Proposed regulations that would allow backyard chicken keeping in additional James City County residential areas is scheduled for consideration on Wednesday.
The Planning Commission will consider making a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors about whether to allow chickens in the county’s general residential and residential redevelopment areas.
The residential redevelopment area does not currently include any homes. The general residential area encompasses several neighborhoods, including Ford’s Colony, Chickahominy Haven, Kingsmill, Kristiansand, Powhatan Secondary, Seasons Trace and Windsor Forest.
The Policy Committee – comprising four of the seven-member Planning Commission – discussed regulation changes to allow backyard chicken keeping at its July 10 meeting on direction from the Board of Supervisors.
Commissioner Rich Krapf (Powhatan) asked whether the committee could recommend against drafting a regulation to allow backyard chicken keeping in the additional districts, but county staff said a regulation would have to be drafted regardless of the committee’s decision.
Because the supervisors requested a regulation allowing chickens to be drafted for consideration, the committee seized the opportunity to instruct staff on how the regulation should be written.
Before advancing — without its suppport — a regulation that would allow chicken keeping in the county’s limited residential areas last March, the committee reviewed every residential district in the county. The limited residential area was the only one where the committee members supported the possibility of chicken keeping.
The committee did not support allowing chickens in additional residential areas, but asked staff to write a regulation mirroring the March version. The supervisors voted on the draft in June and decided to make a change to allow homeowners to kill chickens on their property. The committee does not want chicken harvesting to be allowed in residential areas.
On a 2-1 vote with Commissioner Robin Bledsoe (Jamestown) against and Commissioner John Wright (At-Large) absent, the committee forwarded the draft regulation allowing backyard chickens in the county’s general and redevelopment residential districts to the full Planning Commission for consideration.
The commission will take up the issue at 7 p.m. Wednesday, when it meets in Building F at 101 Mounts Bay Road.
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