Hobby farm discussion back on the table

♦ Planning commission will take up the discussion concerning backyard chickens on Thursday.

The Rome-floyd Planning Commission will be reviewing hobby farm regulations once again at their Thursday meeting.

The proposed Unified Land Development Code amendment has been denied, pushed back and gone through multiple adjustments over the past year and a half.

The measure was ready to go to the Floyd County Commission for a vote in January, but was ultimately put off to clarify the language.

The most debatable topic in the amendment is specifically the lot size requirements for having chickens on a property. On one side, some say chickens should only be on agricultural properties and larger lots. Others feel that chickens can be housed in subdivisions and rural areas with smaller plots.

The current version would set the following requirements:

♦ For a half acre to .99acre lot, a person can have up to 10 hens, no roosters and the coop must be set back at least 25 feet from the property line.

♦ For a 1- to 1.99-acre lot, a person can have up to 20 hens, no roosters and the coop must have a 25-foot setback.

♦ For a 2- to 4.99-acre lot, the owner can have up to 30 hens, no roosters and a 50foot coop setback.

♦ For a 5- to 10-acre lot, the owner can have up to 40 hens, some roosters and a 50-foot coop setback.

Breeding is prohibited, as well as butchering the chickens on the property. While there’s no restriction on chicken breeds, no other types of fowl are allowed — including ducks, geese and turkeys.

In other business the planning commission will consider a rezoning request from Old Castle Lawn and Garden for an adjacent parcel on Pinson Road.

By rezoning the parcel from Light Industrial/heavy Industrial to Heavy Industrial, the company would have access to Ga. 53.

The planning commission recommendations will go before Floyd County Commission for a public hearing and vote on March 23.

There are also two annexations on the agenda, for properties in Garden Lakes and Armuchee. The Garden Lakes parcel sits next to another city lot on Malone Drive, preventing it from becoming an island. It also has access to public water and sewer and city engineering confirmed it would be eligible for annexation.

Two vacant commercial parcels on Violet Street and Martha Berry Boulevard also are recommended for annexation approval, with city engineering confirming that it wouldn’t become a county island.

The public hearings for the two annexations will take place on March 22 at the Rome City Commission meeting.

The planning commission meeting will take place over Zoom on Thursday at 2 p.m. To watch the meeting, contact Senior Planner Brice Wood for the link.