New Haven Independent: Chickens Zone Home to Roost

Chickens Zone Home to Roost

by Allan Appel | September 17, 2007 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (23)

Is the buff orpington (that’s a breed) chicken that 2-year-old Sarah Rastelli is petting indeed a pet? Or is she petting livestock? The zoning board will consider that very question, which has ramification for chicken-keepers all over town.

If the board finds that the chickens are pets, there’s no problem. If they are deemed to be livestock, however, then it’s quite likely Sarah and her mom Rebecca are in violation at their Westville home of zoning ordinances which seem not to allow livestock within the city limits.

The Weiners — and the many other New Haven families who, anecdotal evidence suggests, keep chickens for pets and/or for eggs — are in no mood to let the status quo rule the roost, as it were. They plan to make their case at a zoning board hearing on Oct. 9.

The issue came before the board because of a noise complaint. “We’ve had chickens here, a small flock of five or six,” explained Sarah’s mom Rebecca Weiner (pictured above), “since about 2002. And all that time nobody ever complained. The chickens laid eggs, and we distributed them to the neighbors. The kids (such as Dante Petti, pictured above also) come to visit,. It’s a real nice feature for the neighborhood, and they learn where eggs come from, and the whole cycle of life and all that, which is important. Otherwise city kids will think Twinkies grow on trees.”

The Rastelli/Weiner family lives on Willard Street near Forest Road. “A week ago or so, a woman in the building behind us, 200 Fountain, an anonymous caller, phoned into the city that ‘a rooster’ was making noise at 7 in the morning and waking her up,” Rebecca Weiner said. “First of all, we’ve never had roosters in an urban setting. They crow and it’s a problem. Whoever the complainant was, she probably heard a little cackle, which is what the chickens do when they lay an egg. It’s not loud, believe me, and from my perspective, as a new mom, if I could sleep to 7 or 7:30 every morning, that’d be great!”

Whether the caller confused her roosters with her chickens or not, Livable Cities Initiative (LCI) made a visit, according to Weiner, who is a business consultant with expertise on China, where she lived for 12 years. (“Lots of people there have chickens and are much closer to the food cycle for sure.”) LCI issued a cease and desist order. Weiner and her husband Michael Rastelli appealed it, and so the matter now goes before the zoning hearing in October.

Weiner said that in preparation for the hearing she has gathered about 30 signatures from neighbors attesting that the chickens, which live in a large fenced area with a capacious coop or house inside it, are not only no problem, but a pleasure. These neighbors include young people such as Dante Petti, who exults in the challenge of chicken catching for reporter/photographers. His sister Bianca specializes in feeding the chickens. Their mom Gwendolyn says she knows of many families in Fair Haven who raise chickens for the eggs. Supporters also include people who have been living on the cozy block for four decades and more, and remember when.

For example, across the street neighbor Kathy Ouellete (pictured), who has spent her life on Willard Street, said she signed Weiner’s petition, and gladly. “I really don’t know what the big deal is. Years ago, over there on Forrest, there was a guy with rabbits, chickens, ducks, and all of us kids went over there in the early 1960s; it was never a problem. And it’s great here. All the kids go over, and Rebecca’s great about giving the eggs to all of us.”

But it apparently was a problem for at least that one resident of an apartment in the 200 Fountain St. building. The five story apartment building — the only high-density structure in the immediate neighborhood — has small, apparently closed-shut windows facing the Weiner backyard, but balconies on both sides.

The building is about 20 feet from the fence on the other side of the Weiner coop.

Weiner is preparing to offer, at the October hearing, to move the entire fenced-in chicken area and the coop all the way across her yard, perhaps another 50 feet so that it will be now adjacent to her garage, offering a new and substantial cackle-free zone. “I really want to be a good neighbor about this,” she said.

Weiner’s gentle and even-handed demeanor, however, goes hand-in-hand with a commitment to keep her chickens and all they represent. She grew up on a horse farm near Rochester. (“My dad was a Brooklyn boy who mucked out stables at Aqueduct Raceway and thought the height of elegance was owning horses; so when he made a good living in the technology business and I was 12, they bought a horse farm.”) Although there were no chickens, an aunt nearby did have chickens on her farm, and that was how Rebecca Weiner became a farm girl.

