Squamish municipal staff is laying the groundwork to make sure backyard chickens don’t run amok in Squamish.
Earlier this month, District of Squamish council backed a zoning bylaw that allows residents to keep chickens in urban neighbourhoods. But first staff need to draft regulations governing the way chickens are kept before adopting the bylaw, district spokesperson Christina Moore stated in an email.
“This process will kick off in the next few days,” she said.
The backyard chicken debate has been ruffling feathers in Squamish for the past four years. While urban agriculture has hit major cities across North America — Vancouver, New York, Boston — Squamish faces additional challenges managing wildlife attractants. Much of council’s discussions revolved around the question of whether fowl would draw bears into town.
As the zoning bylaw stands, it would allow any type and number of poultry and fowl to be introduced into people’s backyards, Coun. Doug Race noted.
“Someone could literally have 40 ostriches,” he said.
If the zoning bill, which includes more than 80 housekeeping amendments, were passed before chicken regulations were in place, residents that purchased poultry before the rules were enacted would be grandfathered into the system, Race said. That would leave the municipality powerless to implement its regulations on those individuals.
Staff won’t have to re-invent the wheel when it comes to regulating the way chickens are kept, Race said. They will examine best practices from other communities.
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.
