Fwd: [BCFSN] great new paper on urban livestock

[Arzeena Hamir]

This information came from a different list but it sounds important enough to post here. Lots of information on how to approach changing by-laws. Hope you find it useful.

Arzeena Hamir MSc. P.Ag.

Coordinator

Richmond Food Security Society

http://richmondfoodsecurity.org

coord...@richmondfoodsecurity.org

http://twitter.com/arzeena

Begin forwarded message:

From: Abra Brynne <ab...@peelingtheonion.ca>

Date: March 8, 2010 9:04:50 PM PST

To: fo...@bcfsn.org

Subject: [BCFSN] great new paper on urban livestock

Hello all,
was sent a great paper on "micro-livestock" in urban settings from a practical and policy perspective. It was written by Mary Wood from the University of Oregon Law School - the legal system may be different but from a quick scan of this paper, there is much that would be useful and applicable to anyone in BC working to get policies in place to allow backyard livestock (chickens - and more, oh my!).  

The first section provides the rationale for urban livestock by describing the state of the current food system and food trends (which you can scan or skip as you see fit). Part A Section III explores the range of small livestock and reviews each species under the following headings: "Homestead and community value", "Care and Space", "Management Concerns" and "Resources".   Part B is entitled "Regulatory Choices and recommendations" in which there is a  great overview of different cities and the species they allow, any restrictions they place (set backs, numbers etc) as well as some sample working for a bylaw.  

One section of the document that caught my eye, since those of us working on getting backyard livestock allowed seem to have to fight so hard to justify it and demonstrate that they will cause no harm:

"... property owners have no legitimate expectation to a perfect existence of their own design. Neighbors do cause constant irritations of one sort or another, whether it is loud stereos, barking dogs, annoying wind chimes, or smelly tobacco smoke. But these intrusions generally do not rise to the level of harm that justifies a regulatory prohibition. The same guiding principle should inform city officials in revising land use codes. New uses of property invoked by modern concerns should be prohibited only if they rise to the level of “substantial harm” to neighbors, and only if such uses are not justified by the social value of the action. In the case of raising microlivestock within city boundaries, there is generally no 'substantial harm' caused to neighboring properties..." (pg 14)

If you want to download the full document, which I highly recommend, it can be found here:http://www.law.uoregon.edu/faculty/mwood/


happy reading!
Abra
-- 
Abra Brynne, Communications Co-ordinator
BC Food Systems Network
in...@fooddemocracy.org
www.fooddemocracy.org
PO Box 684, Nelson, BC V1L 5R4
250.352.5342 (GMT - 7)

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