Chicken code/Zoning question

[Charity Dubberley]

We had an inspection of our property regarding the chickens (neighbor
complaint), and the city has come back saying that the chicken coop
needs to be 35 feet from our house. Has anyone else dealt with the
city regarding chicken coop location? Here's the piece of code
regarding chickens:

" 4. All rabbits, chickens, fowl or racing or homing pigeons shall be
kept in cages, hutches or coops which shall be maintained in a clean
and sanitary condition at all times. Any such cage, hutch or coop
shall be located outside the front yard, as that term is defined in
Section 28.04.710, and shall be located at least one hundred (100)
feet from any property being used as a school, park, hospital or
similar institution and at least thirty-five (35) feet from any
dwelling unit or structure used for human habitation and located on an
adjoining lot."

I interpret including "and located on an adjoining lot" is to qualify
the " any dwelling unit or structure used for human habitation" as an
entity on an adjoining lot and not on your own lot.  Otherwise "and
located on an adjoining lot" is redundant since "any dwelling unit or
structure used for human habitation" included entities on adjoining
lots.

Any help or insights you all have would be appreciated.

[Kathy Rem]

I don't see any replies to this post. I don't have any wisdom here. Did you get any response that was helpful?
I have six chickens in a coup in my mesa backyard and not at all within these regulations. This is scary to me. Thank God our neighbors like the sound of the clucking.
Kathy

[Christa Backson]

Hi Charity - I also thought about you this morning. Our chickens were being SUPER loud last summer. We had 6 chickens in a space about 6x24 (including their enclosed coop). They were given plenty of garden greens for treats as well as other goodies. I think part of their noise level was due to their breeds (white leghorn, golden leghorns among them), and how many chickens had to share the laying area. Even though I have 3 separate nests, they all seemed to want to lay in the same one. This seemed to cause a lot of ruckus in jockeying for position while others waited their turn (noisily). They were so loud we finally found a home for them with a friend in the hills far from other neighbors. Since then I've researched quieter breeds and limited my flock to 4. They are just beginning to lay and so far so good. I will post my quieter bird breeds when I find my list! You can do a google search for "quiet chickens" and get all kinds of interesting information! I live on the Mesa and my chickens are right on the fence line of my neighbors. They've had chickens in the past so seem somewhat ok, but my chicken noise went far beyond my immediate neighbors and I was afraid of getting a complaint.

[Christine Heinrichs]

I'm in SLO County, where we haven't had many problems -- although my
neighbor complained about my rooster and I had to find a home for him.
Please keep us posted about your situation, Charity.

--
Christine Heinrichs