Item of Special Interest - Backyard Chickens, Glendale, AZ - August 4, 2015

On the August 4, 2015 city of Glendale, AZ Council Workshop, Barrel district council member Bart Turner made backyard chickens an item of special interest.

At about 31 minutes in to the below video he is making this request:

http://glendale-az.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=2316

Below is the link to the meeting minutes from August 4th of him asking to make this an item of special interest:

August 4, 2015 Council Workshop Minutes

Council member Turner asked that staff provide a report about owning chickens in the city,

including zoning and any negatives regarding this idea.

On July 23, 2015 I spoke to council and requested that they look into allowing backyard chickens in Glendale for all residents.  Below is the link to the meeting minutes of the request.

June 23, 2015 Council Meeting Minutes

Shelly Honn, a Barrel resident, said she was here to discuss backyard chickens and

wanted the city to allow, in areas that were not restricted by HOA bylaws, residents to

have a limited number of hens per household with no roosters. She spoke about the fees

residents have to pay to allow that type of zoning, with no guarantee that the zoning would

change. She said she resides in a non-HOA development and her residence is not

zoned for chickens. She said they have had chickens for over two years and have not

had any issues until recently. She spoke about the ordinances she found while doing

research about this issue. She mentioned several cities that do allow chickens. She

also discussed the benefits of having chickens and said more people desire to have

chickens at their homes. She said the city should encourage farming on a micro scale

and said people who are interested in raising chickens already have them. She said she

would like to live as sustainable as possible.

Below is the link to the video of me requesting this, I start at about 8 minutes in:

http://glendale-az.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=2305

It's another step in the right direction but without more individuals who reside in Glendale also contacting their council members and letting them know that they also wish to have chickens Planning and Zoning will probably recommend that council not approve this requested change in zoning.

This issue comes up about every 18 months within the city of Glendale and it is continually shot down almost immediately by Planning and Zoning.We were told by them that they would not recommend that backyard chickens be allowed back in June when we were coded for having chickens.  The Planning and Zoning department is not sympathetic at all to this cause.

For some reason they have something against chickens, but they have no problem with them running free at Sahuaro Ranch park which is city owned.

City of Glendale council member contact info:

Councilmember Bart Turner (Barrel District)
City Council Office: 623-930-2249
Email: bturner@glendaleaz.com

Vice Mayor Ian Hugh (Cactus District)
City Council Office: 623-930-2249
Cell: 602-615-7672
E-mail: ihugh@glendaleaz.com

Councilmember Lauren Tolmachoff (Cholla District)
City Council Office: 623-930-2249
Email: ltolmachoff@glendaleaz.com

Councilmember Jamie Aldama (Ocotillo District)
City Council Office: 623-930-2249
Email: jaldama@glendaleaz.com

Councilmember Ray Malnar (Sahuaro District)
City Council Office: 623-930- 2245
Email: rmalnar@glendaleaz.com

Councilmember Samuel Chavira (Yucca District)
City Council Office: 623-930-2249
Email: schavira@glendaleaz.com

Mayor Jerry Weiers
City Office: (623) 930-2260
City Fax: (623) 937-2764
E-mail: mayorweiers@glendaleaz.com

LARGER VERSION