Good News! Backyard Hens Legalized in Longmont!

Last night the Longmont City Council voted to continue to allow residents to own up to 4 backyard hens and to lift the restriction on the number of permits allowed in the city. Hooray! The vote was 5-2 with only Mayor Baum and Gabe Santos voting against it.

Thank you to everyone who helped make this a reality!

If you don't have a permit yet, you may apply for one after Jan. 24, 2011, at the City of Longmont, Planning and Development office, located at 385 Kimbark St. The cost for the permit is $30. In addition to completing the permit application, you must also provide a plot/sketch plan of your property with setback dimension lines and coop size and location. There are restrictions with regard to the coop size and location and setbacks, so please read the new ordinance (which should be posted on Jan. 14) before applying.

Yay chickens! :)

City council voting on backyard hens TONIGHT Jan. 11

I seem to have had the date wrong in my previous post. Apparently the 2nd reading of the backyard hen ordinance is tonight, Tuesday, Jan. 11 at 7 p.m. at the City Council Chambers,
Civic Center, 350 Kimbark St., Longmont. So sorry for the late notice.

Please attend, sign up to speak during the public invited to be heard section and say that you support backyard chickens. Thank you!!

If you can't make it, please send the city council members an email letting them know you support backyard hens in Longmont.

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

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!

Chicken permits selling out fast

Chicken permits in Longmont went on sale this morning and as the doors of the Development Services Center opened at 8 a.m., there were about a dozen people waiting in line to get their hands on one.

According to the TimesCall, by 11 a.m. only half of the 50 permits approved by city council remained available for purchase.

City planner Ben Ortiz said, "We've issued 28 of the 50 available permits as of 4:30 this evening. I suspect the remainder will go by the end of the week."

The new ordinance that allows up to 4 hens in residential backyards is a trial run that will expire at the end of 2010, at which time the city council will determine whether or not to allow all Longmont residents the opportunity to own hens.

For more information on how to buy one of the 22 remaining permits, click over to this post with details on where to go and what to bring.

First reading of the ordinance - Feb. 10

The first reading of the proposed backyard hen ordinance will take place at the City Council meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 10, in the City Council Chambers, located in the Civic Center at 350 Kimbark St. At this meeting the council will vote to go forward with the ordinance (which would lead to the second reading and vote on Feb. 24) or to kill the ordinance.

All chicken supporters are encouraged to attend this meeting and sign up during the public invited to be heard segment to say "I support the backyard hen ordinance." Thank you for your support!

Also, Longmont and chickens are in the news again. On KUNC today was Longmont considers urban hen ordinance. Take a listen.

Quick update on City Council meeting

Just a quick update for now. Overall, last night's study session went well. The City Council will likely vote on the backyard hen ordinance in February. You can read about the meeting in today's TimesCall article - Backyard chickens likely to involve cost.

More about the Jan. 20th City Council Study Session later.

Mark your calendar for Jan. 20

The proposed backyard hen ordinance will be discussed in detail at the city council study session at 7 p.m. this Tuesday, Jan. 20, in the City Council Chambers, located in the Civic Center at 350 Kimbark St., Longmont. Ben Ortiz, the city planner who has been in charge of all of the research regarding the proposed ordinance, will be in attendance. All chicken supporters are very much encouraged to attend, as well as sign up to speak in support of the ordinance. Your statement when you speak can be as short and sweet as, "I support the ordinance," or, directed to the city council, "Please support this ordinance."

Thank you all for your continued support! Hope to see you at the study session. :)

Update on Jan. 6 City Council Open Forum

Dr. Mikki Hand attended the city council open forum last night, representing the Longmont Urban Hen Coalition. Dr. Hand presented her case and asked city council to vote in favor of the ordinance to allow backyard hens in Longmont.

Her comments were well-received by the city council.

Brian Hansen said, "I want to thank you very much for all of your input on this matter. I think there's been a lot of fear of the backyard hens and I think as much information as we can get out there as we can is very helpful. And so I really do appreciate how much you've come forward and told us a lot of the details people haven't thought about."

Gabe Santos brought up the idea of having a community chicken coop at Sandstone Ranch, etc. He also pointed out that this ordinance is not a "slam dunk" and that this will take time to please people on both sides of the issue.

Sarah Levison asked for the copy of the USA Today article (where Longmont is mentioned) and for a copy of The Natural History of the Chicken that was on PBS the other night (it can be viewed on YouTube in six parts). She also said, "One of the things that's really surprised most of us is primarily the issue seems to be highlighting the fact that we are woefully inefficient and insufficient in our code enforcement issues totally in this city. ... It's pretty much common knowledge we don't have enough code enforcement officers in the city. To me that's one of the fundamental issues that's been brought up because of the backyard hen issue so i think that's a discussion of priorties in the community that we need to have as part of this ordinance as well."

Mary Blue, the only council member who attended our Eggs on the Table meeting a few weeks ago, and had been on the fence or even opposed to the ordinance, said about the meeting, "It was a very interesting program. ... I'm glad I went. I went to learn. I thought the presentations were very thoughtful. They were high quality, intellectual comments. Particularly the child from Lyons that could name all of these chickens by name that their family owns. It was most interesting." She also added, "I'm slowly being swayed."

What's next?
The proposed backyard hen ordinance will be discussed in more detail at the city council study session at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 20, in the City Council Chambers, located in the Civic Center at 350 Kimbark St., Longmont. Ben Ortiz, the city planner who has been in charge of all of the research regarding the proposed ordinance, will be in attendance. All chicken supporters are very much encouraged to attend this meeting.