Why Were Hens Banned in Chesapeake? The Chicken Activist's Response

In my previous post I asked John King, Chesapeake, VA's, Zoning Administrator, when and why laying hens were originally banned from most residents' back yards. He emailed me the "when," but I had to call him to find out the "why." What he told me by telephone, on July 26, 2012, as I explained in my last post, is this:

He said that chickens have been zoned the way they have since the beginning of zoning in Chesapeake. The reason is that chickens are livestock and that there were concerns about livestock in cities due to "urban density." He asserted that at the time the zoning laws were adopted, Chesapeake was becoming denser in population, and he implied the restriction on chickens as livestock was reasonable. He asked me if I could imagine every Chesapeake resident, even apartment dwellers, owning chickens.

My husband later asked me, "What if every Chesapeake resident and apartment-dweller raised a dog?" 

Or even rabbits, which are also perfectly legal. It seems to us the objection is the misconception that hens belong in an isolated area on acres of land. Period. 

At the time I answered Mr. King that I could indeed see even apartment dwellers owning and managing hens as part of a co-op. 

Perhaps Mr. King has never had a chance to learn about Milwaukee's Growing Power, a non-profit urban farm managed by a MacArthur Genius Award recipient, Will Allen. He is the author of a great book, The Good Food Revolution: Growing Healthy Food, People, and Communities. His 3-acre urban farm in the middle of the city is so intensively managed, he feeds 10,000 people with it. 

And, yes, the farm does not produce just  vegetables. Growing Power's livestock includes worms, fish, poultry, and even goats, as can be seen in this video. The compost from the livestock, especially the worms, is vital to growing vegetables as sustainably and intensively as this farm does.

Perhaps those who, like Mr. King, cannot imagine chickens in urban areas are unaware that they are raised, legally, even in dense urban areas like Chicago and New York City. 

That's right! 

Residents, even apartment dwellers, raise chickens in communal gardens in the Bronx and Brooklyn. A non-profit in New York City, called "Just Food," educates city residents and helps them to set up and maintain these kinds of positive, healthy, communal spaces. This video shows the fantastic results of their efforts.

If our local zoning administrators plan to advise against hens due to urban density, they had better think again. If these positive programs can happen in Milwaukee and New York City, certainly they can happen in Chesapeake. Our city is less dense, I am sure, and has fewer residents than these major metropolitan areas.  

Chesapeake, Virginia, does, indeed have "food deserts" according to the USDA. It seems to us that local zoning should work with City Council to address this problem, and to study how community gardens and urban hens might work as part of the solution to it. People, even low-income ones, even minorities, even apartment-dwellers, have the right to control their own food supply, and reasonable accommodations should be made to those who want to go about this responsibly. The community, this means the rest of us, should help them.

When and Why Were Hens Banned in Chesapeake?

I belong to a group, "4 Chesapeake Hens," that is trying to amend zoning laws in Chesapeake, VA, to allow more backyard hens as pets. At Andy Shneider, the Chicken Whisperer's and our local library's suggestion, I contacted our zoning office to find out exactly when and why hens were banned at most local residences. Here is the bulk of the reply I received from John King, our Zoning Administrator:

Article VI, table of permitted and conditional use,  of the original City of Chesapeake Zoning Ordinance, adopted May 27, 1969, indicated that livestock was permitted in the C-1, conservation district and the A-1, agriculture districts. Chickens were not permitted in any residential district with the exception of RE-1. Chickens were conditional (required a use permit) in the RE-1, residential estate district. Although there have been changes to the ordinance throughout the years, the prohibition on keeping chickens in the residential districts (with the exception of the RE-1) has remained in effect since the initiation of the zoning ordinance.

This answers the "when," but not the "why," part of my question. I plan to follow up to see if we can get any more information. Does anyone else have the local knowledge to answer this question, or are there suggestions about where to research the answer? Let us know!

***Update on  7/26/2012:

I received a return call from John King, the Zoning Administrator, this morning. He was helpful and polite. I explained that his email answered the question regarding WHEN hens were banned from most residential areas of Chesapeake, but it didn't answer the question of WHY.

