BARRHEAD - A Lac La Nonne resident in the Idle Hours subdivision will have until April 30 to get rid of her four egg-laying hens or face further action by the county.
County of Barrhead councillors voted 5-0 against granting a reprieve for Mary Kimberly Gleason's four hens during a Feb. 18 appeal hearing upholding an order to remove the hens from her property but amending it, slightly giving her more time to re-home the fowl.
Councillors Bill Lane and Jared Stoik were missing.
According to the county's Animal Control Bylaw, having chickens on parcels less than two acres in a non-agricultural district. No permit is needed. For properties over two acres in a non-agricultural district, the limit is 10 chickens, specifically hens, and there is no restriction on numbers for those living in an agricultural district.
Gleason lives on a 0.37 parcel in a Residential Recreation District in Lac La Nonne.
Community peace officer (CPO) Shae Guy received a complaint in mid-September that Gleason was harbouring chickens, which he later confirmed.
County manager Debbie Oyarzun said from September to December 2024, the municipality received several requests asking council to amend the bylaw to allow chickens on residential lots smaller than two acres.
One of them being a petition from Lac La Nonne resident Agatha Neufeld asking council to amend the Animal Control Bylaw to allow chickens on small residential properties to allow chickens.
Under Alberta's Municipal Government Act (MGA), to be considered valid, a petitioner needs the signatures of 10 per cent, or 587 signatures, of the municipality's population within 60 days of its creation. Neufeld's petition had 117 signatures, of which 105 were eligible.
However, she added they also received about the same amount of correspondence supporting the chicken restrictions.
Related links:
Barrhead County resident petitions to allow chickens on smaller properties
Barrhead petition to allow chickens on small non-agricultural properties declared not valid
Oyarzun noted that from when Neufeld submitted the petition to when it was declared invalid on Jan. 7, the municipality suspended enforcement of chicken-related complaints until pending its resolution.
Shortly after the petition was declared invalid, Guy issued a contravention order to Gleason, who filed her appeal a few days later.
Reeve Doug Drozd said the council needed to decide whether or not Gleason contravened the bylaw and if there were any procedural reasons to overturn or amend the order.
Gleason said she violated the bylaw by keeping four hens. However, she called the bylaw discriminatory against lower-income families.
"I have been single most of my life, and I can tell you it is tough to live on a single income in a two-income world," Gleason said, mainly reading from a prepared script.
She then outlined her efforts to find a property to buy her dream property where she could be self-sustainable after coming into a "small windfall."
"I understand rules and restrictions have to be in place when living in a community, but not everyone can afford to own two acres," Gleason said.
She added that the other reason she and other people on smaller properties should be allowed to have chickens is two-fold, the first being the rising food price.
"Canadians are looking down the barrels of shotgun," Gleason said. "[Soon we could be] facing a 25 per cent tariff on goods from the U.S., and in less than two months, there will be a significant increase to the carbon tax," she said. "With the rising costs of healthy foods, limiting how families can use their land denies them what, I think, is a basic human right, to feed themselves."
She also cited food security, improved nutrition value and producing food free from pesticides and chemicals as why the municipality should allow residents to keep chickens on all properties regardless of size.
Gleason added in her ongoing effort to do precisely that, in addition to collecting her own eggs, she has begun to source meat from four local farmers.
"I'm not asking that you allow smaller properties to have large flocks or breeding hens and certainly not roosters," she said. "I am only asking that you allow lower-income families to produce a good source of protein for themselves and, perhaps, allow them to eliminate some of the more harmful products."
She also suggested one of her neighbours filed the complaint not because her chickens were a nuisance but because they did not like her, adding that this is not the first animal complaint lodged against her.
The others, Gleason said, were dog complaints that had no basis, adding if they did, Guy would have acted on them.
Coun. Walter Preugschas asked how far away the complaining neighbour was from her property.
Gleason said they had one of the adjacent properties, but the birds were on the other side of her property.
"My house is between them, and where the birds are housed," she said. "The neighbour on the other side, near my birds' house, has no issues."
Preugschas also asked if birds were housed inside a chicken coop.
She said it depends on the year, adding that she got the birds as chicks in May 2024 and that they were allowed free range in the backyard in the summer.
"I plan to build a run, off to a greenhouse, attached to a shed where they've been housed over the winter so that they will have access to the outside," Gleason said.
Preugschas said while Gleason gave good reasons why people may want to raise chickens, council had little avenue but to deny her appeal as her actions contravened the county's Animal Control Bylaw.
It was a sentiment echoed by the rest of council.
"We can't go against our own bylaw," Drozd said.
Gleason then suggested council change the bylaw.
"We've already had that discussion," Drozd said. "We had to draw the line someplace, and in a residential area with higher density, the council decided to devise a restriction of less than two acres. I think it was a good fit."
Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com
