Trustees to vote on chicken regulations

The process of approving new rules for owning chickens in certain subdivisions in Perry Township has moved one step closer to completion.

A public hearing that took place Sept. 11 on those suggested regulations turned out to be a quick and quiet affair.

In fact, no audience members in attendance at the hearing, held by township trustees prior to their regular meeting, spoke about the proposed poultry-related zoning amendments.

It’s expected that trustees will wait until their next regularly scheduled meeting on Sept. 25 to take final action on the regulations, township Administrator Karen Sundy said.

With the Sept. 11 public hearing yielding no new comments or opinions, trustees will review action from two other previous meetings on proposed rules for keeping chickens in recorded subdivisions in the township with at least 15 lots, with each lot required to be 1 acre or less in size.

On July 25, the township Zoning Commission held a public hearing on the proposed zoning amendments, which were drafted in response to complaints that trustees had been receiving for the past year or so. Trustees had been contacted about some residents

Instead of limiting the maximum number of chickens per lot of 1 acre or less to 12, the revised proposal forwarded to trustees permits owning one chicken for every 4 square feet in a pen or fenced-in area on the affected lots. Fences must be at least 6 feet high and pens must be enclosed.

of subdivisions who own chickens and allow them to roam uninvited into neighbors’ yards.

During that hearing, about 10 people spoke, and most of them expressed opposition to various parts of the proposal. Some of the most unpopular sections in the original zoning amendments dealt with limiting the number of chickens allowed on each property to 12, and prohibiting the ownership of roosters.

Both of those proposed regulations were revised by the commission on Aug. 15, when the panel met and voted unanimously to send a list of zoning text amendments to trustees for further consideration.

Instead of limiting the maximum number of chickens per lot of 1 acre or less to 12, the revised proposal forwarded to trustees permits owning one chicken for every 4 square feet in a pen or fenced-in area on the affected lots. Fences must be at least 6 feet high and pens must be enclosed.

In addition, roosters are permitted in the newly proposed regulations. The prohibition of these birds drew opposition at the public hearing because many of the chickens raised by children in 4-H projects are roosters.

Another point in the original proposal dropped by the commission was a rule stating that the keeping of farm animals and/ or livestock shall be prohibited.

Two regulations in the original proposal were retained:

• No agricultural use, structure or building shall be permitted in front or side yards, or any closer to a road right-of-way than the rear line of the main building of a lot.

• The pen area shall be regularly cleaned and maintained so as to control odors and minimize health hazards.

If the regulations are approved by trustees, enforcement would be complaintbased, said George Smerigan, a consultant for Perry Township.