If you live in unincorporated Fayette County and have been wanting to add to your brood of chickens, now you can.
The Board of Commissioners voted July 28 to amend its zoning ordinance with regard to keeping chickens for residential use. Included was an increase in the maximum number of chickens allowed. Now up to six can live on an acre, up to nine on two acres, and up to 12 on three or more acres.
The proposed ordinance originally prohibited slaughtering those chicken on residential property, but that prohibition was deleted at the urging of Commissioner Steve Brown.
“I see no problem with killing your own chickens on your property,” said Brown. “If you catch a fish there, you are allowed to clean it and otherwise take care of it. This is no different.”
In March the commissioners directed county staff and the Planning Commission to review the zoning ordinance to allow chickens in residential zoning districts. It is an issue that county zoning director Pete Frisina said is quite popular the past few years. “We’ve gotten a lot of phone calls,” he said.
There was no discussion about how many homes have chickens, but Frisina said 48 percent of Fayette County is still zoned A-R (agricultural-residential).
The issue of possibly registering residentially owned chickens was briefly mentioned, and a member of the audience who sits on the board of the county farm bureau said a voluntary program is in place through the state’s department of agriculture for residential livestock.
In other business, the board approved two ordinance amendments regarding conditional use guidelines for deer processing facilities, wedding/event facilities and the parking of recreational vehicles.
Also approved was a staff recommendation to reduce the General Fund Flood Damage loan to the Stormwater Utility by $275,214 for projects associated with damages from last December’s floods.
A recommendation to appoint Lavonia Stepherson to the McIntosh Trail Community Service Board was tabled until the Aug. 11 meeting.
The consent agenda approved by the board included acceptance of a $4,000 donation from Fellowship of Love Church for the county library; a $911,900 bid award for asphalt concrete; and a $185,000 allocation for road improvements related to FEMA/GEMA storm flooding projects.
