urban chicken bill

[Sarah Bellos]

Hi everyone,

Here is the proposed urban chicken bill. I encourage you to contact your Councilperson if you support it, first reading is Nov 15th.
 

http://www.nashville.gov/mc/ordinances/term_2011_2015/bl2011_47.htm

Unlike the last chicken bill, this one combines Urban and General Services (shall we say Rural) Nashville.

I did want to bring up one issue...  The following has been excerpted :

1. Type and number. Except upon property zoned for agricultural use or for properties in the R and RS districts of five (5) acres or more in size, a parcel of land shall contain the maximum number of domesticated hens identified below. Only hens are allowed; roosters are expressly prohibited. There is no restriction on domestic hen breeds.

We are wondering what this means for people in general Services (GSD) who currently have no restrictions on chickens. Now will they be restricted? Does anyone know people who live in the "country" but are in an Residential zoned lot with less than 5 acres (we have 4 acres, for example, but are AR2A). My interpretation is that those who live in the general services district on land zoned R or RS and have less than 5 acres of land would be restricted to 6 hens and all the other restrictions of the bill. Our general feeling is It doesn’t make sense for those who live “in the country” surrounded by acres or miles of fields, pasture and woods, even if they have less than 5 acres (I am surrounded by one person with 16 acres, a 1 acre and a .5 acre lot). If we were zoned R, would we all have different restrictions on our chicken-keeping?

Just hoping we can have a constructive dialogue on this before it goes all the way though.

Best,
Sarah Bellos
615.306.3154