She believes strongly in the slow food movement. When she purchased her first flock (having researched slow food on the fast Internet) six years ago, at least a half dozen other families joined in. They found what she described as New England heirloom breeds marketed by the McMurry Hatchery, and they divided the smallest purchase they could make — 50 chickens — among them. “There was one rooster in our group,” Weiner recalled. “When it got old enough to crow, because it would really have disturbed the neighbors, we went out one morning, and a neighbor took the feet, and I took the head, along with a cleaver from the kitchen, and we slaughtered it. Although I’d plucked chickens before, I had never slaughtered one, and that was an important experience for me.” She’s part of an informal movement to legalize the keeping of such farm animals within the city.

The alarming degree to which people are cut off from the natural world, she said, is symbolized by the complainant thinking the cackle of the chicken was the crow of a rooster. “We’re a long way from our roots. A very common urban misconception, for example, is that where there are chickens laying eggs, there must be a rooster. Not so. A rooster is needed only to have a fertilized egg, that is, to make more chickens. But chickens, when they reach the right age, about eight months, just start laying eggs, unfertilized eggs, but perfectly fine to eat. They keep laying with astonishing output until they’re about four years old, at which time, here, they become our pets.”

The Weiners have six chickens in all, two golden laced wyandottes, and one each buff orpington, Rhode Island red, a speckled Sussex, and a black sex-link - all different breeds. They live, by all appearances, a chicken’s life of Riley, with spacious coop, and feed that is reinforced by oyster shells that Weiner and the visiting kids, like Bianca Petti, gleefully add and distribute, yelling “here, ladies, here’s your food.” The oyster shells add calcium, Weiner explained. “They make all those egg shells full of calcium, and lose so much themselves.”

Weiner did not crow, or cackle, about the coop and facilities of her free ranging animals but did point out that commercially raised chickens live in “batteries” of cages some 20 feet high, never see the light, are pumped full of antibiotics, which contribute to our own problematically growing, she said, antibiotic resistance. “Battery chickens get their beaks and claws clipped or they kill each other they’re so close, their feces drop on each other, and that’s how you get your 39 cents a pound supermarket meat!”

These small flocks, by contrast, she said (well, she did crow a little), produce delicious fresh eggs and meat, are natural pest controllers, produce fertilizer, are wonderful educators for children about the natural world. And for adults, too, Weiner added, because they are interesting and even relaxing to observe.

Weiner converted her conviction to a formal request for her alderwoman Ina Silverman(25-D) to propose legislation legalizing the keeping of chickens in the city. Reached by email, Silverman said: “As to the complaint that was made to LCI, I believe it hinges on whether the chickens are livestock or pets. For afterwards, Rebecca asked me to submit possible legislation that would allow a limited number of chickens to be raised legally in town with reasonable restrictions. No one to my knowledge has complained before and other neighbors seem to think of her chickens as small dogs with feathers that lay eggs that Rebecca generously shares with them. I, myself, have never been bothered by a chicken.”

LCI’s Frank D’Amore said, “Yes, I think you’ve got a zoning problem there. I’m not 100 percent sure, but according to Section 29 of the zoning ordinances, ‘livestock are prohibited in the city limits.’ Are chicken considered livestock? That’s the question. I’m pretty sure they are. It’s a grey area, because in some Spanish culture, keeping chickens is pretty traditional. We have some trouble enforcing this.”

As to the complaint about the noise, a half hour spent at 200 Fountain Avenue did not yield a witness, either pro or con the chickens. Two calls to the supervising manager of Tarragon Management, Inc., which owns 200 Fountain, to determine if she had received complaints before or heard of the present one, went unreturned. However, the on-site property manager, who asked not to be quoted and said that she was at such a place in the pecking order she could not talk to the press, admitted, with a smile, that she was a farm girl herself.

Comments

Posted by: on whalley | September 17, 2007 1:00 PM

Let her keep her chickens. This zoning crap is ridiculous. Keep chickens, keep goats, keep a cow if have the space. If the city wants to jack taxes and enforce their imposed zoning laws and require permits and inspections for every last thing a homeowner wants to do why not just end this myth of home or property ownership? It's painfully obvious nobody owns their home or property and we're all merely paying rent to the great landlord of landlords.

By the way, make sure your chickens don't spill any feed. It might be considerd bio-terror and you'll have a felony on your hands.

Why do we all put up with so much nonsense from the government?

I'm curious as to what the city would do should I hoist up a deer for processing this Novevember on my front porch? Am I zoned for that your majesty?

