UPDATE: YAY! Doin' It In Saint Paul MN

[Whitewater]

We got another reply in the mail today

The Spanish speaking folks kitty corner from us across the alley (the ones with the pit bull puppy) sent us the form in the mail.

This makes me smile because we first sent them our form about a month ago, but we sent it in English (I assumed -- wrongly -- that there would be somebody in their household who could translate!), and never got a response.

Then they got the puppy! And because they have no fenced yard and because the puppy, like all puppies, is curious about his environment (and sees the younger members of his human pack crossing boundary lines all the time), the puppy began to explore . . . and wound up in our garage when I was building our coop, more than once.

He's also come up to our fence to say hello to our dogs! Therefore, I've developed a smile-and-nod aquaintance with his owners, because they're always chasing their puppy back to their own yard out of our non-fenced property. I find it amusing, the puppy isn't aggressive to people, and is pretty good with our dogs, so it's just an annoyance, really. He won't be able to get to our chickens, either.

Since that time, I sent them another letter, though *this* time I used a free online translator and sent that letter in Spanish, also the permission form in Spanish.

I guess they figured it was the least they could do, all things considered.

9 down, 1 to go!


Whitewater

 

[Whitewater]

Well, now we're right back to where we were before the city threw a monkey wrench at us -- waiting on that final signature, so that we can get the official permit ball rolling.

Except that this time, of course, we only have another 5 days to get the form from our neighbors, which is both good and bad. Good, because it will cut down on the nail biting and the waiting and the stress, bad because, well, let's face it, it's only 5 days.

I made up a letter letting people know how grateful we are for their support, and also saying that we still need one more sig. to get everything accomplished. I also put a picture on the bottom of a BA hen, just so that people could see what we're talking about, I seem to recall hearing or reading somewhere that if people can visualize what they're being asked to do, that they're more likely to do it. Might be a bunch of hooey, but heck, I'm willing to do almost anything to get that last form turned in! I was even seriously considering offering MinPin Guy $20 for his form . . .

I'll let you all know what happens.


Whitewater

 

[Whitewater]

WE GOT OUR LAST SIGNATURE!!! YAHOO!!!

It was in the mail today! And I find it extremely amusing that we've managed to get our 75% *without* MinPinGuy (we also found his real name via an internet search of public documents, too, but obviously I'm not going to name him here without his consent!) and *without* Eastern Neighbor's consent either. Turns out we didn't need them, though of course I'd like to have one or both of them sign the form just so we're covered in case Animal Control gets wonky.

We have 8 signatures plus 1 vacant house (an automatic yes) and that 1 house that's really barely in the area, which the Animal Control officer said "[they] could probably give us if we needed it" *because* it's only a few feet within the zone, literally. That makes 10, and 10 households is 75%.

So we're getting chickens! For sure!

Of course, this means that work on the coop has to go in double time now, because Animal Control is going to come by to inspect it within the next few weeks, 20 days, to be precise, and it has to be ready!

I'm going to call Animal Control on Mon and make sure we're good, and ask them about the inspection, just in case. I have learned, when dealing with the government, to check and double check EVERYTHING!!!


Whitewater (who did the happy dance in the kitchen in front of a bemused Hubby when I saw what was in the mail today!)

 

[theFox]

Not to rain on your parade Whitewater, however, I would get the two who seem to be in gimbal lock land waiting for each other together in the same place and tell them that you already have the required signatures to go ahead but would prefer that they also say yes.

The reason I say that is that unless you contacted the legal owner of that "vacant" house you may be in for a rude awakening when they show up on the scene and they will. I'm surprised you were told that they would be an automatic yes. Usually they would be counted as a no.

Insurance signatures would prevent a future unhappy event.

 

[Whitewater]

Well, we got one more today from the woman on the far side of the vacant house. And it really is vacant, the owner is a bank somewhere on the east coast, it looks like, and that's why Animal Control gives a conditional 'yes', because this particular home has been vacant since we moved in, a few months shy of 3 years now. AC's policy is to say yes and then if/when new people move in, they have to say yes or else.

That's already happened to us once, at the beginning of this process, *two* homes were vacant, but then somebody moved into the one. So we just told them what we were doing and what the law required and a couple days later, they flagged us down when I was gardening, with a signed slip.

I do feel better about going to Animal Control tomorrow given this new permission slip (which showed up in our mailbox today).

I wish those two guys would sign, but now I suspect that it will never happen.


Whitewater

 

[theFox]

Glad you got another OK, just remember the AC folks do not make rulings as to matters of law or fact, fact is reserved for the jury in a jury trial, otherwise both it and matters of law are in the hands of a judge.

It is never in the hands of the enforcers.

Over the last several decades I've had opportunity to watch the justice system grind away at its own rate and have learned a lot in the process.

