[Vision2020] are you interested in having backyard chickens?

Wed Sep 30 11:19:50 PDT 2009

Thanks so much, Kit, for reciting from Moscow's animal control
rules.

Last night I tried finding City Ordinances for the regulation of
fowl and livestock, but couldn't find any.

I just didn't know where to look, I guess.

But a long time ago, when I was on P&Z, and then on the City
Council, I think it was listed right in the permitted uses for
each [then] RS [sic] single-family residential zone.  It was
a small number of fowl.  Other animals were listed as
strictly prohibited, as for example, pigs.

I gather that the "rules" have been re-codified, or re-written,
whatever?

Anyway, if others are raising chickens in "R" zones, apparently
they are violating "the law", according to what you recited!

Last year I was visiting a family member in a very old residential
district of Portland, on 12th, just a block south of Burnside, on
the east side of the river.  I was astonished at the raising of
chickens in a small poultry-netting enclosure which set on the
side yard, right out to the edge of the paved sidewalk.

I looked forward to those visits, because I liked to cluck to
the chickens and poke some blades of grass to them through
the netting. Their behavior fascinates me.

Last week, we visited the Nez Perce County Fair's fowl and
rabbits barn.  I like both the rabbits and the chickens, ducks
and geese. What a wonderful display it was, what with all
the "critters" from which young people learn by raising and
showing them.

But in Moscow, right next door!  This strikes me as a real
dilemma of moving to so-called "sustainability".  How do we
adjust to timely cultural needs and revise ordinances coined
for maybe now, old standards?

Before I moved to Moscow in 1971, I lived on an anachronistic
land parcel in an otherwise residential zone, about a mile
from what is now California State University Northridge.
I had about an acre.  I let my half dozen Black Jersey Giant
hens run loose on the property.  They laid wherever it struck
their fancy, and we gathered them for the kitchen.  My two
sons and daughter were all pre-school then, and had to be
taught to watch were they walked outdoors, carefully,
particularly when bare-footed in the summer. They are
better off for the experience of having had a life experience
with the chickens.

I'm wondering if Moscow is too anally up-tight to ever permit
a limited number of hens to be kept by any householder who
chooses?  It doesn't take very many to supply a family with
eggs, that is if one buys the right breed of layers and treat
them decently.

