Grandview Heights to Consider Allowing Chickens

Grandview Heights City Council is considering an changing the ordinance to allow for a few backyard hens. Some of the provisions in the most recent version reveal the councilmembers’ skitishness over the issue. Included in the proposal are a $25 annual permit fee and a limit of only 10 permits issued citywide. The fee seems unnecessarily burdensome given that the owners already have to build a special ensclosure and henhouse for their few pet hens. Do other pet owners have to pay a fee to keep a parrot, for example, a comparably sized bird?  The limited number of permits shows how apprehensive municipal leaders are about even such a small number of hens.

There is also a noise stipulation that “Perceptible noise from chickens should not be loud enough at the property boundaries to disturb persons of reasonable sensitivity.” I wonder if the typical doggie next door would be able to meet this standard much of the time.

Overall it is a move in a possitive direction for the Council and I commend them for maintaining an open mind to change.

Read the article in This Week Community Newspaper Grandview