City council to vote again on backyard hens - your support needed!

Now that we are nearing the end of 2010, the Longmont City Council is due to vote again on the backyard hen ordinance. The more pro-chicken folks we can get at the following city council meetings mentioning that they support chickens and why, the better.

The meetings that we need pro-chicken support will be held at:
7 p.m. Tuesdays, Dec. 21, 2010 and Jan. 18, 2011
at the City Council Chambers,
Civic Center, 350 Kimbark St., Longmont.

Email Your Support!
If you are interested in emailing the city council members to express your support as well, you can find their email addresses by clicking on the link to the city council, then click on each photo to get the individual email address (or copy and paste the addresses below). The more positive support they receive from Longmont residents, the better our chances that we'll be able to keep our backyard hens.

The current City Council includes: Mayor Bryan Baum, Gabe Santos, Brian Hansen, Katie Witt, Sean McCoy, Sarah Levison, and Alex Sammory.
Email addresses: bryan.baum@ci.longmont.co.us, gabe.santos@ci.longmont.co.us, brian.hansen@ci.longmont.co.us, Katie.witt@ci.longmont.co.us, sean.mccoy@ci.longmont.co.us, Sarah.levison@ci.longmont.co.us, alex.sammoury@ci.longmont.co.us

Thank you!

More chicken permits soon to be available

Last night the Longmont City Council approved the amendment to the backyard chicken ordinance. According to the amendment permits will soon be available for residents who requested to be on the waiting list between the dates of March 24 and May 5. There are 22 of them.

There are an additional eight people who've called asking to be added to the waiting list since May 5, but they aren't eligible to get a permit. The eight individuals on the new waiting list will have to wait until a permit is surrendered or revoked before they will be eligible for one.

In addition, anyone who had chickens prior to Feb. 1, 2009, and can prove it will be eligible to
get a permit. They will be required to provide a written letter from a next door neighbor attesting to their chicken keeping and pictures of their coop and chickens. This group would be required to bring their chicken keeping operation up to the existing code requirements just like everyone else.

The amended ordinance will go to publishing on Friday, and the new permits should be available for purchase 10 days after that which should be June 22.

Council members voting in favor of the amendment were Karen Benker, Brian Hansen, Sean McCoy and Sarah Levison. Voting against it were Mayor Lange, Gabe Santos, and Mary Blue.

For information on obtaining a permit (what to bring and where to go), please see this post.

City Council to vote on amending chicken ordinance June 9

The Longmont City Council will vote on amending the backyard chicken ordinance at the meeting on Tuesday, June 9. The vote could increase the number of permits allowed in the city (currently only 50) and allow residents who own backyard chickens but don’t have the required permit to keep their hens, as well as allow residents who are on the permit waiting list to apply for a permit.

On May 26, council voted 5-2 in favor of amending the ordinance to allow more permits. The second reading and vote are scheduled for tonight. For more information about the last city council meeting and vote re: the chickens, please read the Times-Call article Longmont chicken owners without permits have time to comply.

If you are in favor of backyard hens, please attend tomorrow night's city council meeting and sign up to speak during the Public Invited to be Heard section (at the very beginning). Thank you for your continued support.

Location of Meeting:

CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS
June 9, 2009 - 7 p.m.
Civic Center
350 Kimbark St.
Longmont, CO

Longmont may allow existing chickens to be grandfathered in

The results of Tuesday's city council meeting were covered in the Times-Call article Chicken Amnesty.

City officials might give sanctuary to illegal chickens.

Councilwoman Karen Benker suggested at the end of the Longmont City Council meeting Tuesday night that the city change its new chicken ordinance to allow residents who have been keeping hens illegally — but who could not get their hands on one of the 50 chicken permits the city issued — to keep those hens legally if residents can prove they’ve had them for a while.

Read the complete article here.