After more than two years of incubating ideas, the decision on whether to allow chickens in Squamish residents’ backyards has reached council’s table.
A measure to allow live poultry in neighbourhoods is squeezed in a District of Squamish omnibus bill that updates a wide variety of zoning bylaws. On Tuesday (May 6), a public hearing on the amendments will take place at municipal hall at 7 p.m. Mayor and council will have the option of voting on the changes after the hearing or two weeks later.
The proposed definition for urban agriculture allows residents to keep “poultry, fowl, or bees” and allows for neighbourhood retail stands to sell the goods produced on site.
The topic has ruffled feathers in the past. Adding hens into the urban mix could increase the number of wildlife conflicts in town, warned Meg Toom, Squamish’s WildSafe B.C. community coordinator. Chicken feed, scraps and eggs attract rodents and raccoons. They, in turn, lure larger animals.
“It is the whole food chain that I want people to understand,” Toom said.
Last summer, a bear was destroyed in Paradise Valley after feasting on livestock. Conservation officers don’t relocate bears demonstrating such behaviour, Toom noted.
The zoning update would legitimize practices occurring in Squamish, Coun. Susan Chapelle said.
“We already have chickens. There are chickens everywhere,” she said, noting the egg-laying critters haven’t attracted hordes of wildlife.
Just as with dog and cat food, chicken feed needs to be properly managed, Chapelle noted. The way chickens are kept, and other residents’ concerns regarding the birds, can be addressed through policies, she said.
Last year, district staff recommended the municipality develop a community-run chicken co-op.
If placed in an appropriate location, Squamish resident Donald Byrne said he’s not opposed to a controlled communal chicken coop. But backyard chickens don’t fly with him, he told officials at a meeting earlier this month.
“It is a bad step,” Byrne said, noting the municipality’s staff didn’t recommend allowing chickens in the residential neighbourhoods.
The City of Vancouver allows people to keep up to four hens in their backyards, but no roosters. Ducks, turkeys and fowl are not allowed and none of the products from the chickens can be used for commercial purposes.
There are 164 chickens registered in the City of Vancouver. In 2013, the city’s staff received 15 complaints related to chickens.