Posted by: king james v | September 17, 2007 3:33 PM

If the chickens are pets, then they are subject to the same noise laws my dog would be if he were barking. If these chickens end up as dinner, or their potential offspring end up as breakfast, then they are livestock, and subject to such rules.
I appreciate the complexity of the case. It's nice to be able to have your children see first hand where food comes from, we urbanites don't get enough exposure to agricultural methods and traditions.
Although their not a threat to the neighborhood, and i like to see people taking charge of what they eat, if the chickens are annoying the neighbors, they either need to be put inside, eaten or moved to a farm. noise is noise.
I am pro-self stustenance, but if my next door neighbor had pigs that i could smell, dirty sheep i could see or chickens that woke me up i'd call and complain also. That is why i live in New Haven, and not Durham or Northford.
In my opinion, i have to say , if the chickens can't keep quiet, they have to go. Perhaps a local Soup kitchen can put them to good use.

Posted by: Jon | September 17, 2007 5:06 PM

I lived next door to Mike and Rebbecca for about 6 months when we first came to New Haven. First off, let me state that I am an irritable and often ill-tempered little man. If anyone was going to complain, it would have been me. I never once had a problem with the chickens. Nice chickens, and rather quiet. About as noisy as pigeons. Aside form that, Mike and Rebbecca are about the nicest two people you will ever meet. If the rest of my New Haven experience had continued to be anything like living next to these folks I would have a much brighter view of this city.

I don't want to go off on a rant here, but this is such a minor infraction of zoning code that, to be enforced, requires that you ignore the spirit of the law. Keeping livestock out of a residential area is done for two reasons; health and noise. Other than this one individual who has complained, neither have ever been a problem. Meanwhile we have all sort of zoning violations all over this city that actually do deteriorate quality of life or pose a risk to public health. I'd be happy to provide LCI and city plan with a laundry list of visible violations that actually pose a threat to public health if they're looking for something to do. LCI has better things to do, and they do good work when they're allowed to do it. Let this drop and get back to it.

PS. To those concerned about noise, I suggest you spend your time addressing the City's noise ordinance that goes unenforced. I personally find the bone-rattling base that seems to be a prerequisite for driving in New Haven considerably more offensive than the clucking of a few hens. Yeah, I know, apples and oranges. But really, the city and the usually spot-on King James can surely find better uses of their time.

Posted by: robn | September 17, 2007 6:35 PM

right on jon!

Prosecute noisy vehicles and radios, not people who produce their own food. By the way,.. has LCI taken a decible meter to the alleged chicken noise? Does it violate city noise ordinances? Can they even prove that this is any more noisy than an angry bluejay or a flock of sparrows? If not I suggest that their pursuit of this complaint is capricious and a profound overreach of their authority....they should step off!

Posted by: bugupit | September 17, 2007 8:19 PM

Whalley says one should be allowed to keep a cow if you have the space. Who is to say what enough space is? The government. Zoning. It is part of the City's role, through which we express our collective bounderies as we live together.

The impact of keeping livestock in a residential urban neighborhood is, like so much else, dependent on how conscientious those doing it are.

I stayed in a house in Hartford with chicken next door. Chickens make chicken manure. Rain carries manure across the ground. My friend had a big black nasty smelling puddle in her backyard.

I'd rather not come home one day to hear the cluck cluck clucking and have to worry about whether or not the neighbor/owner knows what the heck they are doing.

Posted by: Anna | September 17, 2007 9:20 PM

I lived a couple doors down from the Mike and Rebecca, and the chickens never caused any noise that I heard. I think it's rich that the complaint came from the apartment building behind the house -- where residents fill the dumpsters to overflowing, toss garbage into the yards of the adjacent houses, and which have an air-conditioning system that makes an enormous amount of noise, not to mention the 5 AM beep-beep-beep-beep -crash-crash-crash of the dumpsters.

Posted by: Been Called Worse | September 18, 2007 10:26 AM

I for one commend the Weiners' flouting of city zoning ordinances. I feel much more confident now in my plans to open a backyard strip club. LCI will have trouble enforcing this because I will call the dancers 'pets'. Also, in some cultures, keeping a harem is pretty traditional. It will be a great learning experience for children to see where babies come from and to learn a lot about human physiology. Not to mention boosting the employment rate and contributing to economic development.

