I had Senator David Farnsworth in my home twice now. Once to see my backyard farm and another time to meet with 14 of some of my most influential friends.He is teaching us how to make the changes necessary to regain our right to produce food in our backyard. This includes chickens, rabbits, miniature livestock. Now matter what city in Arizona.
We were given the challenge to bring as many of our friends to a meeting Saturday October 19th at 7:00. It will be at the Shoppers in Chandler on Queen Creek Rd and Alma School Rd. The senator will be there to lead us through how to take our frustration and turn it into focus. The focus will be to move on each City as a group from all over the state. He will lead the State level and alert us of each step of who and when to call/email.
No matter what city you live in, please come and bring all your friends.
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Sorry I am just seeing this. I would have been there, even though I don't live in Gilbert. I see this is what is being talked about: http://www.gilbertaz.gov/townhall/boards/planning/110613/Z13-30_Fow... . Please let us know how it went.
It was an easy night. They postponed until February, but there is no opposition. The postponement is simply because they were not able to get the code written for presentation. It was nice meeting those who came, though. Gilbert, so far, is very chicken friendly, but we still need them to know that the people care about this issue, and we can do that by showing our numbers at the meetings.
There is a meeting on the 12th in Chandler to support the residents in their fight. Chandler is not so chicken friendly, so we who are in other towns are attending to make a presence and help our friends out. If you can make that meeting it would be great! Donna Bruce has been posting the details about that meeting.
I will be there.
Donna, Thank you for your efforts! I apologize for not being there yesterday. How did it go? What can be done? Is there a link to the information? Again, Thank you! We love our little "pets with benefits" and do not want to have to give them up through the tyrannical efforts of the uninformed or biased. If they met some of my pets like Clucky, Strawberry, Noire, Prescious or Smalls they may feel quite different. (And yes, they do know their names.)
Here is the link to the forum for this movement https.//www.facebook.com/groups/backyardfarmersunited/
The meeting went well. We had people from as far away as Suprize and Glendale in attendance. We have decided to work as committees, broken up by cities and report back to Galen. When we are ready to talk to our individual city councils, we will be backed by the committees from all over the state. Please feel free to pm me if you are a homeowner in Chandler and would like to be part of our committee. if you go to the forum, you can ask Galen about who is working in your particular city.
Donna Runion-Bruce on Facebook
Sorry I am just seeing this. I would like to join in to help.
The next house over is a rental. There is a new renter in there. She has decided that she does not want me to have my 3 chickens, so she called the City of Phoenix on me. She said the chickens are attracting too many quail to my yard. ( think they come to my yard because of the grass since I am the only one on the block that has grass.) So she does not want me to have chickens. Since my yard is less than 10,000 sqft. I have to get rid of my chickens that I have had for a year and 8 months because of the new renter.
It is amazing that someone that is not being harmed by anything can have so much control over someone else's property. Next I will probably have to stop growing vegetables and get rid of my grass because it attracts too many birds, rabbits, and squirrels.
Kelly, You can go to the link two posts up. We are dividing ourselves in commitees according to city. And yes there are current laws that if enforced will take away the freedom to grow our own vegetable gardens. More bills like it are in the works. I am hearing that alot of people 'say' that they want to join the fight, but very few are actually "showing up". I encourage everyone who already meets the zoning requirements to join those who do not. We all know that the cities have been targeting the farmettes for along time. I understand that right now, in the city of Gilbert they are voting to limit the number of chickens allowed per half acre.
Sorry it took me a while. I got really busy with work... working 70+ hours. I just clicked to join the Facebook group.
I did check the latest City of Phoenix Ordinances and it looks like they dropped the 10,000 square foot rule. I am not sure of this, but it is not in the ordinances for Chapter 8-7. The City of Phoenix still has that in their violation code that they send you though. So it may be an illegal violation notice meant to intimidate the citizens of Phoenix. Don't follow my advice if you get served though.
I did talk to the City of Phoenix official and they said keeping chickens was a criminal offence not a civil offence. So for some reason the City of Phoenix is trying to criminalize their citizens. However, they did say that to take you to court they would have to find a witness to appear in court against you. They cannot take you to court without a witness. So your neighbor would have to take the day off work to appear in court against you. Most of the time unless your chickens are a big nuisance then the neighbor will not do that.
So I may become a horrible hardened criminal for having 3 chickens. :) Just kidding.
Kelly- I called a Phoenix inspector today to find out what the rules are in Phoenix. If you have less that 10,000 sq feet you may not have chickens period. If someone complains their name and number are indeed collected. But under no circumstance can anyone request and receive the name, number or IP address that the complaint came from. He told me that Phoenix used to allow chickens. But because there were so many people that allowed their chickens to free range in other people's gardens and yards. The city changed the rules to 10,000 sq ft. The only good news that I got from him today is that 10,000 sq ft will allow you to have up to 20 chickens, and no restrictions on livestock. He does say that noise, smell and fly complaints are strictly enforced. If a person refuses to comply with the law, it is a misdemeanor. But it is the one that falls just under a felony. I will start another thread about what we are finding out.
Donna,
The inspector that I talked to in January said that chickens are still allowed for under 10,000 square feet. I have learned though the experience with the City of Phoenix is you can't really trust the City of Phoenix. Depending on who talk to you get a different story. The City of Phoenix is really against anyone doing anything with property they own. It is well known that owning property in Phoenix is 15% more because of all the regulations in Phoenix. They even demand that you hire a City of Phoenix official inspector for hanging a ceiling fan in your own house. For chickens or private property rights people should go to some other city besides Phoenix. Give the City of Phoenix over to the Fascists and steer clear.
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