BARRHEAD - Town of Barrhead councillors opted to fly the coop and avoid making a decision on an urban chicken bylaw – at least for now.
On Jan. 9, councillors voted 5-1 to accept a survey on whether town residents were interested in a potential bylaw allowing people to keep urban or backyard chickens for information.
Coun. Rod Klumph was opposed, stating while he agreed that council should not go forward with such a bylaw, he wanted administration to bring back a report on how other communities have fared that have such a bylaw. Mayor Dave McKenzie was absent.
At their Sept. 12 meeting, councillors instructed administration to poll residents on their interest about whether they want to or should be able to keep chickens on their property.
The topic came from the Municipal Planning Commission due to discussions they are having as they review the town's land-use bylaw.
CAO Edward LeBlanc said they received over 500 responses, but only 451 were from town residents.
The survey, which was primarily conducted online, with hard copies available through the municipal office, asked five questions: Whether they were interested in keeping chickens; if so, would they be willing to attend a workshop on their care; whether the town should restrict the location of backyard chicken coops to certain areas of the municipality; should the chickens need to be licensed like dogs and cats; and what information would be necessary for a bylaw or guidelines to allow chickens.
Of the eligible responses, 250, or 55.5 per cent, responded they were interested in keeping chickens, with the number of chickens ranging from one to six; the same percentage said they wouldn't be willing to attend a workshop on raising chickens; about 82 per cent of respondents said there should be no restrictions on the location of chicken coops; and 69 per cent said chickens shouldn't need to be licensed and as for what regulations required in a proposed urban chicken bylaw, responses varied from getting neighbours' permission to rules on the chicken enclosures and the need for enforcement.
LeBlanc noted that the Town of Morinville and the Town of Westlock allow residents to have chickens, saying Mornville's is more comprehensive of the two bylaws.
He added if it was council's will to allow chickens, he recommended mirroring Morinville's approach.
"But the reality is we don't have an application or request so that I wouldn't characterize it as a burning issue," LeBlanc said, adding his recommendation was to accept the survey results as information.
Coun. Rod Klumph said he supported allowing residents to have chickens and agreed Morinville had the right approach, but he believed the number of wanting them would be minimal.
"I don't think it will be a major burden on the town or our bylaw officer. I suspect only one or two will get chickens because it is a lot of work," he said.
Coun. Dausen Kluin asked if the town's community peace officer would need additional training and how often they would have to inspect a chicken coop.
Legislative service and development director Cheryl Callihoo said in addition to the community police officer, the town would need to enlist the services of a veterinarian.
"Our bylaw officer could only check on things like odour and location of a chicken coop, but we still would need a vet involved to ensure the chickens were well because of avian flu," she said.
Coun. Don Smith was wary of enacting an urban chicken bylaw, suggesting they could potentially open a can of worms if the council did.
"I fear that we would have a bigger issue for the relatively few residents who choose to have chickens," he said.
Coun. Dave Sawatzky agreed, saying drafting such a bylaw would take administrative resources for less than a handful of people, if any.
"I would recommend putting this on the back burner and leaving it," he said. "If we go forward, we would be spending a lot of resources on something that isn't a priority for most of our 4,800 residents. If we get a large swell of interest, we can always revisit it."
Klumph agreed to put the bylaw to the side until there was more of a demand but wanted administration to reach out to municipalities with urban chicken bylaws.
"I would like to know what the experiences of other municipalities are, for if and when we ever decide to go forward," he said.
