EASTHAMPTON — A public hearing on proposed updates to the city’s backyard chicken zoning ordinance will be held on Tuesday. The recommendations are aimed at alleviating a lengthy and expensive process for keeping the egg-laying birds.
Under the current rules, properties under 15,000 square feet must apply for a special permit for backyard chickens, a costly process that can take up to four months.
The costs typically exceed $500 and include applications with the Planning Board, Zoning Board of Appeals, as well as legally required newspaper advertisements and other filing fees. The approval process also requires the applicant to notify adjacent properties’ owners.
The new proposal will go before a City Council subcommittee Tuesday and would allow properties with one or two housing units to have chickens with only a simple permit from the building inspector.
Properties with three or more housing units, such as apartment complexes, would need to get permission from the landlord and would still need a special permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals.
People with smaller yards would be allowed to keep up to six hens (no roosters), which would need to be kept 50 feet away from the street and neighboring dwellings. The ordinance also contains rules about maintaining well-drained, clean coops with droppings collected at least every week to be kept in a secured container until disposed of properly, off the property.
Those with yards of more than one acre would be allowed to have 25 hens that must be kept 75 feet from the street and 50 feet from adjacent dwellings.
All applicants must submit site drawings and allow the city’s animal inspector on the property, as stipulated by state law, according to the proposal. The ordinance would not affect birds kept on actual farms.
The public hearing will be held at the Municipal Building at 50 Payson Ave. All proposed zoning ordinances can be found on the city’s website at easthampton.org.
M.J. Tidwell can be reached at mjtidwell@gazettenet.com.