Sam I am in Moscow

Craine Kit wrote:
> According to Moscow City Code, Title 10 (Police Regulations), it is 
> legal to maintain up to 25 chickens on a 5,000 square foot lot.
>
> HOWEVER
>
> Moscow has an exclusionary zoning code. The police regulation ONLY 
> applies in zones which specifically state that chickens or fowl are 
> allowed.  Those are  the Agriculture/Forestry Zoning District (minimum 
> lot size 40 acres) and  the Farm, Ranch, and Outdoor Recreation Zoning 
> District  (minimum lot size 3 acres). Keeping chickens in all other 
> residential zones is a violation of the zoning code (i.e. illegal).
>
> Kit Craine
>
> ------------------------------------------------------
> TITLE 10 — POLICE REGULATIONS
>
> Sec. 4-12. Maintaining Certain  Animals Regulated.  A. It shall be 
> unlawful to keep or  maintain any fowl, rabbits, horses,  cows, sheep 
> or goats within the City,  except as provided in this Chapter.    1. 
> To maintain and keep fowl or  rabbits, there must be at least five  
> thousand (5,000) square feet of  real property for each twenty-five  
> (25) fowl or rabbits, and in no  event shall any person keep or  
> maintain more than fifty (50) fowl  or rabbits, and in no event shall  
> the fowl or poultry house, rabbit  hutch, fowl, poultry, or rabbit 
> run  be less than forty (40) feet from a  dwelling other than that of 
> the  owner.
>
> Sec. 4-14. Locations; Structures;  Pens; Enclosures.   Animal 
> locations, structures, pens,  corrals, and any other premises or  
> structures used for the keeping of and  maintaining of horses, cows, 
> sheep, goats,  rabbits, chickens, doves and pigeons must  be kept in a 
> clean and sanitary condition,  free from obnoxious odors and 
> substances.   All persons who keep or maintain any  horses, cows, 
> sheep, goats, rabbits,  chickens, doves, or pigeons shall keep them  
> confined at all times in enclosures strong  enough, or staked out, or 
> picketed on the  premises, or in such a manner as to prevent  said 
> animals or fowl from going upon the  premises or property of another.  
> It shall be  unlawful for any person keeping or  maintaining any of 
> said animals or fowl to  allow the same to create a disturbance to  
> the residents in the particular locality by  creating any noise, odor 
> or damage to the  adjacent property, and the keeping and  maintaining 
> of said animals and fowl shall  not interfere with the peaceful and 
> quiet  enjoyment of such property by such  adjacent owner and residents.
>
>
> TITLE 4 — ZONING CODE
>
> Sec. 2-2. Agriculture/Forestry Zoning District (AF).
>    B. Permitted Principal Uses and  Structures:
>        1. Agriculture, including the raising,  harvesting, and selling 
> of crops; on-site  storage of grain and seed; the raising  and sale of 
> livestock or poultry;
>
> Sec. 2-3:  Farm, Ranch, and Outdoor Recreation Zoning District  (FR)
>       B. Permitted Principal Uses and  Structures:
>           3. Hatching, raising and marketing  poultry, provided no 
> building  pertaining to this use shall be closer  than fifty feet 
> (50’) to any property  line.
>
>
>
> On Sep 29, 2009, at 7:08 PM, Sam Scripter wrote:
>
>> Really!  I didn't know the City Laws/Ordinances permitted
>> keeping chickens in residential zones in Moscow.  Maybe it
>> is in small numbers?
>>
>> Does this mean that I could be treated to the olfactory
>> essence of chickens if a breeze blew my direction from
>> a neighbor's property, in a Moscow R-1 Zone?  And it
>> would be LEGAL?
>>
>> My, oh my, what is this world coming to?  Talk to owners
>> about how to "gather eggs"!  Wow.  I guess I'm just much
>> too old.
>>
>> Hey, if somebody wants to offer me a mocha downtown,
>> I'll give them my personal stories about cleaning the
>> chicken roost, emptying the "chicken bucket" and watching
>> the chickens scurrying to get the best morsels, and,
>> actually gathering the eggs. I can add some zest by
>> telling tales of fowl slaughtering, dipping carcasses
>> in boiling water, plucking feathers, and singeing the
>> pin feathers with a burning newspaper.
>>
>> Now if doing the above suddenly became "way cool" in
>> our culture, that would be really interesting, for sure!
>>
>> Just grousing around, because the weather is getting cold . . .
>> MoscowSam I am
>>
>> Bill London wrote:
>>>
>>> The Moscow Food Co-op is sponsoring the first annual "Co-op Coop 
>>> Cruise"
>>> from 4pm to 6pm on Sunday, October 11 to visit 4 backyard chicken coops
>>> in Moscow.
>>>
>>> The cruise participants will tour the backyard chicken coops, talk with
>>> the owners to learn about the realities of raising chickens and
>>> gathering eggs, and have the opportunity to ask questions about 
>>> starting
>>> their own home poultry programs. Snacks and beverages will be provided
>>> by the Co-op along the tour.
>>>
>>> The cost of the Co-op Coop Cruise is $12 for adults, $5 for children
>>> (children under 3 are free). Tickets can be purchased from any cashier
>>> at the Moscow Food Co-op. Enrollment is limited.
>>>
>>> The 4 chicken coops on the tour are all located at homes within
>>> residential neighborhoods in the city of Moscow. The tour does not
>>> include transportation. Participants must provide their own
>>> transportation between coops.
>>>
>>> The Co-op is located at 121 East Fifth Street in downtown Moscow.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> =======================================================
>>>  List services made available by First Step Internet,
>>>  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>>>                http://www.fsr.net
>>>           mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
>>> =======================================================
>> =======================================================
>> List services made available by First Step Internet,
>> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>>               http://www.fsr.net
>>          mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
>> =======================================================
>
>
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