A Princeton woman and her neighbours, who are raising chickens on land zoned for agricultural purposes, are calling sa国际传媒榝owlsa国际传媒� over a town bylaw that states they can only keep four birds each and there are no roosters allowed.
Solitaire Steele made a delegation to council Tuesday, Sept. 20, on behalf of the recently formed Airport Road Chicken Association.
Airport Road was part of Area H until 2010, in an agricultural zone that permitted farming.
However once they were zoned Country Residential, as part of the Town of Princeton, they were severely limited by the Back Yard Hen bylaw, despite the fact that Country Residential zoning permits agriculture.
sa国际传媒淲e want to change the bylaw,sa国际传媒� she said.
sa国际传媒淲e donsa国际传媒檛 like not following the bylaw, and having to watch our backs all the timesa国际传媒e are on acreages and we are zoned for agriculture (under Country Residential.)sa国际传媒�
Problems arose recently, said Steele, when the town bylaw officer visited one of her neighbours to report a complaint about a noisy rooster named Ricky, and was told Ricky had to go.
sa国际传媒淚 can totally understand the complaint,sa国际传媒� Steele admitted, as Ricky had not been being shut in his coop at night, and was crowing early in the morning.
That has been addressed, she said.
It seemed a perfect opportunity to bring the bylawsa国际传媒檚 deficiencies to the attention of council, said Steele.
sa国际传媒淭he backyard hen bylaw doesnsa国际传媒檛 really fit our area.sa国际传媒�
The association is proposing that property owners be allowed to keep up to 20 hens and one permanent rooster, and work on ways to mitigate any neighbourhood concerns.
There has only ever been one complaint, she added.
sa国际传媒淲hat we want to do is to produce eggs and feed our familiessa国际传媒eople are struggling and they want to be as self-sufficient as possible,sa国际传媒� Steele stressed.
sa国际传媒淲e are not trying to ruffle feathers.sa国际传媒�
Following the presentation, Coun. Barb Gould indicated no decisions about moving forward with a bylaw review would be made that evening, while Coun. Tyler Willis acknowledged the property owners may be looking for sa国际传媒渁 happy medium.sa国际传媒�
Do you have something to add to this story, or something else we should report on? Email:andrea.demeer@similkameenspotlight.com
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