City staff requested and were approved for an extension of the two-year Urban Chicken Pilot Program for another year. To expire on June 15, 2016.
Residents in Districts 3, 4, and 5 were allowed to keep up to three hens in their backyard. The program has had 75 households apply to participate, with 53 having been approved. The limit of 75 total participating households was never reached.
District participant breakdowns included:
3- Stuart: 26 participants
4- Sheehan: 26 participants
5- Hill: 0 participants
6-Ings: 1 participant
Approved participants must take a class to learn to properly care for urban chickens.
During the program, the City only encountered one chicken keeper who was out-of-compliance by keeping a rooster, despite not being a program participant. The rooster was “dispatched.” There has been only one complaint about the program, and that was from a county resident near District 2, which is not a participant.
During the next year, staff will be meeting with City commissioners and administration to discuss whether codifying the program should be advanced.
The article failed to explain the point of keeping a chicken in your backyard?
Thanks!
haha we are too, but those numbers were taken from a City document. It looks like 3,4, and 5 are the official participating districts but we’re assuming that the one in 6 that they cite is an exception. We’ll look into it!
Do you know if District 6 currently participates in this? You mentioned 3, 4 and 5 at the top of the article, with 1 participant in district 6 further down… confused 🙂