Posted by: king james v | September 18, 2007 1:33 PM

i think most of you are missing the boat here. i think it's great that these people take responsibility for thier food, and i'm sure it's cool for the kids. if the chickens aren't scattering manure, keeping people from sleeping or creating an eyesore, then the "don't ask don't tell" approach should be taken. it is however not legal, and if someone does complain, the city is bound to act. i'd like to grow a few marijuana plants in my backyard. just one or two, for medical and personal use, but it's illegal, and i'd expect to pay the consequences for doing it, even though i don't think i'd be hurting anyone.
it's not about this particular family. what's to stop someone else from having 15 chickens, then 25, where does it stop. it's not personal, it's the law, which is supposed to be blind.
and for the bikers who cut their pipes, or the idiots who blast their crapy music at the light by my house, they should be fully prosecuted. and i also think we should have the right to throw eggs at them, but that's another story. the LCI folks need to proactively enforce all of the laws. the city needs to lay off the fake street sweeping and fine these jerks who have no respect for residents. and if someone is forced to keep thier chickens inside like a dog and they don't like it, they shold run for the board of alers.

Posted by: A Question | September 18, 2007 3:07 PM

A question: Where exactly in the zoning ordinance does it talk about livestock, pets, or animals of any kind? Section 29 of the zoning ordinance (mentioned in the article) discusses parking requirements and makes no mention of livestock.

Posted by: James | September 18, 2007 6:57 PM

Yup. Rules is rules. Except in New Haven where they are applied in an arbitrary and capricious manner, if at all. James, you're right. If it's a violation, it's a violation regardless of the merits. But so many laws of so much more importance go unenforced in this city. It's just disappointing to see people of good character, contributing members of society get busted for keeping chickens while the human garbage of this city commits whatever crime or indiscretion they like without significant fear of prosecution.

Running a red light is against the law, but I've seen people do it right in front of cops and not get busted. Hell, I see cops do it all the time. Are the cops duty-bound to act? Sure, but they don't. Is it an infraction of the law to slowly wander across the street in the middle of traffic and stare down anybody who dares honk? Sure, but when was the last time you saw a cop do anything about that? How about urinating in a public space, unlicensed vending, various noise violations, aggressive panhandling, etc.? Don't go hiding behind the "law is law" argument here in the wild west of the north.

My point is that in a city where so many quality of life issues go ignored, it's a shame to pick on people who pay their taxes, contribute to their neighborhood, and are generally good folk. It's insult to injury when you start harassing those who actually lift a finger to make life in this city better.

Posted by: robn | September 18, 2007 7:39 PM

AQUESTION,

The livestock prohibition is unfortunately there. Check here with a search for "livestock".

http://www.municode.com/resources/gateway.asp?pid=19969&sid=7

This is pretty silly. I wouldn't want a barnyard next door to me, but if somebody is only keeping a few animals and there is no smell or waste and less noise than your average flock of birds, whats the problem. By the way NHI readers, if you've never tasted a non-factory farm egg, you don't know what you're missing. Hey aldermen! How about an amendment! You've been very generous this year to large developers...how about spreading that good vibe around?

Posted by: A Question | September 18, 2007 10:17 PM

I checked the link to the municipal code. There are 2 references to livestock in the zoning ordinance. One deals with the Coastal Management District, which does not involve Westville, and the other deals with the RS-2 zone. Willard Street is in the RM1 zone - there is no mention of livestock in this section.

Posted by: bugupit | September 18, 2007 11:37 PM

King James 1:33pm -- Right On!

Would those be fresh hen eggs disturbing the stereo BUMPA BUMPA BUMPA?

Unfortunatly, too many New Haveners are so irresponsible that we cannot turn a blind eye to those who are responsible, but outside the regs.

Posted by: James | September 19, 2007 10:47 AM

@bugupit

In a situation where laws and regulations are tightly adhered to (or even remotely enforced), I agree. And I would love to live in a New Haven where littering, public defecation, and disturbing the peace were enforced infractions. And in that scenario, yes, nobody should be allowed to skirt zoning code no matter how cute or delicious their infraction may be. But as you note, so many irresponsible and thoughtless citizens are given a pass on such a consistent basis. We turn a blind eye to so many other more significant quality of life issues every day. How about all of the housing that is nowhere near code? How about the burnt-out building on Whaley that should have been rehabilitated or demolished by now? How about signage ordinances that go unenforced? How about all of the housing that is over occupancy limits in Westville? Do you think that if I started calling these things in they would all be prosecuted on principal? Come on. Why prosecute this one? Why antagonize those of us who are responsible citizens? It's simply hypocritical and counter productive.

