Consultation ignored: Hen owner
Backyard hen owners frustrated council enacted ban even though city survey found wide support for urban chickens
Natalie Napier says she’s frustrated that city council banned backyard chickens on Monday – especially after so many local hen-keepers said they wanted coops allowed.
“I don’t feel proud to be a citizen of Peterborough today,” Napier said on Tuesday. “And it’s not just about chickens.”
It’s also about council’s apparently meaningless public consultations, she said.
The city conducted an online survey in which 81 per cent of respondents said they wanted backyard hens in the city – and yet councillors still enacted a ban.
“They completely ignored their own consultation process,” Napier said. “It breaks down trust and faith. I’m frustrated.”
In a final vote on Monday, council voted 7-4 to adopt a new animal bylaw that prohibits chickens in the city.
Voting against chickens were councillors Dave Haacke, Andrew Beamer, Henry Clarke, Don Vassiliadis, Lesley Parnell, Dan McWilliams and Mayor Daryl Bennett.
Voting in favour of chickens were councillors Diane Therrien, Dean Pappas, Keith Riel and Gary Baldwin.
Under the new rule, chickens already living in city backyards can remain for two more years – then they have to be dispatched. No new chickens are allowed.
Coun. Dean Pappas said he didn’t think the city ought to be banning chickens.
“I think we should leave the hens alone,” he said on Monday. But other councillors felt differently, mostly due to the estimated cost to have the Peterborough Humane Society (PHS) deal with hen-related work.
Under a proposed set of rules that would have allowed chickens, the PHS would have had to register every chicken and also train every hen-keeper on how to clean coops and care for birds.
PHS estimated it would have to charge the city $58,300 more annually to carry out these tasks. Coun. Henry Clarke told fellow councillors on Monday it was far too expensive.
“Put it on the back burner and deal with bigger issues,” he said.
But Napier said there may be inexpensive ways to deal with regulating chickens; it’s just that council didn’t seem interested in asking local henkeepers to come up with some costeffective ideas.
Councillors knew from the city survey that many people wanted chickens allowed, she said – yet the findings apparently meant nothing. That left Napier unhappy.
“If they don’t trust their own process, then don’t waste our time with it,” she said. “I think it’s just sad, and terribly un-creative.”
Naomi Anderson, another citizen in favour of urban hens, said she also felt frustrated on Tuesday.
Anderson kept backyard hens in Otonabee Ward until early this year. On Tuesday, she said she was irritated that her councillors didn’t listen to people and that the city’s only form of public consultation on the matter was the online survey.
“They didn’t really talk to stakeholders,” she said. “That was really disappointing. I won’t be voting for the councillors in my ward, again.”