The Homer Town Board is set to hold a public hearing at its July 7 meeting for a proposed local law, in regards to the ownership of chickens and other fowl in residential zones.
Under specific conditions, the law would allow landowners in residential zones to have a variety of chickens and other fowl, without going through the town’s planning board to request a special permit.
“It’s kind of a waste (to go through the planning board),” town supervisor Fred Forbes said, adding discussion for a proposed local law was first brought up three years ago. “We’re hoping this will reduce about 90% of the regulations regarding chickens.”
Forbes noted the law only pertains to the handful of residential districts in the town, adding agricultural/non-residential districts “are not affected.”
According to the dialogue of the proposed local law, the raising of “poultry, including chickens, ducks and other fowl in the residential district does not require any permits or approvals” as long as the following conditions are met:
- The poultry and eggs are for the personal use or consumption of the residents of that property only
- No roosters unless the roosters are kept at least 250 feet from any neighboring residence
- Keeping roosters less than 250 feet from neighboring residents requires an area variance obtained from the town’s Zoning Board of Appeals
- The poultry is not allowed to roam free and is confined by an agricultural-type fence
- Any accessory buildings containing poultry are kept at least 15 feet from any property line where such property is used for residential purposes
- The New York State Health Department, and Agriculture and Market requirements are met, including proper removal of litter and carcasses.
“I think (this proposal) takes care of everybody’s concern in the residential areas,” said town board member Kevin Williams, who compiled a majority of the proposal. “It still allows people with acreage to do what they need to do.”
The town’s planning board put together a proposal at first. However, Forbes and Williams were not satisfied by the language of the draft. The planning board wanted to recommend a limit on chickens, which included no roosters.
Forbes said there is no need for a limit on chickens, but the goal of a proposed local law is to “try to contain the number of chickens to the needs of a household.” Forbes also noted that NYS “won’t let you purchase chickens unless you buy six of them.”
“It’d be a red flag to put a limit on the amount of chickens per household and then have the code officer count them,” he said.
Williams went out to the residential districts, conducted surveys and “canvassed a bunch of residents in those territories.”
The biggest concern of the town residents were roosters, Williams said.
“Neighbors deal with all sorts of noises and smells, but some people just don’t like roosters,” Forbes said.
The issue with roosters led to Forbes and Williams compromising on a feet requirement instead of an acreage requirement.
“Some residents have a large (amount of) acreage that happens to be in the residential district, but then we realized most of those residents only need a certain amount of feet for the chickens, including roosters,” Forbes said.
Once the hearing comes to a close at the July 7 meeting, Forbes is hopeful the board can vote on the law the same night. But, it depends on the amount of residents “who wish to speak at the hearing,” he added.
“If we have 50 people who say we don’t want roosters in our residential areas, we may have to go to Plan B and re-do (the proposal),” Forbes said.
He added, “If we re-do it we’ll have another public hearing.”
