BARRHEAD - A County of Barrhead mother hopes the municipality will revisit its Animal Control Bylaw (5-2024).
Moonlight Bay Estates (adjacent to Lac La Nonne) resident Agatha Neufeld has started a petition asking council to amend the bylaw, which was approved in July, to allow chickens on non-agricultural properties two acres or smaller.
"I'm not sure what we will do if we can't persuade council [to amend the bylaw] to allow us to keep our chickens," she told the Barrhead Leader on Oct. 18 at the Prairie Chef restaurant where she was collecting signatures.
Neufeld added that her four children under 12 have become very attached to the chickens.
"The joy the kids get when they come in with the eggs. You can't replace that with words," she said.
It is the second time the resident has asked county council to reconsider the bylaw.
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In September, Neufeld wrote a letter to council asking them to consider amending the bylaw to allow chickens on properties under two acres after she received a visit from the county's community peace officer visited her after receiving a complaint that she violated the bylaw by having six hens on their 1.12-acre property.
At their Sept. 17 meeting, councillors narrowly defeated a motion made by Coun. Walter Preugschas, in response to Neufeld's letter following a lengthy debate to amend the bylaw to allow chickens on non-agricultural properties.
According to the bylaw, property owners in a non-agricultural district with a lot size of two acres or greater can keep up to 10 chickens. It should be noted that the bylaw does not impact residents of an agricultural district where the number of chickens a resident can have is not limited.
The vote followed a similar debate at the council's committee of the whole (COW) meeting, in which councillors decided to keep the status quo, this time in a 4-3 vote, but to discuss it again at the previously mentioned Sept. 17 meeting.
"I'm not a political person," Neufeld said on Oct. 18 at the Prairie Chef Restaurant, where she was collecting signatures for the petition.
"I did not know council had passed animal control bylaw or that we were not allowed to have chickens," she said. "It did not even occur to us that it wouldn't be allowed or that we would have to ask permission because Drayton Valley, Legal, Edmonton, St. Albert and Spruce Grove all have hen programs right in the city on small little lots."
Neufeld said they first got the hens in May. Currently, they have six hens.
It should be noted that although those municipalities allow chickens, their owners must obtain a licence from the local government and/or a premises identification number from the province.
Neufeld said that although she respects council members, she questions whether they know how difficult it is under the current economic conditions.
"Sometimes I don't think they know what it is to raise a family nowadays, with prices the way they are," she said.
Neufeld added that although she doesn't know if she will be able to collect the upwards of 600 county resident signatures in 60 days (or until Dec. 10) required under the Municipal Government Act (MGA) for the petition to be official.
However, she said, the people she talked to in the county were shocked to learn that people can't have chickens on properties under two acres.
Neufeld said regardless, if she garners enough signatures, she is confident that they will get enough to show to council that there are enough people in the county who believe like she does that people on lots smaller than an acre and a half should be allowed to have chickens.
"I understand there are people that take advantage of these allowances, but in the same vein, people have dogs and cats that are neglected, probably even more so, yet we are concerned about chickens," she said.
Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com
