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City Council Members Discuss Urban Chicken Laws
A proposed change in Jacksonville’s backyard chicken laws will be discussed by two Jacksonville City Council members March 26. This is the meeting local hen enthusiasts have been asking for!!! Council members Doyle Carter and Don Redman will talk about the pros and cons of allowing homeowners to raise and keep a small number of pet hens for backyard egg production in residential RLD zoned areas of Jacksonville. The proposed City Ordinance is Section 656.401 (a) (3). This meeting will be held at City Hall, Suite 425, Conference Room
http://sustainablenorthflorida.org/jacksonville-green-event-calendar/chicken-laws-jacksonville-florida/
https://www.facebook.com/hensinjax?fref=ts
Although, I can't find it on today's agenda.
The meeting is at 2:30 pm in the Lynwood Roberts Room which is located at 117 West Duval Street 1st floor.
Quote from: Scott A Wilson on March 26, 2013, 08:33:38 AM
The meeting is at 2:30 pm in the Lynwood Roberts Room which is located at 117 West Duval Street 1st floor.
Will Don or you have the cost for the winning bid on the Jacob Jewelers clock? This should be a positive meeting. I'll FIND the time to try and make this positive compromise.
Let's support Hens in the 'Hood! Sarasota & St. Petersburg do along with several other cities in the state. Friends of ours there who are professors at New College helped push changes in the law through with the slogan, "If it crows, it goes!"
There are already a lot of hens in backyards that are not disturbing anyone and are producing eggs from kitchen scraps.
Biggest problems with hens in the backyard are racoons getting in and killing them.
Quote from: Noone on March 26, 2013, 09:05:49 AM
Quote from: Scott A Wilson on March 26, 2013, 08:33:38 AM
The meeting is at 2:30 pm in the Lynwood Roberts Room which is located at 117 West Duval Street 1st floor.
Will Don or you have the cost for the winning bid on the Jacob Jewelers clock? This should be a positive meeting. I'll FIND the time to try and make this positive compromise.
I don't have that info.
Excuses. But do appreciate the response back on this forum.
Quote from: Noone on March 26, 2013, 11:52:10 AM
Excuses. But do appreciate the response back on this forum.
Send me an email with your request and I will forward to Public Works for a response.
I didn't make it, but from what I've heard it was a very positive meeting today with visible support from council members.
It was a very positive meeting and very well attended. Kudos to CM Redman and Carter for setting it up and thanks to CM Yarborough, Lumb, Crescimbeni and Boyer for joining. CM Love was tied up but his his aide Kevin Kuzel was there.
Hensinjax founder and proponent Lauren Tradd was eloquent and informative as usual. There was no opposition.
From small towns to big cities across the nation, this is common legislation. It's a no brainier and I hope the years of work Lauren, Kevin and Amanda have done finally pays off in Jacksonville.
Quote from: Scott A Wilson on March 26, 2013, 01:18:00 PM
Quote from: Noone on March 26, 2013, 11:52:10 AM
Excuses. But do appreciate the response back on this forum.
Send me an email with your request and I will forward to Public Works for a response.
Scott, you and Don have ignored my emails and phone calls and please consider the request asked on this forum as an email response. We are just 21 days out from the unveiling and what is the status of this Public/Private/Partnership?
On a positive note the 3/26/13 noticed meeting in the Sunshine by Doyle Carter and Don Redman was standing room only with former Dist. 6 city councilwoman Sharon Copeland in attendance and giving the background when this issue was looked at back in 2007 on a less intense scope of legislative reform.
Mrs. Tradd's presentation was excellent. Parents bringing their Children to this standing room only meeting had me thinking that at some point everyone was going to jump in and start singing "Old McDonald had a farm."
Councilman Lumb had asked about the land use categories and those numbers weren't quite available. But the compromise legislation that would make this a legal operation were very well explained and detailed.
The addition of Councilmembers Crescimbeni, Boyer, and Yarborough was nice and reminded everyone that their presence and taking the time to be there was also a show that the vice president position of the upcoming city council term is drawing close and that politics can be added to being on the winning side of this issue. Not one person spoke in opposition to the legislation when asked by councilman Redman.
Just a footnote, what is being discussed is for RLD zoning. If you are in Springfield, Riverside, Avondale, San Marco, this won't include you (in most cases). If you are in one of these areas and want RMD zoning included I suggest that you write to council and let them know.
AVS, huh? I thought this was all about the Hens in Jax initiative. Does RMD zoning include the limited hens that we wanted for pet chickens in the hood, and it's not being discussed? What's being discussed so we know how to ask the question? Don't want to let this get away because we didn't understand the acronyms! :-)
What HensinJax is trying to get passed is for Residential Low Density Zoning (RLD), which is a less dense zoning category. Most properties in Springfield, Riverside, Avondale, San Marco, etc are Residential Medium Density (RMD). Basically large lot sizes decrease the close to the core you get; next in would be High Density, such as downtown.
I am all for RLD having the ability to have hens too but most of the folks I have spoken to live in RMD areas of Jax
The City Councilors said at the meeting that they wanted more information and they want the information packets delivered to the rest of the council that did not attend the meeting. Then they are going to call another meeting. Teh best way to make it happen is for people to let the councilors know that they want it, in medium and low density residential zoning areas.
I saw this on the news the other night, Redman said that it was a progressive idea. I think it's the opposite of progressive; people have been raising their own livestock for food and colthing for thousands of years. I'm all for it, it should be legal everywhere.
I just think it's funny what council thinks is progressive. I guess if it involves farming or anything down-home country, it's ok.
You can change the code but the HOAs will remain in force.
Small is the watch word here. A few chickens, a few rabbits are OK it is just when people get carried away and have a LOT of any of those that they become a problem.
Of course a few hogs and some yard birds will give me thoughts of back home on the farm. You really can't get the full effect until you've plucked a few hens or cut a few shoats for the "oysters".
Regardless of the current laws on the books, scores of people in the city are already keeping chickens and more are looking to do so. As others have said, what harm is there in keeping a few birds either as pets or as a food source?
The one thing I don't get is why so many get cold feet about roosters. I know several of my neighbors have them because I hear them when I'm getting ready for work in the morning. If given the choice between being next to a house that has a rooster and one that has a dog that barks at anything moving I'll take the rooster.
Many roosters do not crow only at daybreak. That only happens in the cartoons.
I know that. I was just saying between a dog that barks constantly and a rooster I'll take the rooster.
Sorry, an aroused rooster at 2AM is just as annoying as a dog barking at the same time.
Sarasota got their laws changed to allow urban "Hens in the 'Hood" with the motto, "If if crows, it goes!" That overcomes a lot of concerns even if they are exaggerated.