Something fowl is happening in Towamencin.
According to The Reporter, township supervisors directed the planning commission to draft an ordinance to allow backyard chickens on about a dozen residential properties.
Supervisors Chairman Chuck Wilson said discussions have been going back and forth from the commission and supervisors since about 2017, after a resident asked to modify codes to allow chickens, per the report, and sent the topic to the planning commission.
The planning commission has been using Montgomery Township and North Wales’ backyard chicken ordinances as a starting point, per the report, with Supervisor Laura Smith stating that North Wales has “perfected” their ordinance. In North Wales, chickens are allowed on residential properties, but are restricted to certain dimensions, thus making only a few properties eligible.
“They did a lot of research, they went through the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs, who thoroughly vetted it, they had attorneys go over it, and it works. I like what they did, and I would like for us to follow their lead,” she said.
Smith said a lot of residents adopted the idea of raising their own chickens through the pandemic.
The proposed ordinance would permit a coop in the middle of the backyard and at least a few homes already have chickens, with no formal code allowing them to have chickens, per the report.
“You could have a postage stamp backyard, and three chickens, and not a soul would know. I know there are chickens in my neighborhood only because people tell me; I’ve not seen one, heard one, smelled them. There’s practically no issue there,” she said.
Read more on the proposed Towamencin backyard chickens ordinance here.
See also:
Everything Towamencin Residents Need to Know About Tuesday’s Ballot Question on Home Rule Charter
Trash Talks Continue in Lansdale Borough
Zoning Decision on Proposed Super Wawa at Sumney Forge Shopping Center Expected Next Month
Upper Gwynedd Hears Plans for Proposed 60-Unit ‘Workforce Housing’ Development on Pennbrook Parkway
