zoned as a business? If you were an actual hatchery or egg production business you'd think there would be exceptions they would make for you. Just something to think about.

I live in Texas, on one acre, and there are no limits to how many we can have, or whether or not they have to remain contained. It seems like something is being misread or mis-interpreted in your case.

I hope you get everything sorted out and you can grow your flock to accommodate all your egg orders!

 

[zazouse]

Are you zoned for a business? They may have put that stipulation on you because with that amount of land you could clam it as agriculture,, here you have to have at least 5 acers and a certain amount of animals or grow something that you harvest every year, without AGG exemption your property taxes are higher, mine are like 7 dollar per 5 acers a year ,without AGG they went up to 528.00 when the exemption was dropped at sale of that 5 acer property.

What i am trying to point out is that if you qualify for an agg exemption you can have your taxes lowered, if you have enough animals to qualify and make money doing it you can pay way way less in property taxes because your land is being used to make a profit.

There just may be a bit more to it than having more birds, just sayen

 

[troeseler]

OK, I understand what you are saying. I do have the tax exemption. That has nothing to do with the city ordinances. The way our place is assessed is determined by the county. I have spoken with the county and they are assessing as ag because I am using the property for ag. Unfortunately they have my house valued much higher than my land so the ag break on property doesn't save me much other than at the feed stores etc.

The way the place is assessed being residential, agricultural, or commercial has nothing to do with the way it is actually zoned. To be assessed as ag in this county all you have to do is use it for ag. Makes no difference how big or small it is. Then within the city limits there are usually different zones and different zones have different restrictions. In this city per the town clerk there are no zoning laws. Everyone within the city limits has the same livestock ordinances.

The city ordinances are determined by the city. The county determines the city limits and the city determines what can or cannot be done within them. All other livestock restrictions seem reasonable. They are all based on acreage. The only one that doesn't make sense is the "fowl" because they do not allow so many per acre they only allow 25 per dwelling and it doesn't matter if you have a quarter acre, or 15 acres.

 

[troeseler]

LOL AKELLEY! My husband said the same thing about the "dwelling". Unfortunately nothing is being misread or misinterpreted. It's a tiny little 2sq mile town in the middle of nowhere and it kinda reminds me of that Chevy Chase movie: Funny Farm. It reminds my neighbor of Green Acres. Which is part of why I call our place: "Chicken Butt Farm" . Anyway, I doubt if I can get it zoned as anything. There are no zoning laws according to the chief of police's wife aka the x meter reader, aka town clerk, etc. BUT it is something to think about and I can definitely check into that and give it a try if getting a petition signed by a ton of people and pleading my case doesn't persuade them. Even allowing so many per acre would be better than 25 per dwelling.

 

[troeseler]

They ended up giving us a variance. They said we can have as many chickens as we want.