By Pam Wright
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
At $485 to start with, buying a license to keep backyard hens isn’t chickenfeed.
At its Nov. 4 meeting, Chatham council approved a two-year pilot project allowing rural and village residents to raise up to 10 hens on their property.
The annual renewal fee for chicken rearing is $125.
Land zoned agricultural isn’t affected.
And Erieau is excluded from the project.
However, some councillors objected to the cost, noting the idea behind raising backyard chickens is to save money.
South Kent Coun. Ryan Doyle and North Kent Coun. Rhonda Jubenville both spoke in favour of lowering the application fee, with Doyle putting forward a failed friendly amendment to lower the amount to $200, and $50 for an annual renewal.
“The whole point of this, is so people can have chickens and save some money at home,” the councillor said. “I don’t want to price people out of having chickens at home that can’t afford these fees.”
Doyle said it would be better to start off with lower fees and revisit the issue when the pilot is over. He also pointed out that the municipality offers other services that are subsidized by the general taxpayer.
However other councillors strongly disagreed with lowering the fee, noting the program should be handled with cost recovery going forward as set out by administration and not fall on taxpayers who don’t want to keep chickens.
Chatham Coun. Marjorie Crew said she was “gobsmacked” by Doyle’s push to lower the fees.
“Because the same councillor that moved this is asking staff to come back with 7.5-per-cent reduction in taxes,” Crew said. “But then we’re asking taxpayers to pick up the bill for people who want to have chickens. I’m opposed to this.”
Crew noted cost recovery is the “standard” for most municipal programs.
South Kent Coun. Trevor Thompson also chimed in.
“It’s simply not fair to push the cost of a program to the ratepayers who don’t have chickens,” Thompson said. “And instead, it should be borne by those who are benefitting from the program.”
In addition, East Kent Coun. John Wright cautioned the backyard chicken program could lead to the spread of disease that could drastically affect C-K’s poultry farmers.
Pet and Wildlife Rescue has been contracted at a flat rate to oversee backyard chicken enforcement and building services will handle the initial licensing process.
According to municipal clerk Judy Smith, the numbers in the staff report are based on the guess that potentially five per cent of the newly eligible residents will take part in the backyard chicken program.
The new bylaw comes with a long list of fines for non-compliance, ranging from $100 to $300.
Passing the bylaw followed a long-drawn out process that has taken more than two years and involved extensive public engagement.
