Sarasota CLUCK back in the News

It's been quite awhile, but it was worth waiting for the most recent Sarasota Herald-Tribune article dealing with backyard chickens and Sarasota CLUCK, which occupies most of the front page of the local section. The February 25th 2014 article titled Chickens pass their test by Ian Cummings features longtime CLUCK supporter Fran Tiner and, indirectly, Betsy, Pippy, Rose, and Roz, Fran's four hens.

CLUCK Milestone: City Chickens Pass Three Year Probationary Period

Three years ago, thirty Sarasotans attempted to convince four Sarasota City Commissioners that, despite the dire warnings of ten other Sarasotans, a negative vote from the Planning Commission, and a stalemated position from the important local neighborhood congress, CCNA, the sky would not fall if they allowed City residents with single family homes to have as many as four hens in their backyards. The Board discussion was tense until Fredd Atkins cut through the fog and made it clear that three votes were there, enabling Dick Clapp to make it a four-zero vote. 

THE SKY DID NOT FALL.

Three years and one month later, on February 18th, 2014 another commission, based on the recommendation of staff, voted unanimously to make permanent their three year experiment. 

No one was there to speak against making the ordinance permanent, in part because chicken complaint calls since passage have averaged just one-third of one percent of all code complaint calls.

In addition to the support of staff and the commission, special thanks are due longtime supporters Kafi Benz, Megan Jourdan, and Virginia Hoffman for their testimony. 

Virginia Hoffman, Ann McVoy, Fran Tiner, Arlene  Boyle, Jono Miller, Laney Poire
Missing from photo: Megan Jourdan, Betsy Roberts, Jodi John, Ray Sullivan,
Carolyn Loesch, Amy Boyd, and  April.

Now a new push is needed to bring the benefits of backyard hens to traditional neighborhoods in the Unincorporated portions of Sarasota County.

In the past three years, backyard hens have been allowed in Duval County (Jacksonville), Manatee County, Hernando County, and Pinellas County. Their experience, combined with the realities in the City of Sarasota and Venice, argue that Sarasota County now needs to bring county rules into alignment with the City. 

Despite no Roosters, CLUCK crows a little

Sometime between the first and second of February, 2104, our Sarasota CLUCK blog recorded its one hundred thousandth pageview, an average of about 59 pageviews a day since the first posting back on June 11th 2009. And with over 250 different blog postings, there is quite a selection of information. 

This milestone is a reflection of the role CLUCK has played, not just in Sarasota, but actually worldwide. Over 2,000 pageviews for both the United Kingdom and over 1,000 pageviews each for Germany, Australia, Canada, France and the Ukraine. 

Our listing of funky facts has been viewed 5,588 times and our advice about coop design in Southwest Florida has been viewed nearly 2,900 times. Perhaps more importantly, our annotated version of the City of Sarasota's chicken ordinance has been viewed over 2,800 times.

CLUCK News: Consumer Reports Dings Grocery Chicken

In a seven-page story that filled the cover of the February 2014 Consumer Reports, the magazine tested more than 300 raw chicken breasts and concluded "97% harbored bacteria that could make you sick".

CLUCK "Re-Coops" - Two Meetings in February

Sarasota CLUCK is back in gear with two important events in February. (And with 99,595 pageviews on January 26th, we're about to celebrate 100,000 pageviews!)

First, on Saturday February 8th, another Chickens 101 Workshop is being offered by our local Sarasota Extension Office. (See poster below for details). If you've been curious about chickens and or have some and need more information, don't miss this half-day workshop. 

Then, ten days later, on Tuesday February 18th at 5:00 p.m. we're holding a CLUCK meeting in downtown Sarasota for the purpose of "re-cooping". Yes, we're restarting the campaign to legalize backyard hens in suburban areas of unincorporated Sarasota County. We've been biding our time, and believe this is a great time to restart the effort. The location is still being determined. Leave a comment and we'll be sure to let you know where we're meeting. 

Jacksonville Planning Staff: Anti-Chicken Speculation Posing as Objective Analysis?

Elected officials rely on their planning staffs for objective consideration of proposed changes to ordinances and codes. Staff are expected to use the best available data and analysis when they issue reports. That's not to say their professional experience should not be brought to bear, but it should be substantiated, if not because elected leaders may be linking their reputation to their reliance on staff analysis, then because government decisions sometimes need to withstand legal challenge.

The City of Jacksonville, Florida has been considering relaxing the rules on chicken keeping. Jacksonville is unique because the City boundary is synonymous with the (Duval) county boundary. Staff was asked to weigh in on the proposed changes, and has done so. [Planning Staff Report 2013-0415].

The question is: does their analysis reflect the best available professional information, or is it really a collection of unsubstantiated and unreferenced allegations that cannot stand up to scrutiny?

Probably the most current and authoritative review of current "backyard chicken" laws is Jaime Bovier's Illegal Fowl: A Survey of Municipal Laws Relating to Backyard Poultry and a Model Ordinance for Regulating City Chickens, which was published by Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, DC. This 33 page report was not produced by a chicken advocacy group, but rather a group that "fosters, innovative, just and practical law and policy solutions to enable leaders across borders and sectors to make environmental, economic, and social progress."