The current litigation I'm following has been ongoing for 7+ years and is actually a group of 5 different court actions, never rely on the word of anyone until everything has played out and always hedge your bets.

ETC: the number of actions, fingers not working well this morning.

 

[Whitewater]

So, today I went to turn in my chicken application permit, and there are good and bad things to report.

1) They tossed out the one house on the edge and the vacant house altogether which left us with 12 homes in the 'zone', and since we have 9 signatures, that's exactly 75%. So we're good.

2) We can call them when our coop is ready and they will come out and inspect it then, so while we do have to hurry some, it's not quite as egregious a sudden 'oops have to get this done now' as it first appeared.

3) They would have said yes right then and there, but their boss was gone for the day so I have to wait until they call me with their decision tomorrow.

4) However, they didn't make me pay the fee and they all were acting as though getting the bosses' permission was just a formality. In fact, the actual officer I talked to said and I quote: "I don't anticipate any problems with your permit" -- but the boss wasn't there to give the ok on the 2 wonky houses, so I had to leave without my permit, which is kind of sad to me. They want me to come back tomorrow to pay the fee -- that's how sure they are it will go through. After all this, I really hope it does. I hope their boss is a reasonable guy!

5) Apparently one of our neighbors has ALREADY called to complain and we don't even have chickens yet! The coop isn't even finished!! Can you believe the nerve of some people??? They wouldn't tell me what the complaint is about, but considering that we have a majority, it's really a moot point. The law says that we can have chickens if we have 75% agreement in writing from the neighbors, which we do, so, the single chicken-hater can kiss my grits. He's the same guy who told my husband that backyard chickens bring down property values (I've got news for him, our property's value has gone down $30 grand over the last 3 years we've owned the house -- chickens have nothing to do with it!). Apparently Animal Control told him to go away seeing as how there weren't any chickens on our property and I hadn't even turned in a permit yet. Beats me how you can complain about an animal when it doesn't exist. I suspect this guy would have called to complain if we'd put up a garden shed in our back yard!

Anyhow, the only thing to do now is to wait for their call tomorrow and see what happens. I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight!


Whitewater

 

[Whitewater]

WE GOT IT! D

I went to the Animal Control office today because I hadn't received a call by 2pm, so I figured the worst had happened and they didn't want to talk to me. But I needed to know for my own peace of mind, so off I went.

I got there and all my stuff was just sitting there from yesterday, obviously SOMEBODY over there fell right off the ball (as opposed to being on it!) and clearly every staff member had forgotten the phrase 'We'll call you tomorrow'.

But in a way that was good because I got a chance to ask questions and answer questions face to face with the Big Head Honcho, which I wouldn't have had the ability to do otherwise. HH (head Honcho) obviously had never heard of my unique circumstances before, either, which made me raise my eyebrows a bit, but not where anybody could see me

HH was worried about the fact that Eastern Neighbor guy didn't sign the form, and I flat out told HH that they told me face to face that they were supportive but didn't want to be the ones to bring the change to the neighborhood (their words) and that I didn't think that they didn't want to become known to Animal Control -- HH wanted to know why, and I think it's because they have an unlicensed dog! I told the HH that they are hardly ever there and that when they leave the dog alone he barks constantly (We can hear him from inside their home!). HH said, 'with chickens, the dog will probably bark even more' -- I don't agree -- but I said even if he did, it wouldn't matter, our dogs and that dog are good friends, and dogs barking doesn't bug me.

Once HH heard that, he signed the form and I paid my money and got the permit approved.

Now we have to finish our coop and have somebody from over there inspect it . . . they want it to happen within 10 days. I dunno if we can do that, but we'll give it a good ol' college try. There's no bad stuff if we don't get it done, they said people apply for their permits in wintertime often, and wait until spring to build their coops, but I want to get this DONE.


Whitewater

 

[Whitewater]

Well, it took 15 days instead of ten, but Animal Control didn't care.

Our coop is finished and today I went to the AC office to get a time nailed down (also went there to renew our dog's licenses, spent an hour for those three things! Sheesh!), and they are coming over Sunday June 13th sometime between 2-4pm to look at our setup.

Since they want to see absolutely EVERYTHING, Hubby and I will go the day before and get the feeders, the bedding, all the accessories, and set all that up too, including the rodent-proof feed housing (a metal garbage can with a lid).

It's the last hurdle, folks, FINALLY. If the AC officer gives the nod, we won't even have to wait for our official paperwork, we can get the chickens right away afterwards. Of course, 'right away' in our case means on the Tuesday, if the people who have our birds are free that evening.

So exciting, and nice to have the birds early!


Whitewater (glad I got an early inspection time, I want to get this all OVER with so we can just kick back and enjoy our pullets, geeze.)

 

[Kittymomma]