AGENDA #5e
MEMORANDUM
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TO: |
Roger L. Stancil, Town Manager |
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FROM: |
J.B. Culpepper, Planning Director |
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Gene Poveromo, Development Coordinator |
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SUBJECT: |
Response to Petition Regarding Chickens in Residential Zoning Districts |
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DATE: |
September 24, 2007 |
PURPOSE
The purpose of this memorandum is to respond to a petition regarding a request to allow residents to keep chickens for personal use in residential zoning districts.
BACKGROUND
On June 11, 2007, the Council received a petition from Celeste Mayer to amend the Land Use Management Ordinance to permit chickens in residential neighborhoods. Ms. Mayer’s property is located in the North Forest Hills at 110 Cynthia Drive. The property is located in the Residential-1 (R-1) zoning district. Keeping chicken in the Residential-1 zoning district is not permitted by the Land Use Management Ordinance.
CURRENT REGULATIONS
Below is a brief description from the Town Code, including the Land Use Management Ordinance, related to keeping chickens within the Town’s planning jurisdiction:
Chapel Hill Town Code: Section 4-10 of the Town Code (Keeping certain animals in town) states that chickens, used for other than commercial purposes within the Town limits, are permitted under the following conditions:
The Land Use Management Ordinance: The Land Use Management Ordinance permits keeping poultry as “Agriculture, Livestock” in the following Town residential zoning districts: Rural Transition District (RT) and as an accessory use in Residential-Low Density 5 (R-LD5) zoning district. Other residential zoning districts prohibit the keeping of chickens for commercial or personal use.
Unfortunately, we have learned that these provisions are not cross-referenced.
DISCUSSION
Today’s regulations allow the keeping of chickens outside of the Town limits, in the Rural Transition and Residential-Low Density 5 zoning districts. The larger lots, rural character and lower residential densities typically found in these zoning districts provide space for chickens to be housed and kept separate from adjacent properties.
We are concerned that keeping chickens in the higher density residential neighborhoods within Town limits may not be an appropriate land use activity. This activity is often not compatible with nor complementary to in-town residential land uses. We have observed that incidents involving family pets more likely to occur in these areas.
Some communities allowing chickens in residential neighborhoods rely on an animal control officer to oversee the permitting and enforcement of these regulations. In one community, the permitting process also involves a public hearing. We anticipate that an amendment to the Town’s ordinances permitting chicken in more residential zoning districts would result in increased land use conflicts between neighbors, involving greater demands on staff resources.
RECOMMENDATION
We recommend no change to the current regulations regarding the keeping of chickens. However, we do recommend the addition of cross-references between the Town Code and the Land Use Management Ordinance. We can add cross-references without a Council action.
If the Council is interested in amending the Town Code and the Land Use Management Ordinance to permit the keeping of chickens in more areas of Town, we recommend that the Council direct the Manager to add this request to the working list of Land Use Management Ordinance Text Amendments currently under consideration (Attachment 3).
ATTACHMENTS