BRUCEDALE – People living on smaller lots in agriculture or rural residential zones in Guelph/Eramosa Township will soon be allowed to keep chickens.
At its first meeting of the new year on Jan. 13, council approved a zoning bylaw amendment to allow domestic poultry coops on lots as small as one acre, as well as a related bylaw to regulate the keeping of domestic poultry.
In a presentation to council on the proposed bylaw amendment, county planner Meagan Ferris explained the amendment was initiated by the township in order to address limitations in the current zoning bylaw.
Once changes are approved, she said, there will be an opportunity to see how the regulations impact the community and whether additional changes are needed.
“Once you make these changes, you really know how they’re affecting the community,” she said.
A public meeting on the proposed amendment was held in October, and four members of the public spoke, mainly expressing a desire for fewer restrictions, and asking that there be no minimum lot size.
Despite this feedback, Ferris said she was still recommending a one-acre minimum lot size.
“This is providing more flexibility that currently exists in the bylaw,” she said.
The bylaw to be amended had allowed the housing of domestic poultry on lot sizes of two acres or more.
“We’re introducing something relatively new on a smaller acreage where there could potentially be more conflicts,” Ferris said.
The one-acre minimum provides a bit more flexibility within the bylaw, while at the same time helping to mitigate issues that might arise, she said.
Feedback was also sought from the Wellington Federation of Agriculture (WFA) and from Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health (WDGPH), but the feedback provided was more suited to include in the companion domestic poultry bylaw.
For example, WDGPH suggested establishing a registry for owners of backyard flocks, and WFA recommended the township conduct on-site inspections before allowing coops to be registered.
“These aren’t things that we can implement easily as zoning regulations,” said Ferris.
A report from township clerk Amanda Knight providing details on the domestic poultry bylaw acknowledged the comments received from public health and the WFA, but noted the township has limited staffing resources to facilitate implementing a registration process.
As an alternative solution, staff recommend creating a webpage on the township’s website that brings awareness to biosecurity matters and identifies steps that should be taken in the event of an outbreak of illness in a backyard coop, as well as creating a revised domestic poultry information sheet and creating a social media post to bring attention to the webpage and info sheet.
“That’s our intention to address the comments from both those agencies,” Knight told council.
According to her report, key elements of the bylaw include:
- specific limits on the number and type of domestic poultry that can be kept;
- requirements for enclosures and shelter structures to ensure humane and safe living conditions; and
- provisions to mitigate potential noise, odour and waste management concerns.
The bylaw allows owners of domestic poultry to keep a maximum of 10 birds, and they can be chickens, ducks, geese or turkeys, in any combination.
Coops, including manure storage and outdoor runs, cannot be located within 1.5 metres of any private sewage system, and they cannot be more than eight feet high.
Some other regulations of note include:
- domestic poultry must be kept in an enclosed run when not in their coop, and must be confined inside their coop between 9pm and 7am;
- home slaughter is prohibited;
- sales of eggs, manure and other products associated with keeping domestic poultry are not allowed; and
- keeping roosters or male ducks is prohibited.
Following Knight’s presentation, councillor Corey Woods made some suggestions for minor changes to the wording of the bylaw, which were noted by the clerk.
The bylaw, as amended, was subsequently approved by council, along with the zoning bylaw amendment.