Burlington’s city council has given the city’s planning staff free range to develop a new policy that would enable the city’s residents to keep small flocks of hens in the back of their homes.
The council instructed staff to rough out this policy on Monday as a prelude to the potential legalization of “backyard chickens” within Bur-lington’s municipal limits.
At the moment, chickens and all other farm fowl are strictly forbidden in any part of the city that hasn’t been zoned for agricultural use. This prohibition remains in place despite a pandemic-era proposal to allow hens in residential areas, which narrowly failed to take flight with the city council in 2021.
Last year, the prospect of backyard chickens got a bit of a boost when the council inaugurated three new members, including an erstwhile mayor who had supported the previous bid to legalize hens. Since then, a survey by city staff members that has solidified the council’s own waxing interest in chicken husbandry.
While admittedly unscientific, this online questionnaire found that nearly 72 percent of its respondents favored the legalization of backyard chickens in Burlington. As a follow up, the council directed the city’s planning staff to drum up some additional information on the ways other communities regulate chickens.
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Jamie Lawson, the city’s planning director, returned to the council on Monday with the results of this cross-jurisdictional comparison. She also used this opportunity to share some recommendations for a workable policy in the city of Burlington.
During her presentation, Lawson suggested that the city’s best move would be to adopt a relatively strict set of standards that prevents hens from becoming a nuisance in residential neighborhoods.
“We would recommend the keeping of backyard chickens as an accessory use,” she went on to add, “so a vacant piece of land wouldn’t be somewhere where chickens would be able to occur.”
Lawson conceded that the sort of policy she envisions is much stricter than anything on the books in most of the county’s other cities and towns. She added that most of these other communities merely prohibit chickens from roaming at large, although some also have restrictions on flock sizes and the locations of coops.
Lawson informed the council that the town of Elon has a policy in place that limits chicken ownership to three birds per household. In Gibsonville, each residential lot can have up to 10 hens, as long as they remain behind the primary structure.
The city of Mebane also has a quota of 10 hens per lot, although it only applies to parcels less than 10 acres in size. Mebane doesn’t limit hen ownership on larger tracts, although it has a citywide prohibition on roosters that mirrors a longstanding policy in Burlington.
Swepsonville currently allows up to 8 chickens per acre although Lawson conceded that the town’s leaders are reportedly “exploring” a potential prohibition. Meanwhile, the town of Haw River has specifications for “fowl houses” that require them to be raised two feet off the ground and at least 200 feet from residences, churches, businesses, and public streets.
Lawson added that the town of Green Level was the only local municipality with specific standards for backyard chicken coops as well as a permitting process for would-be chicken owners.
“They also required the permit to be an annual permit,” she added, “and if there are violations, the permit shall be revoked.”
Lawson advised Burlington’s leaders to follow Green Level’s example in the regulation of chickens. She suggested precise standards for the sites and conditions of coops as well as a permitting process with the annual renewal of permits and their potential revocation in the event of violations.
Lawson added that Chris Marland, the city’s code enforcement officer, believes he could enforce such a policy with the staff currently at his disposal.
This consideration proved crucial to councilman Ian Baltutis, who had supported backyard chickens in his previous role as Burlington’s mayor.
“The only concern is how do we not overwhelm our staff,” he insisted when he weighed in Lawson’s suggestions.
Meanwhile, councilmember Dejuana Bigelow pointed to some of the other problems that backyard flocks could pose in an urban environment.
“I do have a concern about the chickens just running rampant,” she conceded before Lawson assured her that the city could adopt policies to avoid the tyranny of free-roaming hens.
The council went on to give Lawson the all-clear to draft some proposed guidelines in line with what she described in her presentation on Monday. They also encouraged her to leave the door to the figurative coop open for other forms of domestic fowl – although they backed off from geese after the city’s animal services director remarked on their bellicose natures.
Lawson informed the city’s elected leaders that she ought to have these prospective rules ready for their perusal some time this fall. She added that whatever provisions she ultimately includes in this draft, they will probably not extend to local businesses – contrary to a recommendation that Burlington’s mayor Beth Kennett had floated during a previous work session.
“We don’t see [business zones] as the same animal,” she emphasized. “It has different impacts, and there will be times when you won’t have staff members present.”