His answer did not satisfy us very well. He said that chickens have been zoned the way they have since the beginning of zoning in Chesapeake. The reason, according to King, is that chickens are livestock and that there are concerns about livestock in cities due to "urban density." He asserted that at the time the zoning laws were adopted, Chesapeake was becoming denser in population, and he implied the restriction on chickens as livestock was reasonable. He asked me if I could imagine every Chesapeake resident, even apartment dwellers, owning chickens. 

I appreciated his response and will answer his question about apartment dwellers in another post.

***Update on 7/26/2012
  
I searched through some old newspaper articles from the now-defunct daily newspaper, The Ledger-Star, at the Norfolk Public Library today. Now I am more confused than ever. Is it possible that John King's email to me, quoted above, is inaccurate? 

I found an article dated Wednesday, May 28, 1969, "Zone Plan Ends Long Stalemate," by Lloyd Lewis. It explained that Chesapeake had finally enacted a "master zoning plan" after over six years of contention. But here's the part that got my attention, and I quote:

A startling feature of the new zoning law--one which is perhaps unique among municipalities--is that it allows farming in any zone of the city.

Farming  includes the keeping of livestock. Livestock includes hogs. And there are those who do not love a hog.

Thus the new law contained a built-in source of neighborhood squabbles.

The council, quick to note this, followed up its passage of the zoning plan with the adoption of a hog law designed to keep pigs in their place.

So now, after hours of effort, I am back to my original question: When did Chesapeake pass restrictions on chickens in residential areas, and what were the reasons for the restrictions? And if, in fact, this newspaper article is accurate, and if the Zoning Department therefore cannot answer our questions honestly and accurately, should we as a community accept unsupported government assertions that are sounding to our ears more and more like, "just because"?

**Update on 11/17/12: With the help of Council Member Debbie Ritter and City Clerk Delores Moore, I found the answers to the "when" and the "why." Read here for the details.

Virginia Beach Woman Faces Fines, Jail, Over Hens

On Tuesday, July 10, 2012, I had the chance to meet Andy Schneider, the "Chicken Whisperer." Andy hosts a nationally syndicated radio show about chickens. He is also a national spokesperson for the national backyard-chicken movement. He has been featured on CBS, CNN, and in The Economist. He's also the author, along with Brigid McCrea, of a book, The Chicken Whisperer's Guide to Keeping Chickens. The co-host of his radio show is Patricia Foreman, author of City Chicks, one of my favorite books on keeping hens.

As the founder of a local group called 4 Chesapeake Hens, I felt I had to meet Andy as soon as I learned that he was going make an appearance in nearby Virginia Beach, Virginia. Our group is trying to get the zoning laws changed in Chesapeake, Virginia, so that more city residents can keep laying hens on our property. Andy has a reputation for being extremely helpful to groups like ours.

His reputation is well deserved. Andy was down to earth, polite, thoughtful, a wealth of information,  and fun to have around. He was in town to support Tracy Gugal-Okroy, the self-proclaimed "Virginia Beach Chicken Outlaw." Tracy, a hair stylist, keeps between twenty and thirty hens on her 3/4 acre property in Virginia Beach. She claims her "girls" are clean, well housed, and very well kept. But her property is not zoned agricultural, and chickens are considered livestock in Virginia Beach, just as they are in most of Chesapeake. Tracy refuses to get rid of her backyard pets. She now faces a court appearance and possibly fines. She vows that she will not re-home her flock even if it means jail time. This is a real possibility for her if future court appearances go against her.

Tracy and Andy at City Hall

Andy had come all the way from Georgia to speak to the mayor and Virginia Beach City Council as an expert on backyard chickens, but it was not to be. There was a mix-up on the dates that the public is allowed to address the council, and the mayor would not make an exception to the rule.

It's a shame, because the council members of the City of Virginia Beach, just like those of Chesapeake, sorely need education about the potential benefits of backyard hens in our communities and how the benefits clearly outweigh any potential downside.

I did pick up some useful tips from Andy, enjoyed delightful conversation with fellow chicken enthusiasts at Croc's 19th St. Bistro, and came away with fresh appreciation for those who are willing to engage in civil disobedience when the law clearly tramples on our rights. While I have no personal desire to keep twenty-plus hens, until our communities come up with just and reasonable laws regarding the keeping of hens as pets that preserve our property rights, I see civil disobedience as possibly justified. And if Tracy has kept the hens as humanely as she claims, it is abhorrent that she could be facing jail time for her love of her birds.

Will justice prevail? Time will tell.