At their previous meeting, council had charged administration with contacting other municipalities to get feedback on hen projects and 11 towns replied to the questions. Erika Grove, the Athabasca resident who originally approached council with the idea for the project had also submitted more articles to council in favour of the hens.
CAO Rachel Ramey presented the findings to council with five of the 11 towns having a hen program and they all reported minimal or no complaints from neighbours. Three communities said the program was brought to their councils who rejected the idea, and one community informed the town they had pending request in front of their council. The two remaining communities had never been approached about raising backyard fowl..
“(Staff) did survey some other municipalities and got some feedback from them,” Ramey said. “I don’t think they really said there was a lot of complaints or a lot of extra work for the bylaw officer. So, I’ve talked to (bylaw officer Brian Bandura) and if that’s his job, that’s his job.”
Coun. Ida Edwards came out in support of the program as long it was only in backyards that had a back alley, or in the case of the Groves was on the edge of town.
“I've done some informal polling of the public and one of the things that came up is some of our subdivisions have a fence between the two backyards and people who live in those areas, in particular Cornwall, would have current concerns with a chicken pen on their fence line,” said Edwards.
Mayor Colleen Powell did note that the regulations limit where a coop can be placed; one metre from a property line and three metres from any windows or doors of a dwelling.
Coun. John Traynor has been against the idea from the start with concerns over animal cruelty, disease, cleanliness and predators and spoke against the project several times during the discussion.
“I just think that we're opening Pandora's box of the issues from disease to predators to bugging the neighbors. I just think we're going down the wrong road with this. I'm opposed to it from the get-go and I think most of my neighbors would agree with me and I'm going to go with the motion to not allow the hens,” Traynor said.
“If they want to raise hens and chickens then about two miles out of town they can have as much farmland and peace and quiet to raise their chickens as range chickens, not cooped up in a five-by-five hen house, especially when they're clucking all day long and all night long and I don't think people will like that. So that's my position.”
Coun. Dave Pacholok passed on a suggestion that it be run like the community garden, with a central place for chicken owners to keep their coops in an area the chickens wouldn’t bother other residents.
“There was a suggestion made by one of the citizens to me that would it be wise to have it something like the community gardens where you had a specific spot – whether it be town land or something like that – where the chickens would actually be and they would all be fenced in and then would only be in a spot that wouldn't be negative to any of the residences close by,” Pacholok said.
Council did pass a motion with only Traynor in opposition for Ramey to draft a bylaw for their consideration.
“If you're thinking of saving money, you're not saving money at all,” he continued. “I don't understand why anyone would want that. Go down to the store and buy a carton for $2.50 and you're good.”
Heather Stocking, TownandCountryToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @HLSox
