- Thread starter
- #31
- Apr 20, 2012
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Well, my last post on this topic was almost 3 years ago. However, after 3 years of fighting city hall we ended up getting a chicken ordinance passed.
There are many things which led us to this point, but I would say the 3 major ones are:
1. Support - This cannot be understated. You must gather support. When we went to our very first reading, there were only 5 people who spoke in support of the ordinance and 3 of those were my family. After that loss, as I mentioned, there were other supporters we just had not organized them. We started a facebook page, went to local farmer's market and set up tables, passed out petition forms at local feed stores and any local businesses that could benefit ( Ace hardware, etc.). We also started holding meetings at our library and promoting our cause to everyone that would listen. When we went back before the city we had over 300 petitions and at least 6 families that joined us. That got the ball rolling, where as before it was tabled (political term for not caring about it). In our final reading we had over 30 people show up, representing 18 families and 10 people who spoke. Those who didn't speak wore yellow shirts and we sat together. That might not seem like much, but in a city of 85k residents rarely do over 6 people show up to a commission meeting regarding a certain topic. We got our local AG extension involved as well as the 4H and FFA. We got our kids involved in the process as well. I personally believe this is the biggest issue. Because without numbers, you will be ignored.
2. Education - You must educate your political leaders as well as the general public. Most people who have any experience with chickens are those who have driven past a large commercial operation and have no clue what a small backyard flock is like. By doing the research and education, we also learned a lot as well. This in turn gave us a leg up on the arguments as we had a logical answer for every concern that was raised. And believe me, the concerns are varied and many till you meet them with a simple easy answer. You not only need to know about chickens, but also zoning laws, building codes, and whatever current pet ordinances are in place. You should get so familiar with these that you could quote them section and page. You will also probably be doing what the municipalities job is in getting the research. Any information you can provide is that much less they have to do, and for some reason less work makes them happy.
3. Perseverance - Municipalities/Politicians don't usually put a high priority on changing existing ordinances/laws regarding backyard chickens. There were times when it looked like nothing was moving forward. It was in those times we gained more support, educated them with articles and headed off concerns. But even then it will look like nothing is going to happen. You MUST persevere. It took us nearly 3 years to the day to get our ordinance passed and even then it came with a lot of strings attached. We had 3 different City Manager's, 2 elections and 2 replacements of city Commissioners. There was a short lived opposition that was causing some major problems at point (remember it takes a lot of positive to overturn 1 negative). But we carried on. And even in the last hours of the final reading there were changes that could have made it so restrictive, that no one could have actually met the requirements. But in the end, we are now able to keep backyard hens as pets (even if it is a one year trial)
To those that have read this far, thank you. I hope we can be a resource for those who are looking to change their local laws. We went through a lot and we are more than willing to give advice where we can. Many thanks goes to those who post on this website. Having a community such as this gave us a lot of ammo to help win the fight.
There are many things which led us to this point, but I would say the 3 major ones are:
1. Support - This cannot be understated. You must gather support. When we went to our very first reading, there were only 5 people who spoke in support of the ordinance and 3 of those were my family. After that loss, as I mentioned, there were other supporters we just had not organized them. We started a facebook page, went to local farmer's market and set up tables, passed out petition forms at local feed stores and any local businesses that could benefit ( Ace hardware, etc.). We also started holding meetings at our library and promoting our cause to everyone that would listen. When we went back before the city we had over 300 petitions and at least 6 families that joined us. That got the ball rolling, where as before it was tabled (political term for not caring about it). In our final reading we had over 30 people show up, representing 18 families and 10 people who spoke. Those who didn't speak wore yellow shirts and we sat together. That might not seem like much, but in a city of 85k residents rarely do over 6 people show up to a commission meeting regarding a certain topic. We got our local AG extension involved as well as the 4H and FFA. We got our kids involved in the process as well. I personally believe this is the biggest issue. Because without numbers, you will be ignored.
2. Education - You must educate your political leaders as well as the general public. Most people who have any experience with chickens are those who have driven past a large commercial operation and have no clue what a small backyard flock is like. By doing the research and education, we also learned a lot as well. This in turn gave us a leg up on the arguments as we had a logical answer for every concern that was raised. And believe me, the concerns are varied and many till you meet them with a simple easy answer. You not only need to know about chickens, but also zoning laws, building codes, and whatever current pet ordinances are in place. You should get so familiar with these that you could quote them section and page. You will also probably be doing what the municipalities job is in getting the research. Any information you can provide is that much less they have to do, and for some reason less work makes them happy.
3. Perseverance - Municipalities/Politicians don't usually put a high priority on changing existing ordinances/laws regarding backyard chickens. There were times when it looked like nothing was moving forward. It was in those times we gained more support, educated them with articles and headed off concerns. But even then it will look like nothing is going to happen. You MUST persevere. It took us nearly 3 years to the day to get our ordinance passed and even then it came with a lot of strings attached. We had 3 different City Manager's, 2 elections and 2 replacements of city Commissioners. There was a short lived opposition that was causing some major problems at point (remember it takes a lot of positive to overturn 1 negative). But we carried on. And even in the last hours of the final reading there were changes that could have made it so restrictive, that no one could have actually met the requirements. But in the end, we are now able to keep backyard hens as pets (even if it is a one year trial)
To those that have read this far, thank you. I hope we can be a resource for those who are looking to change their local laws. We went through a lot and we are more than willing to give advice where we can. Many thanks goes to those who post on this website. Having a community such as this gave us a lot of ammo to help win the fight.
