Laconia could become first Lakes Region city to allow chickens

LACONIA — Residents may soon win the right to raise chickens on their properties, under particular conditions. 

“This is all about keeping chickens on your property within the city limits,” Planning Board Chair Charlie St. Clair said during their meeting on Tuesday night. 

At the March 10 meeting of the city council, Ward 3 Councilor Eric Hoffman asked his fellow councilors to consider allowing residents to raise chickens in their yards. His request was referred to the council’s subcommittee on government operations and ordinances, and draft language for an amendment to the municipal zoning ordinance was presented to the city’s Planning Board on Tuesday night.

“I’m pro-egg: it’s a perfect protein, it contains all the essential amino acids,” Hoffman said Tuesday night. “I’m pro-chicken: I think every chicken that’s in a backyard is not in a factory farm. And if you’ve ever seen a documentary about what goes on at an egg farm — I’d suggest you look it up, not while you’re eating an omelette — it’s pretty horrific. Being able to raise chickens in your backyard and know what they’re eating and then you know what you’re eating, I think it’s an important thing. Especially in these times of turbulent egg prices, it’s now more important than ever that we have the right to own chickens.”

The city’s subcommittee on ordinances approved the language presented before the city’s planning board Tuesday night. 

“I believe it was Councilor Hoffman who had requested the council take a re-look at a chicken ordinance it had at one time considered,” Planning Assistant Director Tyler Carmichael said Tuesday. “We went back, we pulled up that old ordinance, read through it — this was a significant number of years ago that it had originally been drafted — so we went back through and cleaned up the language, made sure that it made muster as it pertains to other communities and as far as legal was concerned with any state statute updates or anything like that.” 

According to the draft language presented Tuesday, “chicken” is defined as the common domestic fowl gallus gallus domesticus, or its young, but does not include roosters, capons or guinea hens. A “chicken coop” is defined as a roofed structure, enclosed on all sides, that protects chickens from weather, rodents and other animals. And “chicken run” is defined as a fenced area outside of the chicken coop. An enclosed run is completely bound on all sides, including overhead, by a fence, cage or wire.

The intent of the ordinance is to allow for the keeping of domestic female chickens on a lot for the use and enjoyment of the lot’s residents, while also preserving the quality of life of the surrounding neighborhood by not allowing chickens to be kept in a number or manner which could create a nuisance. 

A minimum lot size of 0.5 acres would be required to keep up to five adult female chickens. The use is accessory to and must be located on the premises of a lot with a primary use of single family. The selling of eggs or engagement in chicken breeding, onsite slaughtering or any other commercial activity is prohibited. Chickens must not be permitted to roam free and have to be secured in a coop during non-daylight hours.

Planning board members, spearheaded by St. Clair, recommended Planning Director Rob Mora revise the proposed ordinance to allow the keeping of chickens on lots one-quarter-acre in size. St. Clair also serves Laconia as a Democrat in the Statehouse.

“Basically, this went to the city council subcommittee to review the proposed changes to the zoning ordinance for the keeping of chickens,” Carmichael said. “As I mentioned, we looked at several other communities throughout the state and I provided a comparison with 12 other cities in the state — how this ordinance would compare to those.” 

According to a table included in the meeting agenda by city planners, seven of New Hampshire’s cities allow the keeping of chickens — Laconia would make eight. Berlin, Portsmouth, Keene, Claremont and Franklin do not. 

Among cities which do allow the keeping of chickens, most limit the number thereof to five or six, though Rochester allows nine. Lebanon is the only Granite State city which allows the keeping of roosters. 

The planning board referred the proposed zoning ordinance amendment back to the city council subcommittee for final review. If that body makes further changes to the language of the ordinance, it would need to come back before the planning board for another public hearing. 

“I’d like Laconia to be in-line with other cities in the state as far as people’s property rights and the ability to raise chickens — I think it’s crazy that you can live in downtown Manchester and have chickens in your backyard, and up here in Laconia you cannot,” Hoffman said. “I think any time you can have a food source that’s locally-sourced and not coming from a factory farm I think it’s better for the environment, it’s better for the local economy, it’s better for your health.”