In a unanimous vote this week, Blacksburg Town Council approved the ordinance (Ordinance 1888) amendment that will allow hens in certain residential areas and in a pilot program in the Bennett-Hill/Progress Street neighborhood closer to downtown.
In a year-long pilot period, chickens are now allowed in the Bennett Hill/Progress Road neighborhood joining several rural residential areas.
The amendment modifies the definition of the term “Agriculture” to include the keeping up to four hens that the town is calling “urban chickens.”
Property allowed to raise chickens, not roosters, can contain one single-family detached dwelling in the R-4 Low Density, Residential, RR-1 Rural Residential and RR-2 Rural Residential Zoning districts where chickens are now allowed on a lot size of two acres.
Pens would require four square feet per hen and an open run of eight square feet per hen. Some species require more room. Chickens can be raised in a rear yard only, 15 feet from a property line and 50 feet from neighboring dwellings.
A one-year pilot program is proposed in the Bennett-Hill/Progress Street neighborhood that runs about six blocks west of and parallel to Main Street.
The conversation around chickens began Jan. 8. While the amendment includes a $30 initial application fee, the same as the permit for a shed, it requires annual renewal with no additional charge.
If you have hens now, 45-day grace period to comply with chicken keeping criteria and apply said Paul Patterson presenting the staff report. Applications would require a chicken management plan that describes chicken care.
Patterson made key chicken-raising points including that chickens, from 6 months old to 2 years-old lay an egg a day, that means 28 eggs a week from four hens. They are prey animals and will attract predators. Hens live to be more than 10 years old, eat a quarter pound of feed a day and make “a little over a pound of good fertilizer a day,” Patterson said.
There was no public comment at the town council meeting, but, at the March Planning Commission meeting, Jennifer Vance who recently moved to Blacksburg spoke.
“Having chickens has been a big part of our decision of where to buy a house,” she said. “We’re excited and hope that this ordinance change happens. We have five kids and it’s been a fun thing we’ve done with our children when we’ve lived other places.”
Following the staff report, council moved for approval and in discussion, Councilman John Bush spoke.
“Seems like a simple thing. I like the pilot program I’m happy for the families and folks. I’m glad we’re passing it…or at least I hope we will.”
“It’s a nail biter,” Mayor Leslie Hager-Smith said.
The ordinance allowing chickens passed unanimously.
For more information and an application, visit http://www.blacksburg.gov/town-council/meetings/public-hearings/zoning-ordinance-amendment-41-urban-chickens
— Staff report
