Changes proposed for Urban Chicken rules

UPDATE: The Urban Chicken Program has been approved and adopted into the Land Development Code. 

The current Urban Chicken Pilot Program was scheduled to end on June 15, 2016. It is now expected to be adopted in the Land Development Code, if approved by the Municipal Planning Board on June 21, 2016.

The amendment to the code asks that coop accessory structure regulations for backyard chickens allow up to 100 single-family households to have up to four hens.

Under the Pilot Program, which begain in 2012, residents in Districts 3, 4, and 5 were allowed to keep up to three hens in their backyard. The program generally had a ceiling of 75 households that were allowed to participate, with 61 having been approved at this time, which means the limit of 75 total participating households was never reached. We wrote more about that HERE, when the program was extended in June, 2015.

In order to participate in the City’s pilot program, residents had to get an approval letter from a planning official after they had successfully completed a chicken care class, submitted a site plan and provided plans for the location/design of a coop structure.

The City claims that there have been no complaints filed about the program.

Below is a map of the current Urban Chicken Pilot Program participants.