ROCKINGHAM — The city is considering becoming a little more chicken-friendly.
The Rockingham City Council on Tuesday voted to hold a public hearing regarding an amendment to the Unified Development Ordinance that would allow residents to keep egg-laying hens in all zoning districts.
All livestock has been banned inside the city limits, but was allowed in certain zoning districts in the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction.
According to a memo included in the agenda packet, the adopted amendment was originally drafted in 2012 and presented to the Planning Board after several residents asked about keeping hens for egg production. However, the board at the time was "uncomfortable allowing the keeping of hens in the city,” so the amendment was never brought before the council.
Checking on chickens reportedly became a low priority for code enforcement, as long as neighbors didn’t complain, hens were kept in an enclosure, there were no roosters, and there was not an excessive number of backyard birds.
There have reportedly only been two complaints in the last decade, one of which was a resident who “simply did not like the fact the neighbor had a few laying hens.” The other was a resident who had more than 50 chickens but reduced the population to less than 10 after a conversation with code enforcement.
The current estimated number of chickens in the city limits is about two dozen.
Assistant City Manager John Massey said he receives inquiries on a regular basis.
The amendment would allow up to six hens per lot, but no roosters. By comparison, Massey said Southern Pines allows up to 10 in all residential zones.
Chickens would be for personal use only and the amendment prohibits the sale of eggs, chicks, adult chickens and processed chickens, as well as compost and manure.
Residents will have to provide a coop and a pen not to include residential structures or garages. Chickens must be kept in the coop in the nighttime hours. Whether stationary or movable, coops and pens — which must provide shelter and protection from predators — will have to be at least 10 feet from an adjoining property line in the backyard.
There are also rules regarding the storage and disposal of manure, as well as the disposal of dead chickens.
Massey said the amendment received a unanimous recommendation from the Planning Board.
A public hearing has been set for the next meeting, Feb. 10 starting at 6:30 p.m.
PARKING LOT PURCHASE
Later in the meeting, the city council approved the acquisition of the parking lot at Discovery Place Kids.
City Manager Monty Crump said the previous owner, MMI, acquired the lot when it built the social services building.
During construction of the museum, Crump said the city entered into a “handshake agreement” to use the lot and rebuilt it upon completion.
Crump said MMI offered to donate the lot to the city late last year.
The lot was appraised just after Christmas at $44,000, and Crump said the tax value of the property was $65,000. So the tax write-off for the donation was at the appraised value and the city paid the $21,000 difference using funds from the Urban Development Action Grant program.
Crump said the deal was finalized and everything was transferred before the end of the year.
“It’s a piece of property we really needed,” Crump said. “We didn’t need ownership of that parking lot to end up with anybody else. Plus, we rebuilt the parking lot and didn’t want somebody else to get the value of that.”
Crump said the parking lot is also available for special events as it features electrical outlets.
