Comment

Comment by Bonnie Groves-Cantrell on December 26, 2011 at 7:55pm

Congratulations!  Now I just need to get the fight started in Hillsborough County!

Comment by Shawn Kelley on December 20, 2011 at 11:47pm

It Passed !!  10:45pm

Comment by Shawn Kelley on December 19, 2011 at 10:52am

Good Morning All,

I just received an e-mail from Commissioner Kenneth Welch stating that he will vote YES on the Back Yard Chicken ordinance.  This gives us at least 3 of the 6 Commissioners saying they will support this Ordinance.

If you have not done so already, please use this link to send an e-mail to ALL the Commissioners at the same time.  Pinellas County Commisioners

So lets get ready for our chickens.  Here is a link that will help you decide what type of chickens you want to raise and information on Coop designs for our feathered friends.  Chicken Breed Chart    Chicken Coops

Comment by Eric & Anna Scott on December 15, 2011 at 11:39am

The following are copies of 2 letters were are asking everyone who lives in Pinellas County and supports Backyard Chickens to send to the county commissioners. I am attaching the email addresses of the commissioners as well. Just copy and paste the letter and send it away!!!!

Letter #1
Dear Commissioners,
I understand you are voting on the backyard hen ordinance on Tuesday, December 20th. I appl...y to your sense of logic, fairness, and personal rights, and beg you to approve the ordinance allowing backyard hens in residential zones.
Chickens:
Are no louder than human speech, and are quieter than most dogs and lawn mowers
Cost less to keep than cats and dogs, and are much safer than some of the vicious dogs that are legal
Provide affordable, healthy food; entertainment; education
Provide fertilizer and pest control


Letter #2
Dear Commissioners,

Based on information from Code Enforcement Officers in the other Pinellas communities where backyard chicken keeping is legal this is what Pinellas County Citizens for Backyard Poultry has concluded that if Pinellas county had the same number of chicken complaints per capita as:

St. Petersburg, there would be 88 complaints per year.
Largo, there would be 23 complaints per year.
Dunedin, there would be 23 complaints per year
Belleair, there would be 0 complaints per year
Gulfport, there would be there would be 135 complaints per year.

While St. Petersburg is the closest in population to unincorporated Pinellas County, the number of complaints they cited was an estimate as was the data from Gulfport. The most accurate data came from Belleair, Largo and Dunedin. In all communities, but St. Petersburg, the main reason code enforcement was called about chickens was a noise disturbance caused by a rooster. In St. Petersburg it was the lack of getting a signed affidavit by all neighbors within 100 ft of the resident wishing to keep chickens, since this is a requirement of their code.

The best guess about the impact to the Code Enforcement Department is that legalizing backyard chicken keeping in Pinellas county would create an 23 additional cases per year or 2 cases per month. This does not seem like it would create an inordinate strain on Code Enforcement resources. Since keeping chickens results in family savings of about $400 per year, I think this would be a good value from a county perspective.

I strongly urge you to vote yes on the proposed backyard chicken ordinance on December 20th.

nbostock@pinellascounty.org
nbrickfield@pinellascounty.org
nroche@pinellascounty.org
ktwelch@pinellascounty.org
jmorroni@pinellascounty.org
kseel@pinellascounty.org
slatvala@co.pinellas.fl.us

Comment by Shawn Kelley on December 10, 2011 at 10:31pm

It looks like there are two meetings on the 20th, one at 3 pm and one at 6:30pm (public hearing) so I assume it is the latter meeting. I will keep you posted If I find more specifics.  I couldn't make the last meeting but will try to make this one.  If so, I will post results ASAP

Comment by Eric Stewart on December 10, 2011 at 4:42pm

We have lots of acreage up here in Pasco :)

Comment by Eric & Anna Scott on December 10, 2011 at 4:14pm

I'm glad my chickens didn't see that post. They would have packed up and headed to the county wanting a 3 bed/2 bath with a pool and a "bird cage" enclosure.... If you can, please post the time of the Dec 20th vote.

Comment by Shawn Kelley on December 10, 2011 at 2:04pm

Sorry... not sure what I was thinking when I did my math for the last post on the size of your chicken coop.  3 sq ft per Hen x 4 Hen's... Not sure where I got 120 sq ft from...

Comment by Eric & Anna Scott on December 7, 2011 at 1:06am

Great job. I'm a little bummed by 4 birds in unincorporated county and St. Petersburg proper will let you have chickens, ducks and turkeys. It makes me wonder when people are so disconnected from food (like commissioners who think hens are loud and go quack), how we will ever move to where we need to be. Baby steps I guess and any step in the right direction is an advance for the cause of sustainability. I applaude all those who took the time to sign the online petition and especially those who showed up at the BCC meeting. You are the giants on whos shoulders future leaders of the sustainability movement will stand.

Comment by Shawn Kelley on December 6, 2011 at 8:22pm

sorry... here's the link

Meeting video

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