Chicken coop for the soul
Chicken coop for the soul Local mom leads effort to allow residential chicken coops By: Mike Holland Huber Heights – If Sarah Coming to a backyard near you? (Photo by Sarah McBride) McBride has it her way; the chickens will be coming home to roost – in neighborhood backyards across the city. McBride is the leader and organizer of the Community Led Urban Chicken Keeping movement, or CLUCK -‐ Yes, that’s right; CLUCK. Her goal is quite simple; up to four personal chickens for every Huber Heights resident that wishes to own and care for them. Why chickens? According to McBride, there are several reasons. “It’s a great way to eat healthier and save money in the long run. I also think that there’s educational value for children by learning to be more self sufficient,” said McBride. McBride’s backyard chicken crusade began just over four months ago when she found out that the chickens her family had been keeping were actually against a Huber Heights city ordinance; requiring a minimum of one acre of land to be able to keep small livestock.
“My husband built a small coop for us and we learned how to take care of chickens. Our kids love it,” said McBride. “Then we found out that it wasn’t allowed due to the ordinance.” After that, McBride set her mind on making some changes to the rule that she felt was infringing on her family’s attempt at an environmentally friendly lifestyle. She has made some immediate headway in getting support behind her cause. Through web and social media, CLUCK’s following within the community has grown – and that growth has begun to convert to signatures on McBride’s online petition. In fact, CLUCK reached its first political milestone in July, when the organization was officially registered as a Political Action Committee with the Montgomery County Board of Elections. Her next step is to get CLUCK’s referendum on the ballot; which has proven to be a task in itself for McBride, who said “City Council has been putting me off for a while now. They keep telling me they’re going to put it on the agenda, but then the meeting comes and they say that they’re not going to be talking about it.” According to a report from Brick City Watchdogs, a community activist group, all but one council member is strongly opposed to the idea of residential livestock. This may mean that McBride will see continued “stall tactics” employed by the council, despite her attempts. While the community’s response to her efforts has largely been positive and supportive, there are plenty of residents that would prefer not to live next to chicken coops. A quick scan of the neighborhood Facebook page, Everything Huber Heights, reveals several resident concerns; ranging from attracting medium to large-‐sized predators into residential areas, to the likelihood dealing with
Many Ohio communities have allowed small livestock, such as chickens, to be kept in residential neighborhoods. (Photo courtesy of Google Images)
a “fowl” stench emanating from the backyard coops. To combat these claims, McBride notes that in other areas of Ohio with allowances for residential chickens or other small livestock, there have been no increases in predator attacks. As for the smell, McBride said, “I wrote provisions in the referendum to be sure that anyone keeping chickens is accountable to the city’s nuisance laws.” This type of initiative has worked in other areas of Ohio, including right here in Dayton, with no notable problems reported. In fact, the city of Riverside is now experiencing the CLUCK movement, as a resident there is currently organizing an effort to allow backyard chickens. Although we all know that chickens can’t fly, they appear to be very much up in the air in Huber Heights. List of “chicken-‐friendly” cities & counties in Ohio: Franklin County Montgomery Miamisburg Blue Ash Cincinnati (including many surrounding suburbs) Cleveland Dayton Toledo Contact Mike Holland: [email protected]
“My husband built a small coop for us and we learned how to take care of chickens. Our kids love it,” said McBride. “Then we found out that it wasn’t allowed due to the ordinance.” After that, McBride set her mind on making some changes to the rule that she felt was infringing on her family’s attempt at an environmentally friendly lifestyle. She has made some immediate headway in getting support behind her cause. Through web and social media, CLUCK’s following within the community has grown – and that growth has begun to convert to signatures on McBride’s online petition. In fact, CLUCK reached its first political milestone in July, when the organization was officially registered as a Political Action Committee with the Montgomery County Board of Elections. Her next step is to get CLUCK’s referendum on the ballot; which has proven to be a task in itself for McBride, who said “City Council has been putting me off for a while now. They keep telling me they’re going to put it on the agenda, but then the meeting comes and they say that they’re not going to be talking about it.” According to a report from Brick City Watchdogs, a community activist group, all but one council member is strongly opposed to the idea of residential livestock. This may mean that McBride will see continued “stall tactics” employed by the council, despite her attempts. While the community’s response to her efforts has largely been positive and supportive, there are plenty of residents that would prefer not to live next to chicken coops. A quick scan of the neighborhood Facebook page, Everything Huber Heights, reveals several resident concerns; ranging from attracting medium to large-‐sized predators into residential areas, to the likelihood dealing with
Many Ohio communities have allowed small livestock, such as chickens, to be kept in residential neighborhoods. (Photo courtesy of Google Images)
a “fowl” stench emanating from the backyard coops. To combat these claims, McBride notes that in other areas of Ohio with allowances for residential chickens or other small livestock, there have been no increases in predator attacks. As for the smell, McBride said, “I wrote provisions in the referendum to be sure that anyone keeping chickens is accountable to the city’s nuisance laws.” This type of initiative has worked in other areas of Ohio, including right here in Dayton, with no notable problems reported. In fact, the city of Riverside is now experiencing the CLUCK movement, as a resident there is currently organizing an effort to allow backyard chickens. Although we all know that chickens can’t fly, they appear to be very much up in the air in Huber Heights. List of “chicken-‐friendly” cities & counties in Ohio: Franklin County Montgomery Miamisburg Blue Ash Cincinnati (including many surrounding suburbs) Cleveland Dayton Toledo Contact Mike Holland: [email protected]
