Urban chickens should be licensed instead of the City of Red Deer allowing them as a permitted use under the land-use bylaw, says a Red Deer city councillor.
Tara Veer issued a notice of motion during Monday’s city council meeting, calling for staff to investigate the pros and cons of licensing urban chickens and other livestock. City council will discuss the issue and decide whether it’s a good idea during the Jan. 9 council meeting.
Veer said a permit system would allow for the proper regulation of urban chickens and for the revocation of licences for non-compliance with regulations.
“If there are problems, then we have a legal avenue — we could revoke the licence,” said Veer.
In late October, the city’s Governance and Policy Committee gave staff three months to draft a bylaw amendment that would let residents keep a few laying hens in their back yards.
The amendment would name chickens as a permitted use, placing a number of restrictions to address animal welfare and other issues.
Veer said she’d rather see a licensing system in place.
“Once you put it in the land-use bylaw, it’s difficult, if not impossible to revoke it,” Veer said.
Once properties of urban chickens are permitted uses, they are essentially grandfathered, she added.
Veer is asking for a report to come back by Feb. 20 if council grants her request.
She envisions that maybe staff would just add this alternative to their report on the land-use bylaw amendment and that way, council can weigh the pros and cons of both a permit system and the land-use bylaw.
A few families in town are keeping urban chickens because they say chickens make entertaining and delightful pets; they eat weeds, bugs and kitchen scraps and provide rich compost material for fertilizer; they provide fresh, organic, nutritionally dense, hormone and antibiotic-free eggs; and they help to teach children responsibility and to appreciate where food comes from.
Since the issue came to light in October, Everett and Adrienne Tetz have since founded the Red Deer chapter of Canadian Liberated Urban Chicken Klub (CLUCK).
ltester@www.reddeeradvocate.com