Breakfast from your backyard? Maybe, as Cambridge considers backyard chickens
Posted Feb 21, 2018 06:32:39 PM.
Last Updated Feb 21, 2018 06:34:40 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Chickens could come home to roost in Cambridge, as the city considers allowing backyard hens.
City staff are holding the first of two public consultations Wednesday night, on the possibility of allowing residents to raise chickens in urban backyards.
Director of bylaw enforcement Dennis Purcell tells 570 NEWS, right now egg-laying chicks are only legal on rural residential and agriculture-zoned properties.
“We have been looking at our neighbouring municipalities and some as far as Vancouver just to get an idea of what kind of things they’re doing, experiences they’ve had, and best practices,” says Purcell. “We’re obviously trying to gather the facts so that we can present the findings to our council so that they can make the best decision.”
Purcell says they want to know which of three options you like best. The first to maintain the status quo. The second: “Permitting backyard chickens with regulations and investigating only if a complaint is received,” he says. “The third option that we’re looking at is … a one-time inspection, a fee that goes along with that inspection, and then setting up a registry that’s maintained by the city so that we know the location of the chickens.
The meeting goes from 7 until 9 p.m., at Cambridge City Hall. The second will be held next Tuesday afternoon from 2 until 4 p.m.
