Chatham-Kent is going to move ahead to look more closely into the issue of possibly allowing backyard chickens in urban areas of the municipality.
Councillor Anthony Ceccacci brought forward a successful motion to have administration prepare a report in the spring of 2024 that would give an idea how much it would cost the municipality to bring in a backyard chicken program for all of Chatham-Kent.
The report will touch on a number of things, such as options for a program with different levels of enforcement and regulations, as well as recommendations and options about the best way to move ahead on the backyard chicken issue.
Ceccacci said moving forward and saying yes or no right now is premature without looking at costs and information about backyard chickens.
Council received an information report at last night’s council meeting that featured public feedback on the issue.
The issue garnered a lot of attention, with almost 5,000 people responding. A majority of respondents (68 percent) were in favour of allowing backyard chickens in all areas of the municipality. Currently, chickens are only allowed in rural areas of Chatham-Kent.
Of the people who responded to the survey, 46 percent were interested in having backyard chickens in the future.