Posted by: RobN | September 19, 2007 2:09 PM

AQUESTION,

You're looking at the right thing and you appear to be correct.

ARTICLE III. RESIDENCE DISTRICTS: DISTRICT REGULATIONS.
Section 12. RS-2 Districts: General Single-Family...bans livestock.

But the neighborhood in question isn't a RS-2, its an RM-1. Reinforcing the legality of the aforementioned livestock, the other section you found appears to grant a wide exception to livestock in many other districts, including historical districts.

ARTICLE VI. OTHER DISTRICTS
Section 58. Soil erosion and sediment control.
(d) Exempt activities.
(2) Cultivation of the soil, dairying..... including LIVESTOCK (emphasis added)

So in effect, the Westville Chickens appear have been coarsely slandered by the LCI. This is an outrage!!! Who will bring a stop to this anti-chicken hysteria emanating from City Hall?!?

Posted by: Myrna Weiner Breskin | September 19, 2007 5:54 PM

The chickens are part of a larger extended family as well. It is difficult to imagine that chickens are livestock and, as for the comments about manure, dog doo is far more offensive on city streets and not usable as garden fertilizer.

Posted by: fairhavener | September 19, 2007 10:51 PM

"It's just disappointing to see people of good character, contributing members of society get busted for keeping chickens while the human garbage of this city commits whatever crime or indiscretion they like without significant fear of prosecution."

Other people posted similar points, all of which I agree with. My only guess why city officials continue this type of behavior is because the aforementioned "contributing" people actually have money to take away in fines and fees. As for the "human garbage", well, the prisons are overcrowded and how can you collect money from someone without a job?

BTW, the only "chickens" I see in Fair Haven aren't for eggs. The only "chickens" I see are actually roosters bred/raised/kept for cock fights. Just a few months ago a cock fighter had his house raided and the animal control came out with some 10-12 seized roosters. Good riddance. Those darned roosters annoyed everyone. Poor guy though, he lost his income from the cockfights, then, a few weeks later, all his junk was on the curb waiting for bulk pick-up. I guess the point is, don't fight cocks as a job and your source of income or you will become homeless.

As for me, I personally plan on having chickens (not roosters) for eggs and meat next year; as soon as I get a fence up.

Been Called Worse, you are hilarious.

Posted by: cedarhillresident | September 20, 2007 1:02 PM

Not saying who but I know someone somewhere that has chickens and a rooster and the community loves it. I think as long as it is just a few and they are cared for properly it is a great thing for the kids in the area to get to be a part of!
As Myrna pointed out doggy doo is far worse!

But James makes a very good point.

fairhavener I would love them for the eggs too put OHHH could ya kill them ohhhh I could never.. :) I like the kind of chicken that is featherless and born in saran wrap :)

Posted by: robn | September 20, 2007 1:10 PM

Chickens?
Strippers?
Bumpa Bumpa Bumpa?
Human Garbage?
Doggy Doo?

This may be the greatest damn message thread in the history of the NHI! GOD BLESS PAUL BASS AND OUR FINE METROPOLIS!!!

Posted by: Chicken Loving Neighbor | September 20, 2007 4:45 PM

I'm appalled that anyone would have a problem listening to a chicken cluck and not have a problem with unending car alarms, booming base at all hours of the night, yelling and swearing on a constant basis and all other city noises. Watch out those who own cats!!! The next meow might be the last!!!! For heaven's sake let her keep her chickens!

Posted by: Natasha | September 22, 2007 2:25 AM

Well, I may live across the country and not be affected by CT zoning laws, but that's my sister, and I am a proud woman. There are no politics like local politics.

Growing up in the country, living in Vermont for 10 years, now living in the city for the first time in my life, I can really attest to how much people in the city crave for, respect, and are moved by nature, just as I am so impressed with the city currently. The closer that we can come to sustainable, clean, ecologically sound cities, the less we will be lying to ourselves about the space that we take up on this planet. Humans would be looking a lot more calm.

It is too easy to forget about and underestimate the importance of clean air, water, and food, and of living closer to the source of our own needs. Let them keep the chickens.

Posted by: central ave. | September 24, 2007 9:29 AM

who cares about chickens? Dont we have anything more important to debate concerning the city?

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Chickens Zone Home to Roost

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