City Council Work Session and the Hen Ordinance

I started a group, 4 Chesapeake Hens, that successfully lobbied City Council to allow up to six hens on all single-family residential lots with certain restrictions. But Council passed the ordinance with a sunset clause. This means that Council must vote by December 20, 2013, to continue the law, or our rights to keep the hens will lapse.

Tonight Chesapeake City Council had a work session, and part of that work session pertained to the hen ordinance. Video of the work session is available online, and the discussion of hens starts at about 57 minutes into the meeting.To summarize:

John King, the Zoning Administrator, said that during the past year his office has received 19 general calls in opposition to the ordinance, and 18 "service requests" or complaints about chickens at a particular address. Complaints regarded an excess of chickens over the limit of six birds, roosters, noise, and loose chickens. He also mentioned that 34 chickens have been taken in by Animal Control in the 1-year period. He expressed concerns that the city had no means of tracking the number of residents that are keeping chickens, and he feared that over time the number of residents keeping chickens, and thus the number of complaints, will increase. He mentioned that investigating these calls is "time-consuming" for his department.

He referenced a recent memo from his department that outlines three potential courses of action that City Council could take on November 26, when the hen ordinance is on the City Council agenda. The City could:
1. Vote to continue the ordinance with its current wording,
2. Vote to extend the time for study and possible revision of the ordinance, or
3. Let the ordinance lapse, so that chickens would once again be illegal in most residential areas. He mentioned that those who already have chickens would then be able to continue to keep them on their property as a legal, non-conforming use.

Councilman Robert Ike, the City Council member who proposed the hen ordinance and secured the votes to pass it last November, asked questions about the 34 chickens that were picked up by Animal Control. It turns out that 27 of those chickens came from one address and were part of an ongoing problem from before the time when the hen ordinance was enacted.

Councilman Lonnie Craig asked for numbers of complaints and problems this year compared to the previous year. He did not get this data, but he did get an admission that the complaints have been "time-consuming but fairly low," in response. Craig concluded that it seems there have been "no major outbreak of chicken problems or chicken terrorism" in Chesapeake over the last year, a comment that drew chuckles from the audience.

Council member Suzy Kelly asked if there had been any complaints about the coops themselves or about the confinement of the chickens. The answer was that there have been no complaints about the coops other than one complaint about its location. An investigation showed that this coop was legal and the requisite distance from the property line.

Councilman Rick West raised questions about a state ordinance that mandates the killing of dogs that have attacked chickens. West explained that a conversation with a Council Member of a nearby community raised this concern in conversation. Jan L. Proctor, the City Attorney, explained that there is a state ordinance that mandates that an Animal Control Officer who witnesses a dog in the act of killing a chicken has a "duty" to kill the dog, and that other bystanders have a right (but not an obligation) to do so.There are also state ordinances, she said, regarding the number of times a dog attacks a chicken before it is deemed a confirmed poultry-killer and subject to being put down. West said that this consideration is important to him.

This concern has been addressed in a previous blog post, if readers wish to see our group's position on this issue. Our group more recently sent a detailed email addressing this issue as well.

Council Member Debbie Ritter asked if any of the City Departments had suggestions for the refinement of the ordinance, but got a negative response. She was told that people either are OK with having chickens next to them, or they are not, and changes in the regulation of the chickens are unlikely to change that. Most of the chicken-owners so far have been good neighbors and have caused no problems. She was told that the problem is the possibility of this changing over time and with enforcement, since the City has limited access to people's backyards. Ritter also asked if the animal shelter must take in fowl under state law. She was told the shelter must, since chickens are domestic animals, but she asked that this be checked on. She also had questions about the clarity of the ordinance on the issue of containment, and that a judge had raised questions about the clarity of the ordinance in regard to the chickens' housing. Ritter also said that at the meeting on the 26th she expected speakers from the Animal Services Board and the Agriculture Commission to address Council.

My own conclusion from all this is that we must not be complacent about the hen ordinance. The vote on the 26th is important. There are those within the City government and on City Council who are against the ordinance,  and there will probably be some speakers against the ordinance. We need to get our ducks (hens?) in a row and line up some positive speakers on various topics for the 26th. We also need to contact our Council Members, thank them for the opportunity to have hens, and keep reminding them in positive ways that this issue is important to us. We need to get as many supporters as we can at the City Council meeting on November 26, dressed in green, to support our speakers and our cause.

