Mayor rips report on urban poultry
Chopp reminds staff to follow council direction
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Norfolk Mayor Kristal Chopp expressed displeasure Tuesday with county staff following a report on the costs and benefits of urban chickens.
Principal planner Mat Vaughan had just finished presenting his report when Chopp observed that planning staff had not followed a directive approved at the Dec. 11 meeting of the new council.
In December, council told staff to bring draft regulations to the first council meeting in January to allow backyard chickens within the county’s urban boundaries.
The report Vaughan presented provided a road map for doing this. However, the report also recommended that chickens remain confined to the agricultural zone.
“To say I’m upset would be an understatement,” Chopp told council Tuesday, adding this was not the report council asked for in December.
“This is going to be a long four years if the wishes of council are not respected.”
As she spoke, Chopp tore a copy of a staff report in half and dropped it on the council table in front of her.
Chopp received support for her position from Windham Coun. Chris Van Paassen.
At the December meeting, Van Paassen was the lone councillor opposed to urban chickens. However, once a vote is taken, Van Paassen said he respects council’s decision and the course it has charted.
“I was the only one to vote against chickens,” Van Paassen said. “And I lost. But I respect the process.”
Chopp asked Pam Duesling, general manager of development and cultural services and head of planning, why Tuesday’s report did not explicitly fulfill council’s direction. Duesling replied that staff needs more detail on where council wants to go on this file.
Chopp moved a deferral of the issue until a later date. Council agreed. The matter remains in limbo until council gives further direction.
In his eight-page report, Vaughan provided council with three options.
They are the status quo, the approval of a zoning bylaw allowing chickens in hamlet areas, or the approval of a zoning bylaw allowing chickens – with conditions – in the urban residential zone and in hamlet areas.
Vaughan explained to Chopp that council and staff cannot change land uses in Norfolk without going through a public process under the Planning Act.
This includes a 20-day public-notice period informing property owners that Norfolk is considering a land-use change affecting their neighbourhood.
Vaughan says some people support chickens in urban areas while others do not. The latter, Vaughan said, will want to provide input and are entitled to do so under provincial legislation.
The Planning Act process and the subject matter for an urban chicken zoning amendment are spelled out in pages six and seven of Vaughan’s report.
During his presentation, Vaughan said he was indifferent to the idea of urban chickens when he started his research. By time Vaughan was ready to prepare his report, he had serious public health concerns related to poultry in urban settings where homes are located in close proximity to each other.
Haldimand-Norfolk’s Health and Social Services Department shares these misgivings.
“Raising chickens in the backyard has been associated with transmission of diseases to human beings,” the health unit says in a section of Vaughan’s report.
“Chickens are potential sources of salmonella, campylobacter, listeria and parasites. Chickens can also be infected with avian flu, which theoretically can be transmitted to other species. If the rearing of backyard chickens is permitted, the public health unit would recommend a framework for owners to be educated on practices to minimize the spread of diseases in humans.”
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