Residents have a chance to weigh in on city chickens Sept. 8

LACONIA — City households could soon keep chickens if councilors approve a new ordinance.

A public hearing to gather input prior to the adoption of an amended ordinance was set for 7 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 8, during the regular city council meeting on Monday. 

The chicken question found its resolution after months of discussion among councilors, at one point being referred to the council subcommittee on operations and ordinances, and finally approved this week. 

Ward 3 Councilor Eric Hoffman championed the ordinance. In March, during a meeting of the council, he asked fellow councilors to consider allowing residents to raise a limited number of chickens in their yards. His request was forwarded to the council subcommittee, and draft language was reviewed by the city’s Planning Board in May.

“Obviously I’m for this, I think it’s fantastic. A lot of the cities in New Hampshire that allow this are the bigger cities, for some reason, and I feel like we’re a little behind the curve on this. And I think we’re just kind of aligning ourselves to the culture of the state and where people want to be with this,” Hoffman said Monday night. “I think it’s great.”

The intent of the amendment is to allow the keeping of domestic female chickens on a lot for use and enjoyment of its residents, while preserving the quality of life in the surrounding neighborhood by not creating a nuisance.

“On the chickens that you have on your agenda, I hope that you’re able to work something out. The planning board did work on that and sent that back to you guys,” planning board Chair Charlie St. Clair said. “The main thing, as Councilor [Bruce] Cheney talks about a lot, if there are rules in place, they need to be enforced.”

St. Clair also serves Laconia as a Democrat in the Statehouse.

At a July 11 meeting of the council, the question was tabled to allow the planning department to investigate the feasibility of requiring citizens to obtain a license for keeping chickens. Pursuant to discussions with legal counsel, the city could issue a non-mandatory license for individuals to register their chickens with the city, but could not impose penalties on individuals who don’t obtain such a license, were it created.

“There is enforcement action that we can take,” Assistant Planning Director Tyler Carmichael said. 

People in violation of the ordinance could be subject to fines of up to $275 a day, issued by Belknap County Superior Court.

“I’m totally in favor of this, I’m just hoping that people will abide by the restrictions. And there is no means of enforcement, other than going to court, so I hope that people will use this well,” Ward 4 Councilor Mark Haynes said.

According to the city’s amended ordinance, “chicken” is defined as the common domestic fowl (gallus gallus domesticus) or its young, and does not include roosters, capons or guinea hens.

A minimum lot size of 0.25 acres is required to keep chickens, and up to five adult birds can be kept. Six or more chickens on a lot is considered an agricultural use. The use is accessory to and has to be located on a lot with the primary use of single-family residences.

Selling eggs, breeding birds, slaughtering onsite or any other commercial activities are prohibited. Chickens aren’t allowed to roam free and must be secured in a coop during non-daylight hours, and feed supplies must be kept in rodent-proof containers. 

“We also require an enclosed chicken run, so that way, like I said, they’re not free-roam,” Carmichael said. 

The keeping of chickens, a source of meat and eggs, is allowed in numerous cities across the Granite State, though in Franklin, Berlin, Portsmouth, Keene and Claremont it is not.

“I hope there’s good movement on that, because there has been a lot of people that would like to have two or three chickens for eggs or whatever,” St. Clair said. “I know everybody thinks we’re an industrial area but we’re also kind of rural, too.”