The meeting will start on Tuesday, November 26, at 6:30 PM in the Council Chambers at Chesapeake City Hall at 306 Cedar Rd. Those who wish to speak must sign up before the meeting begins. There are speaker cards that can be filled out at City Hall before 6:30, or speakers can call to register by calling the City Clerk's office at 382-6151 during office hours of 8 AM through 5 PM weekdays.

 Update: On November 26, 2013, Chesapeake City Council voted to make the "hen ordinance" permanent. The meeting may be viewed online:  fast forward to 1:19 to see some great pro-chicken speeches and the City Council's reaction.

Update: In February of 2014 the Virginia legislature modified the law to give Animal Control Officers the option to seize a dog caught preying on poultry.

Let's Thank City Council This Thanksgiving!

4 Chesapeake Hens is launching a thank-you note campaign! As Thanksgiving approaches, let's write our City Council members short, heartfelt notes in gratitude for our freedom to have laying hens in our residential backyards. Personalized, handwritten notes are OK and even encouraged. Keep messages short but positive.

Printed note cards can be purchased inexpensively at discount stores or dollar stores. Send them individually to the Council members at their home addresses as printed on the City's website. Put cute pictures of your hens, your coop, your garden that is thriving with your chickens' help, your kids enjoying your chickens, etc., in the notes. Even better, enlist the family's help, and get the kids to write some of the notes, too. Be sure to put your return address on the note cards so Council can contact you if they have questions or want to follow up. I used the same return address stickers I put on the envelopes inside the note cards to save space, and then I wrote my phone number at the bottom of the sticker.

Act now! Remember, the "hen ordinance" will be on the City Council agenda on Tuesday, November 26. There is a sunset clause on the original ordinance, so Council must vote to keep the law so we can continue to keep our hens legally. Mark your calendars and plan to be there to support the cause. Numbers and visibility make a difference. The meeting starts at 6:30, but you will need to sign up in advance of the meeting if you plan to speak.

In case you're curious, I already wrote my notes to Council. They are ready to go in the mail tomorrow, along with pictures of my favorite pullet, Blue the Blue-Laced Red Wyandotte. It is a joy to be part of a movement that is preserving beautiful heritage breeds like hers.

Blue the Blue-Laced Red Wyandotte LOVES her home and wants to keep it!

Update: On November 26, 2013, Chesapeake City Council voted to make the "hen ordinance" permanent. The meeting may be viewed online:  fast forward to 1:19 to see some great pro-chicken speeches and the City Council's reaction.

4 Chesapeake Hens Friends and Neighbors Campaign

As regular readers know, I belong to a grass-roots movement that worked to get Chesapeake, Virginia, to allow laying hens on all single-family residential lots. City Council voted a 1-year sunset clause on the law, which  means that our right to keep up to six laying hens in our backyards, with certain restrictions, will disappear next year unless City Council votes by December 20 to keep the law . Our group is waiting to hear from Robert Ike, the City Councilman who is most in our corner, about the date when this vote will take place.

In the meantime we are asking Chesapeake's legal, residential chicken-keepers to collect letters from local friends and neighbors in support of making the "hen law" permanent. Letters should focus on the fact that the hens are having a positive impact in the neighborhood. And they should explain how or why this is so. To have any impact on Council, the letters must be signed and dated and include contact information in the letterhead. At a minimum, the letters should contain the Chesapeake address where the neighbor lives, but email and phone numbers are welcome, too, in case Council members want to follow up with questions.  Supportive letters from Chesapeake businesses, churches, civic leagues, neighborhood watches, or other groups are also welcome.

Residential hen-keepers: we need you to ask for and collect these letters  of support and to deliver them to either Wendy Camacho or Mary Lou Burke by the Friday before Thanksgiving, Friday, November 22, 2013. We will copy them, collate them, and make sure they are delivered to City Council sometime before the actual vote. Let's be like the "Little Red Hen" in the famous children's story, and all work together to make this fantastic new law a permanent one!

Mail letters to:
     Mary Lou Burke
     945 Hollywood Dr
     Chesapeake, VA 23320

 If you have questions, post them under "comments" here or, even better, post them on our Facebook fan page, 4 Chesapeake Hens.

And thanks!

Update on 11/4: hens are on the agenda for November 26, 2013. Hopefully we'll get the vote we need then.

 Update: On November 26, 2013, Chesapeake City Council voted to make the "hen ordinance" permanent. The meeting may be viewed online:  fast forward to 1:19 to see some great pro-chicken speeches and the City Council's reaction.