Wish me luck. I'm meeting with city leaders tonight

[mistylady]

I'm so glad you get to keep your chickens!

Poop catapult! I like that idea!

 

[SpottedCrow]

Jerks!!
So glad you can keep your birds for a while longer...

 

[nakactress]

The city council meeting is on the 3rd and I have written the city councilmen and there will be several neighborhood families in attendance. I'm sure it will all work out great. Afterall how can leaders in Utah argue against being self sufficant...lol

 

[nakactress]

The city council meeting was tonight but they didn't talk about it. They did decide to have a meeting to discuss the changing the codes on the 16th. My husband spoke with the council man over the codes and the Mayor afterwards.
The Mayor's only concern is residents having chicken farms...lol

So I need to gather a bunch of resources.
He sees no issues about us having chickens. He remembers us because he helped us get our house remodel earlier this year because I have a daughter with multiple life threatening allergies and our house had toxic mold which was making her even more sick. He's a really great guy. He gave us his cell phone, personal email and told us to call him if we have any trouble about our chickens. Especially since the allergist recommended chickens to us to have as pets.

He invited my husband to the meeting to discuss the chickens and have ideas on limitations etc... I wish I could be there but I'm out of town. He said if we just make our case they will probably change the code. I am so excited that the city is willing to change.

So good news from this town!! Chickens will be FREE...lol

 

[coffeelady3]

Here's one link where you can search city codes. Find a few city's that are similar to yours and check what their codes are for chickens.

http://municipalcodes.lexisnexis.com/

You can also do a google search to find municipal codes for various cities and counties.

I think it would help to go to him with examples of what other cities do.

 

[brandywine]

Good luck on clarifying your ordinance. By my reading of the fragments you presented, you are already quite legal and well under the threshold for number of livestock. But it's likely your ordinance got revised piecemeal, and accumulated inconsistencies and garbling over time. I hate it when enforcement officers make stuff up, especially since it works so much of the time because people are intimidated.

Just to clarify another point -- your daughter doesn't have any rights under the ADA to keep chickens.

People get confused on this point (and the law as written and interpreted can be clear as mud) because of the portions of ADA that focus on service animals.

A service animal provides a tangible service that mitigates a permanent disability that materially impairs one or more major life functions. It's not a pet.

In effect, the ADA covers a disabled person's right to access public places in the company of helper monkey (for quadriplegics), mobility assistance dog, guide dog, signal dog, seizure alert dog. (Probably 99% of legitimate service "animals" are trained dogs.) The animal must actually be trained to perform a genuine mitigating function. The ADA is not carte blanche for a disabled person to bring his pet where other pets are not permitted. (And a service animal cannot present a danger to others or a significant disruption. ) Yes, I know some people do this. They are breaking the law and abusing its intent in a very cynical way; enough of that crap, and genuine disabled people with genuine service animals are going to lose their hard-won access.

So unless the chickens are fetching your daughter's epinephrine and pecking 911, ADA won't fly. (Unless your city solicitor is as misinformed as so many others about ADA.) Nor should you try to play that card.

ADA doesn't give anyone the right to have a pet, or a particular kind of pet.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
The key word in that list of animals is "and", not "or". The way I read that, it says you can keep all of those animals on a half acre residential lot. For every 1/2 acre beyond the minimum lot size you can keep twice those numbers (they assume you and your family also have to reside on the first half acre so the number allowed for the first half acre is less). If you have a half acre or less you are allowed to keep three kinds, i.e.; two cows, two goats, and fifty chickens = three kinds.

 

[eggzettera]

Quote:
Well, I'm in McMurray....

 

[nakactress]

I'm back in Utah and can't wait to attend the meeting to discuss changing the codes.

I have printed a bunch of codes from other cities who allow chickens.

I have written a outline for me to present on why they should allow chickens.

The mayor said if we show up and present our case that they will change it. They seem pretty easy going!!!

There will be at least 4 families with me. 2 have chickens already and the others want chickens. I love it when the elected officials want to do what the people want!!

 

[nakactress]

I'm meeting with the city council tonight to discuss chickens. I'm not sure when they plan on voting but they seem willing to allow chickens.
The Mayor's concerns were Roosters and chicken farms. Other then that he sees no reason why residents can't have hens!!

So wish me luck!!

Oh, one of my neighbors came by and asked to try some eggs!! I'm more than happy to share some with her.