Chickens. (Credit: E. Gregory/Flickr.com/Creative Commons)
Backyard chicken code has been discussed since 2017
A familiar topic could be bawk-er, backup for another round of clucking discussion soon.
Towamencin supervisors heard an update last week about chicken codes in the town, and new rules that could allow more homeowners to keep them.
“Chickens, chickens, chickens. The township and the planning commission have been discussing this item for probably a year and a half,” said Will Brugger, the township’s director of code enforcement, planning and zoning. The biggest question that we have for you tonight is lot size,” he said.
Township officials first held talks about whether to allow residents to keep chickens on their properties back in 2017 after a resident requested the board consider modifying local codes to do so. Similar talks were held in nearby Lansdale and North Wales Boroughs at the time, and Towamencin ultimately took no action to change the township’s rules that all but prohibit chickens, leading the supervisors to send the topic to the planning commission in 2021.
Nearby Montgomery Township voted in 2022 to allow them, after a resident input survey conducted the year before at the prompting of a resident group, and in 2023 then-Towamencin Supervisor Laura Smith said their planning commission had discussed versions of the code, with criteria including lot size, setback distances, visibility, numbers of chickens allowed, and prohibitions on roosters. A vote to advertise a code was advertised in summer 2023 but tabled for further discussion, and after Smith’s resignation in February, a resident asked in March if the chicken code was still being discussed and the board asked staff to revisit the topic.
Current rules do not allow chickens on residential lots of less than five acres, and the code change up for discussion could allow them on lots as small as three-quarters of an acre, according to Brugger. A survey of neighboring municipalities was done and a draft ordinance was developed in talks with the town’s planning commission. And chickens are currently allowed as an agricultural use, which requires the five-acre minimum, but staff and the planning commission have been discussing ways to update that requirement.
“Some of the main points include: a minimum lot size of 30,000 square feet, which is about three-quarters of an acre; four birds or hens per acre with no more than six. It regulates sanitary conditions and provides regulation for sheltering and fences,” he said.
“No roosters would be permitted, and zoning permits would be required for the structure and the use itself,” Brugger said.
The code director then showed a map of the township, with the area that falls within the 20,000 to 30,000 square foot lot size highlighted in salmon, and the 30,000 and over lot size highlighted in yellow, as an indicator of what areas and neighborhoods would be affected. The board members shared their thoughts, which Brugger said would be brought back to the planning commission for more input before a final draft is put forward for approval.
Supervisor Kristin Warner asked for comparisons of the lot sizes in acres rather than square feet, and Brugger said the salmon-colored lots translated to about 25,000 square feet or roughly half an acre, while the yellow lots of 30,000 square feet translate to three-quarters of an acre, and the smaller lots would be ineligible. Supervisor Chuck Wilson asked for examples of the neighborhoods and property sizes, and Brugger said he’d provide examples at a future meeting, while the planning commission has debated the merits of various lot sizes.
“We’ve kind of gone back and forth. We were as low as 5,000, and we sent that off to the county planning commission, and the township planning commission had recommended 30,000. The county recommended at least 20,000 — Montgomery and Whitpain (townships) have at least a 20,000 (square) foot minimum,” he said.
Supervisor Kofi Osei said he’d prefer at least 20,000 and for a code to be on the books, to see how it works: “We’ve been talking about this for seven years, one way or another, so it feels like one of those things that we should get to the next step, and vote for it.”
Osei added that he contacted a Montgomery Township supervisor to discuss the topic and “they had no problem with 20,000,” he added, and Supervisor Chairwoman Joyce Snyder said she “100 percent agree(s) with Kofi” on the 20,000 square foot lot size.
Resident Jim Needhammer also shared his thoughts, saying he supported the smaller number: “We have 25,000-plus square feet, which I think is more than enough to handle four to six, maybe eight chickens. So I’d like to propose a 20,000 or 15,000 square foot minimum,” he said.
Brugger said he’d take that 20,000 square foot number back to the county and township planning commissions for a last round of input before a draft code is brought forward for a vote.
“Real soon?” Snyder said, and Brugger replied: “Real soon.”
Towamencin’s supervisors next meet at 7 p.m. on May 28, and the township planning commission next meets at 7 p.m. on June 2, both at the township administration building, 1090 Troxel Road. For more information visit www.Towamencin.org.
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