Would somebody please translate this ordinance?

[3chickchicks]

"It shall be unlawful for any person to keep or harbor any fowl within the corporate limits of the City in any pen, shed, coop, enclosed structure, or fenced yard, if any part of such enclosure, structure, or yard is within one hundred (100) feet of any residence, business or commercial establishment or office, school, hospital or nursing home. This section shall not apply to pet birds kept within residential or commercial structures, nor shall it apply to birdhouses for the keeping of migrating or wild birds."


Does this mean that the coop needs to be 100 feet from my own house?
Does this mean my yard has to be 100 feet away from my neighbor's yard? Or is it that the fence has to be 100 feet away from another person's house?

This ordinance is a recent change. When I had read it before while considering chickens, it had no such restrictions so now I'm afraid my coop is too close to the house and that I can't let my chickens wander the back yard.

 

[kbh82310]

I believe your coop needs to be 100 ft away from buildings/houses

 

[3chickchicks]

So due to lot size, it's a clever way of saying that most people can't keep chickens?

There's also this section:

"This section shall not apply to pet birds kept within residential or commercial structures, nor shall it apply to birdhouses for the keeping of migrating or wild birds."

My coop is near my house (on the back side) and about 90 feet away from my neighbors' houses. My plan is 3 hens.
If I followed the 100 ft rule, I'd have a coop in the middle of my back yard and fence off a small section in the middle for them to roam. And I have a half acre lot!
My fence save for one side is privacy fence but I bet those neighbors could be bought with eggs. They aren't the nosey types. Hmm...

I know I've seen chickens roaming a front yard of a house a few blocks away.

 

[kbh82310]

It says nothing about the chickens needing to be 100ft away just their housing. So they can roam your coop just needs to be 100ft. If they gave you a hard time you could get technical and keep them in the house at night and let them roam during the day cause it doesn't define pet birds and technically "pet birds" are fowl and they didn't define fowl..

Personally I would just keep them were you want (as long as you know they won't piss off a neighbor) and if the city says anything just act dumb and say you checked when you got them and it was fine then they changed the law and you didn't know.

 

[3chickchicks]

High five, ma'am!

I'll talk to the neighbors who'll be able to see them. They're an elderly couple who I'm on good terms with. She likes to cook so I'm sure fresh eggs would go over quite well.

 

[kbh82310]

Hope everything works out for you! What breeds do you have? Fresh eggs will go along way with ppl who cook! I already have family trying to get duck eggs so they can use them to bake and I haven't even gotten the ducks yet, we still got another month till they arrive and still they will be way to young to lay.

 

[Kelsie2290]

I also read it like the coop and any fowl related fencing has to be 100 feet from any house/building, including yours. Does it say somewhere the chickens have to always be contained? This does seem to be a common way of "allowing" chickens while actually making it impossible for 99% of people to comply with the law because of lot sizes. Usually poultry/ fowl and pet birds are also defined somewhere in the laws and they usually exclude poultry/fowl as pets. Do or did they require a license or permit or anything? If you had your chickens before they changed the law (and you were legal under the old law) you might be able to be grandfathered in. If not, as everybody else suggested, your best bet is to make nice to the neighbors and hope nobody complains... or you can try changing the law to something we would consider more reasonable...of course then "they" know you have chickens...

 

[3chickchicks]

I don't have chickens yet. While researching if I could keep chickens, the ordinance at that time said no roosters and that was it (I wasn't in a position to have the time available to their care at the time). For some reason, after building the coop, I went back to double check and found they changed it a couple of years ago.

I also read it like the coop and any fowl related fencing has to be 100 feet from any house/building, including yours. Does it say somewhere the chickens have to always be contained? This does seem to be a common way of "allowing" chickens while actually making it impossible for 99% of people to comply with the law because of lot sizes. Usually poultry/ fowl and pet birds are also defined somewhere in the laws and they usually exclude poultry/fowl as pets. Do or did they require a license or permit or anything? If you had your chickens before they changed the law (and you were legal under the old law) you might be able to be grandfathered in. If not, as everybody else suggested, your best bet is to make nice to the neighbors and hope nobody complains... or you can try changing the law to something we would consider more reasonable...of course then "they" know you have chickens...

This is the ordinance in its entirety:

Sec. 2.702. Keeping of fowl.

(a)​

For the purposes of this section the term "fowl" means a bird of any kind including, but not limited to, chickens, ducks, roosters, geese, guineas, pigeons, emus, ostriches, rheas, turkeys and pheasants.

(b)​

It shall be unlawful for any person to keep or harbor any fowl within the corporate limits of the City in any pen, shed, coop, enclosed structure, or fenced yard, if any part of such enclosure, structure, or yard is within one hundred (100) feet of any residence, business or commercial establishment or office, school, hospital or nursing home. This section shall not apply to pet birds kept within residential or commercial structures, nor shall it apply to birdhouses for the keeping of migrating or wild birds.

(c)​

It shall be unlawful for any owner of any fowl to maintain yards, pens, sheds, coops, or other enclosures in which such fowl are confined in such a manner as to give off odors offensive to persons of ordinary sensibilities residing in the vicinity, or to breed or attract flies, mosquitoes or other noxious insects or rodents, or in any manner to endanger the public health, safety or welfare, or to create a public nuisance.

 

[Kelsie2290]

Well, they specifically define chickens as fowl, which means even if you want to define them as pets also, you still have to abide by the laws for fowl. And that section "c" is so open ended it pretty much means if there is a complaint, you will be in trouble with some part of it. I don't even know why they bother with those kinds of ordinances, why not just say, "No, we don't want you to have chickens within our jurisdiction". Are there even any lots in the entire area that could meed those restriction?

 

[3chickchicks]

Well, they specifically define chickens as fowl, which means even if you want to define them as pets also, you still have to abide by the laws for fowl. And that section "c" is so open ended it pretty much means if there is a complaint, you will be in trouble with some part of it. I don't even know why they bother with those kinds of ordinances, why not just say, "No, we don't want you to have chickens within our jurisdiction". Are there even any lots in the entire area that could meed those restriction?

Mine would if I put the coop right smack in the middle of my yard with a fenced area, again, right in the middle of my yard.