So let's compare just three examples of Jacksonville Planning Staff (JPS) statements with findings of the ELI report:

NOISE

JPS 
While four hens may not sound like much, the peace and tranquility of a single family neighborhood could very well be altered when multiple neighbors introduce chickens. As the hens are treated as accessory uses (due to being placed under 656.403), the setback standards are merely five feet from the nearest side and rear property line. It may well be inappropriate to allow hens so close to a neighboring yard and dwelling.

 ELI 

The most frequently expressed concern is that hens will be noisy. This may come from associating roosters with hens. Roosters are noisy.81 Hens are not particularly noisy. While they will cluck, the clucking is neither loud nor frequent.82 The clucking of hens is commonly compared to human conversation—both register around 65 decibels.83 By contrast, the barking of a single dog can reach levels well over 100 decibels.84

It should also be noted that chickens have a homing instinct to roost and sleep at night. A hen will return to her coop at night and generally fall asleep before or at sundown.85 Thus, there should be little concern with clucking hens disturbing a neighborhood at night.

ODOR

JPS

There are thousands of single-family dwellings, both new and old, with minimal yard space. This could result in the concentration of chicken droppings, possibly leading to odor and health issues. There are no specific rules or regulations regarding the disposal or management of the droppings. Therefore, neighbors would have to rely on Animal Care and Control to enforce Section 462.301(c) . . .

ELI

Many people are concerned that chicken droppings will cause odors that reach neighbors and perhaps even affect the neighborhood. These concerns may stem from publicized reports of odors from large poultry operations.86 While it is no doubt true that the odors coming from these intensive commercial-scale chicken farms is overwhelming and harmful,87 these operations often have hundreds of thousands of chickens in very small spaces.88

Most of the odor that people may associate with poultry is actually ammonia. Ammonia, however, is a product of a poorly ventilated and moist coop.89 Coop designs for backyard hens should take this into account and allow for proper ventilation. And, if coops are regularly cleaned, there should be little to no odor associated with the hens.90

PROPERTY VALUES

JPS

One of the main purposes of the Zoning Code is to provide property owners with a reasonable expectation of how neighboring properties can be developed. A current expectation is that farm animals are not allowed in residential developments. The introduction of hens could have an impact upon the desirability of living in certain neighborhoods, thereby impacting property values. 

ELI

Another common concern is that keeping backyard chick- ens will reduce surrounding property values.108 Several studies, however, have found that agricultural uses within the city actually increase property values.109 Community gardens increase neighboring property values by as much as 9.4% when the garden is first implemented.110 The property value continues to increase as the gardens become more integrated into the neighborhood.111 The poorest neighbor- hoods, moreover, showed the greatest increase in property values.112 Studies have also found that rent increased and the rates of home ownership increased in areas surrounding a newly opened community garden.113

Studies concerning pets, moreover, find that apartment owners can charge higher rent for concessions such as allowing pets.114 Thus, accommodating pets has been shown to raise property values.

As of yet, no studies have been done on how backyard chickens in particular affect property values, but given that communities express little concern that other pets, such as dogs or cats, reduce property values, and given research showing that pets and urban agricultural practices can increase them, there is little reason to believe that allowing backyard chickens will negatively affect them.115

   
The two reports go on in similar veins. The ELI concludes with a model ordinance based on analysis of 100 cities that allow chickens, while the Jacksonville Planning Staff's negative, unbalanced assessment goes on conclude that the proposed changes would be contrary to the comprehensive plan. For instance, there doesn't seem to be much mention of the aspect of Objective 2.2 that calls for "re-emergence of diverse urban neighborhoods."

Bear in mind the Jacksonville Planning Staff report appears to have no citations, no references, and no supporting materials, while the ELI report has 463 citations. And other municipal planners have reached conclusions that differ significantly from Jacksonville. Check out the findings prepared by Springfield Missouri's planner. And if backyard hens were as debilitating and threatening to neighborhoods as the Jacksonville Planning Staff would have you believe: 

• What does that say about Manatee, Hernando, Pinellas, and Orange counties, (not to mention the cities of Tampa and Sarasota) all of which approved backyard hens in the last three years??

• And why, in 2010, would Seattle have voted to INCREASE the number of chickens people could have in the city from three to eight?

• And if Jacksonville's lots are too small, how do we explain the fact that Jacksonville is one of only six of the 25 largest US cities to prohibit backyard hens? The other 19, including New York and San Francisco, allow chickens. 



So what do you think? Does the Jacksonville Planning document reflect the best available data and analysis? Or is it burdened with unsubstantiated speculation that should not be used to evaluate the proposed ordinance?

____________________

Bouvier, Jaime M., Illegal Fowl: A Survey of Municipal Laws Relating to Backyard Poultry and a Model Ordinance for Regulating City Chickens (July 27, 2012). 42 Environmental Law Reporter 10888 (Sept. 2012). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2119494

"A survey of municipal ordinances in the top 100 most populous cities in the United States that concern keeping and raising chickens offers lessons that may be applied to designing a model ordinance. This survey reveals that chickens are, perhaps surprisingly, legal in the vast majority of large cities. The survey also identifies regulatory norms and some effective and less effective ways to regulate the keeping of chickens. A proposed model ordinance, based on the background information and survey results, could be adopted by a city or easily modified to fit a city’s unique needs."